Revision lists in Poland? ============================ Quote from a FEEFHS posting: ------------ Does this also apply to Russian Poland (1815-1897)? Anyone familiar with these lists for Poland? Archives? >>>> REVIZSKIE SKAZKI (revision lists) Church books are not the best research source for Russian genealogy. Both archivists and researchers told me that the best place to begin research is in the revision lists. Revision lists were kept between 1719 and 1858 to support a national poll tax. They covered 95% of the population. The poll tax was announced by Peter I in 1718 and was undertaken in 1719. He instituted it in order to change the basis of taxation from households to individuals. It still took several years for the returns to come in. In the meantime Peter I died. The second revision was initiated in 1743 by Elizabeth. The third revision, 1761-1767, coincided with the ascension of Catherine II to the throne. It included females for the first time. The fourth revision (1778-1787, was the first to be conducted by the region fiscal chamber (kazionnaia palata), established in 1775 to handle income and expenses of governmental institutions, the collection of taxes, and the conduct of revisions. The fifth revision was in 1794-1808. The sixth revision was in 1811-1812. The seventh revision was in 1815-1825. The eighth revision was in 1833-1835. The ninth revision was in 1850-1852. The tenth revision was in 1857-1859. The last three revisions noted changes in families during the interim between the revisions. The tax was imposed on all male persons of the lower classes at a rate of 80 kopeks a year. Nobility, clergy, officialdom, army, and higher strata of the urban population were exempt -- about 10% in the 19th century. Separate volumes were kept for the different classes of society. * dvorianstvo -- nobility * dukhovenstvo -- clergy * kupechestvo -- merchant * meshchane -- urban dweller * krest'iane -- peasant * inorodtsy -- native peoples * kazaki -- cossaks 4) PEREPIS 1897 (1897 census) The 1897 census was the only universal census in tsarist Russia. It was conducted on January 28, in the middle of winter because this was the time when the population was least mobile. The census tabulated information on name, age, sex, relationship, social class, occupation, religion, native tongue, literacy, birthplace, military status, and disabilities. A copy was made locally and both copies were forwarded to the provincial census commission. One copy was kept by that commission and the other sent to the Central Census Bureau in St. Petersburg. The name lists of that copy have been thrown away but the statistical sheets have been kept. The local copy has survived in some regional archives. For example, the 1897 census for Ekaterinoslav is in Dnepropetrovsk. -- *************** Adalbert Goertz ****** ph 717-762-7378 ******** retired in Waynesboro PA (65 miles from Baltimore/Washington DC Mennonite genealogy of East and West Prussia prior to 1945. Wanted: house in Colorado/New Mexico/Arizona for us retirees