Church records
Each religious institution (church, Catholic church, synagogue, etc.) recorded data on rites in a special register book.
The first part included information on newborns (date, name), their baptism, their parents, and godparents.
In the second part, data on weddings were recorded (full names of newlyweds, their age, origin, religion) and information about witnesses.
Data on deaths and burials were recorded in the third part.
If metric books of the village church are well preserved, there is no need in other documents to search for your ancestors. (Church records of the Church of John the Merciful, Vilshanka, Section One on birth, 1783, State Archive of Odesa Region).
Parish censuses
Data on confessions include information on entire families of church parishioners, their age, as well as notes on whether they confessed before Christmas and Easter.
If the Parish census is preserved, you can add several generations of ancestors to your family tree right away. (Parish census of the Resurrection Church, Azarivka, Starodubsky Regiment, 1744, State Archive of Chernihiv Region.)
Tax Censuses
These are data on tax audits used to calculate and pay taxes. This is why they were kept very accurate. They included data on entire families, age of family members, as well as their age at the time of the previous census. If someone died or was born between censuses, then this information was also recorded. If men were recruited, it was recorded in the book. If the family moved, data on its previous place of residence and the new location were recorded. The last - tenth - tax census was conducted in 1858.
If tax censuses are preserved in your locality, it is easy to build your family tree consisting of several generations going many centuries back. (Census Lists of Verkhnie Pupki of Tambov Province, 1721, Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts, Moscow).
Family lists
After tax censuses and up to 1917, the population was registered using family lists. The contents and form of these lists resembled tax censuses. Unfortunately, family lists survived almost exclusively in the cities. (A family list of Novomyrhorod city residents, Jewish Society, 1874, State Archive of Kirovohrad Region).
Notaries
Notary funds complement the research really well if your great grandparents made wills, purchased or sold any land. (Holovanivsk Notary, Case on the Sale of Land by Residents of Buznykuvate, 1915, State Archive of Kirovohrad Region).
Courts
You can find many interesting facts in court funds - from beatings to the investigation of arson and quarrels of the village community with a landowner over a pasture.
