Czarist Era Records

The JewishGen Belarus Database is a multiple-database search containing more than 800,000 entries from Belarus which incorporates the following databases: JewishGen Family Finder (JGFF), JRI -Poland, Yizkor Book Necrologies, JewishGen Online Worldwide Burial Registry (JOWBR), Birth Records, Marriage Records, Belarus Names Database, Jewish Religious Personnel in the Russian Empire, 1853-1854, Revision Lists and much more! The database is a work in progress and new entries are being added regularly

The URL for the JewishGen Belarus Database:

http://www.jewishgen.org/databases/Belarus/

The bulk of the records that survived from the Czarist Era are the revision lists, a sort of census. See this Avotaynu article for an explanation of their utility and drawbacks. The LDS Family History centers have a number of microfilms of revision lists from the Borisov district. Here is another listing of the relevant films.

The Belarus SIG also sponsors District Research Groups to locate additional records and raise funds for translation and indexing. The information on the Borisov District Research group is here.

Recently (Summer, 2017) some of the 1858 revision list (census) for Borisov district has been translated and indexed. As of November, 2019, the names of the 1858 residents of Borisov city and of Zembin have been uploaded to the JewishGen Belarus Database. The names of residents of other towns in the district are awaiting upload.  In the interim, researchers can access this information by donating at least $100 towards paying the cost of the translation and indexing effort. Click here for further details. They have an index that shows all the family names in the transcribed portion of 1858 revision list so you can know whether your family is included before donating. By the way, when searching for names in the JewishGen  Belarus database, don't use the Minsk gubernia limitation. There is at present some glitch in the system that excludes the names from Borisov if the Minsk gubernia limitation is used.

1906 Borisov Uyezd (district) Duma (parliament) Voters List  One had to be a tax-paying male over 24 years old in order to qualify for the list which was published at the time in the provincial newspaper. The list includes inhabitants of the whole district, Zembin, Dokshitsy, Smolevichi, Logoisk, etc. In 2000 only the second half of the list was transcribed and entered into the database. I recently completed the transcription of all the names from the first half that seemed possibly Jewish. The link above connects to the Google spreadsheet of all the newly transcribed names as well as the older ones.  As of July, 2020, the new names have been uploaded to the JewishGen Belarus Database.  A scan of the full list in Cyrillic is available (thank you, Adam Brown).

Miriam Weiner's Routes to Roots website lists a number of archival sources from Borisov that have not yet been translated and indexed. In addition, Miriam Weiner has made some translated and indexed Belarussian records available on JewishGen. Click here to search that database.

The list of the richest merchants in Belarus, 1913, includes three Jewish Borisovers:

Ber Solomonov - owner of the Victoria Match Factory in Borisov. There is a picture post card of the factory on the images page of this KehilaLink

Neukh and Beniamin Gutman - owners of a lumber mill and distillery

Shimon, Aron and Iosif Gorlin - in the lumber trade

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Updated March 12, 2019
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Content last updated Monday, July 27, 2020 at 09:11 PM US Eastern Daylight Time