Germans from Russia Church Records

Many churches keep records of baptisms, christenings, confirmations, marriages, burials, memberships, admissions, and removals. Some keep minutes of church meetings and the histories of their local churches. Each church has its own policies on record keeping.

A limited amount of church record transcripts of Germans from Russia are available via computer network. See the “Archives and Libraries” section of this outline for more details.

Edlund, Thomas Kent. The Lutherans of Russia: Parish Index to the Church Books of the Evangelical Lutheran Consistory of St. Petersburg, 1833-1885. St. Paul, Minn.: Germanic Genealogical Society, 1994. (FHL book 947.2 K23e 1995; on 5 fiche 6001716. Describes the contents of Family History Library collection of Lutheran parish register transcripts for the provinces of Archangelsk, Bessarabia, Chernigov, Cherson, Jaroslavl, Jekaterinoslav, Kiev, Kostroma, Novgorod, Olonets, Pokolia, Poltava, Pskov, Smolensk, St. Petersburg, Tavrida, Volhynia, and Vologda. Indexes town names in:

Evangelische Kirche. Konsistorum Petersburg (Rußland). Kirchenbuchduplikat, 1833-1885 (Parish Register Transcripts, 1833-1885). Salt Lake City: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1994. (on 135 FHL films starting with 1792290). Text in German. Arranged by archive numbers and register years.

Mennonites
Three important repositories are:

• Mennonite Heritage Centre   600 Shaflesburg Rd    Winnipeg, Manitoba R3P 0M4    CANADA

In 1966 they filmed all the Mennonite records in Odessa for the southern Russian Empire, including revision lists.

• Centre for Mennonite Brethren Studies in Canada   169 Riverton Ave    Winnipeg, Manitoba R2L 2E5    CANADA

• Mennonite Library and Archives   Information and Research Center    Box 366    North Newton, KS 67117    USA

The follow book provides background information:

Unruh, Benjamin Heinrich. ''Die niederlandisch-niederdeutschen Hintergrunde der mennonitischen Ostwanderungen im 16., 17., und 19. Jahrhundert'' (The Netherlands-Low German Background of the Mennonite Migration to the East in the 16th, 18th and 19th Centuries). Karlsruhe: Unruh, 1955. Text in German. A history on the Mennonite movement into Russia; provides lists of families according to the town in Russia where they settled and time period, including in many cases birthplaces in Germany or Poland.