Russia, Tver, Church Books, 1722-1918

What is in This Collection?

This collection contains records of birth, baptisms, marriages, deaths, and burials indexed from metrical books kept by priests of churches in the province of Tver'. The Church acted as both a religious and civil agent in recording vital events and church sacraments such as baptism and burial. Peter the Great mandated the keeping of Russian Orthodox books in 1722. The format was standardized in 1724. Printed forms were introduced in 1806. In 1838, a format was introduced that prevailed until the 1930s. The priests made a transcript for the ecclesiastical court (dukhovnaia konsistoriia) having jurisdiction over the parish. This is usually the version that has been preserved. Additional records and/or images may be added to this collection in the future.

Reading These Records

These records are written in Russian. For help reading them see:

• Russia Language and Languages
• Russian Genealogical Word List
• Russia Handwriting

FamilySearch Learning Center videos:

• Reading Russian Documents: The Russian Alphabet

To Browse This Collection

You can browse through images in this collection using the waypoints on the Collection Browse Page for Russia, Tver Church Books, 1722-1918.

What Can These Records Tell Me?

The following information may be found in these records:

Baptism Date and place of baptism Name of principal (usually an infant) Age or date of birth of principal Names of parents and their residence Names of godparents Sometimes names of grandparents Witnesses

Marriage Date and place of marriage Name, age and patronymic surname of groom Religion of groom Name, age and patronymic surname of bride Religion of bride Names and signature of witnesses Name of person who performed ceremony

Death/burial Name, age and gender of deceased Date and place of death Cause of death Date and place of burial Name of person who performed burial Name of person who administered confession and communion