I was not going to comment on this { Vera's } post here on GR-HERITAGE... since it deals primarily with records in Russia of interest to genealogical researchers. However since a discussion-thread has developed i would like to point out that the material which Vera cited is from a copyrighted article < 1995 > that has been on the FEEFHS webpages for quite a while. Apart from not providing the proper credit, Vera managed to also get the material "jumbled"*** So let me try to do it again... Here goes, with the credits: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ From the webpage at http://feefhs.org/frl/ru/rusgens.html in the part Russian Genealogical Sources by Kahlile Mehr copyright 1995 by Kahlile Mehr and FEEFHS; all rights reserved we can see the following: 1) GENERAL The two primary sources for pre-revolutionary genealogy in Russia are revision lists (poll tax census) and parish registers (more precisely, parish register transcripts). In both cases, the annual returns for a particular region were often bound together, no matter how many folios existed for that region. then skipping section 2, a bit further on we read: 3) 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. a.. dvorianstvo -- nobility b.. dukhovenstvo -- clergy c.. kupechestvo -- merchant d.. meshchane -- urban dweller e.. krest'iane -- peasant f.. inorodtsy -- native peoples g.. kazaki -- cossaks This material carries " © copyright 1995 by Kahlile Mehr and FEEFHS; all rights reserved " < That means it should only be quoted WITH the copyright notice included. > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Unfortunately Vera inserted { useful as it is! } 2c) Evangelical (Lutheran) Russia mandated the keeping of records in 1832. There were two diocese offices, one in St. Petersburg and the other in Moscow. The registers were kept in German, until the law of 1891 required that they be kept in Russian. smack dab in the middle of the first paragraph under 3) . I urge all interested parties to visit the FEEHS webpage and study the material in its entirety there... Good luck.... Jay Meeuwig PS Any question, i will be happy to anser on GermanRussian at Rootsweb.com. See http://lists.rootsweb.com/index/intl/RUS/GermanRussian.html CC: GermanRussian-L@rootsweb.com ----- Original Message ----- From: "Vera Beljakova" <atacama@global.co.za> To: <GR-HERITAGE@LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU> Sent: Saturday, July 24, 2004 4:06 PM Subject: [GR-HERITAGE] Russian census dates (revsion lists) > Here are the exact years during which census was taken in Russian, > usually during the winter period, when population was least mobile. > > Extract: > > 3) REVIZSKIE SKAZKI (revision lists) > > Church books are not the best research source for Russian genealogy. > > (( 2c) Evangelical (Lutheran) > Russia mandated the keeping of records in 1832. There were two diocese > offices, one in St. Petersburg and the other in Moscow. The registers > were kept in German, until the law of 1891 required that they be kept in > Russian. )) > > 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 2nd revision was initiated in 1743 by Elizabeth. .......................................... snipped till... > from: > http://feefhs.org/frl/ru/rusgens.html >