Russian Empire Civil Registration

Civil Registration Records
Beginning in 1722, records of birth, marriage, and death were performed by churches of various confessions, synagogues, or mosques. However, at the time of the Russian Revolution, the responsibility of recording vital events shifted from the church to the state. Thus, during the time of the Russian Empire, registration of birth, marriage, and death, will be known as metrical records. To learn more about locating metrical records for your Russian Empire ancestor, see the Tobolsk Gubernia Church Records article.

On December 18, 1917 the Council of People's Commissars decreed that citizens must register births, marriages, and deaths at the city, at a city, district or volost civil registration office. At that time, many metrical books kept by churches and other religious organizations were sent to their respective civil registration offices. These offices are called Органы записи актов гражданского состояния (Bodies of Registration of Acts of Civil Status). They are also commonly referred to using the abbreviation ЗАГС, or ZAGS.

Records prior to 1926 have been transferred to the State Archives of the Tyumen Oblast. Records post 1926 are still contained in the civil registration office.



To locate contact information for a ZAGS office in what is now the Tyumen Oblast, see https://zags.admtyumen.ru/OIGV/zags/about/telephone.htm. Scroll to the section with red hyperlinks and choose the civil registration office for the rayon or okrug (district), or city that your ancestor lived in. Each hyperlink takes you to a page with information about that particular ZAGS office, including contact information such as physical address, telephone number, hours of operation, and/or email address. Keep in mind any communications with the ZAGS office will likely need to be done in Russian, and you may need to provide proof of your relationship to the person whose record you are trying to locate.