“Genealogy of Donetsk Region”: genealogical sources of XVIII - the beginning of ХХ century

Abstract

The purpose of research is to identify the features of information record in metric books, confession lists and revision “skazki”, their use in making genealogical trees of representatives of different denominations and social categories of XVIII - the beginning of ХХ century, that are stored in the State Archives of Donetsk Oblast. Methodology of the research lies in the use of methods of typologization and classification, historiographic, historical-genetic, and historical-comparative methods that allowed for comprehensive processing of sources, revealing their information capabilities and features. An attempt was made to investigate their information potential and their use in making genealogical trees of representatives of different denominations and social categories of Donetsk Region. Metric books are the primary genealogical source, because they recorded the main events in human life: birth, marriage, death. Their information potential makes it possible to explore the family relationship of all segments of Ukrainian society. Another important all-segment source of genealogical information is the confession lists of the churches: the annual family and nominal registers of the parishioners of the church, who were confessed to the priest. The information potential of these sources should be used at the beginning of genealogical research, when the number and names of family members, the exact dates of birth are unknown. The source of the most practical importance in the reconstruction of genealogical trees of taxable segments of the population is the materials of the all-Russian taxable population censuses, which were conducted in the territory of the Russian Empire in the period of 1718-1857. The results of these censuses were the so-called revision “skazki”. Metric books, revision “skazki” and confession lists are sufficiently informative sources and have a high level of reliability, their information potential makes it possible to reconstruct genealogical trees of representatives of different denominations and social categories of Donetsk Region. Their scientific value is increasing today because of the inability of Ukrainian researchers to study part of these complexes due to Russian aggression in the East of Ukraine.