Online Record Availability of Ushytsia

Aggregated by Ethan Parmet

Records Available on JewishGen

JewishGen, in the past 2 years, has indexed thousands of records from Nova Ushytsia and the surrounding towns in the UkraineSIG's new effort to index Jewish Ukrainian records. It is hard to keep a completely updated list of all the records available, but here is a list of what is currently available for the Ushitsyas (Novo & Starya) as of April 2024 totaling 5,431 entries:

Censuses, Draft Lists, and Voter Lists

1836-1847 List: Jews of Berdichev in the Volyn province, who indicated their residence in different towns in the Podolia Governorate
- There are a whopping 3 entries for Ushytsia (Ayzentorn family in 1847)

1849 Draft List: This is a male-only list of the men & boys in the area that was created in order to count the number of available men to draft into the Russian army.
- There are 353 entries for Ushytsia viewable here.
- Additionally, you can check this index for a list of surnames that appear on Ushytsia's 1849 draft list.

1853-1854 Jewish Religious Personnel in the Russian Empire: This index is not searchable under years, but contains the names of Religious personnel in the Russian Empire.
- There are a total of 6 entries from Ushitsa that you can check for here.

1875 Draft List: Similar to 1849, this is another male-only list with the names and ages of male family members eligible for the draft, although it also included those below the age of conscription.
- You can view all 2,383 entries for the Ushytsia draft list here.
- Additionally, you can check this index for a list of surnames that appear on Ushytsia's 1875 draft list.

1895 Vsia Rossiia Business Directory: Contains an index of an 1895 Russian Empire business directory, with only a few entries from Ushytsia.
- You can view the 25 entries from Ushytsia here.

1906 Duma List: Includes eligible male voters in the region as part of the 1906 Duma reforms under Tsar Nicholas II.
- You can view all 2,437 males here.
- Additionally, you can check this index to access a list of all the surnames contained in the Duma List for Ushytsia.

Metric Books & Vital Records

For a list of surnames are contained in the indexed vital records of Ushytsia, click here.

1839 Metric books: These are not exclusively Ushitsker records; they are a single,compiled book of a bunch of metrical records from across Podolia, but there are some listed specifically for Ushitsya.
- You can view those 21 birth records here.

1840 Metric books: Similar to 1839, this is a compiled metric book set from across all of Podolia for the year, with some entries for Ushitsya.
- There are 64 birth records viewable here,
- 42 death records viewable here,
- and 11 marriages & 2 divorces viewable here.

1852 Metric books: This is listed under the town name "Staro Ushits", although this is a misprint and should be "Ushitsa".
- There are 40 birth records viewable here,
- 15 death records viewable here,
- and 3 marriages & 3 divorces viewable here.

JOWBR Burials: The Jewish Online Worldwide Burial Registry has millions of graves recorded from all across the globe's Jewry, but it does have a few dozen entries from the cemetery in Ushytsia.
You can view all 48 entries in the JOWBR here.

Records Available Outside of JewishGen

While JewishGen is certainly an invaluable source for records, only so much has been indexed (as of April 2024), although much more is being indexed right now thanks to the efforts of the UkraineSIG. Currently, Alex Krakovsky, a Ukrainian archivist, has uploaded thousands of volumes of Jewish records onto the Ukrainian Wikisource free of charge. These records, however, are entirely in old Cyrllic cursive. The combined PDFs provided by Krakovsky and other sources of records for Ushytsky county total 5,307 scanned pages. Below is what is currently available.

Censuses, Draft Lists, and Voter Lists

- 1811 Census of Jews in the Ushytsia District (185 pages)
- 1834 Census of Jews in Ushytsia District (1,016 pages) [Note: The original books were most likely lost in the 2003 Kamianets-Podolskyi Archive fire. The contrast on the surviving microfiche is overexposured, and without editing the images in a photo editor, it is incredibly difficult to make out some of the text.
- 1838 Draft list of Kalus and Staro Ushytsia (67 pages)
- 1850 Census of Jewish Burghers (3 volumes: 399, 498, and 308 pages) [Note: Many of the pages of these volumes are missing parts/heavily damaged due to fire/water disasters. The censuses are incomplete because of the record loss for this year.]
- 1874 Ushitsa Police books (not exclusively Jewish) (122 pages)
- 1901 Household list on State Lands (210 pages)

Metric Books

- 1842 Metric books (316 pages)
- 1844 Metric books (262 pages)
- 1845 Metric books (319 pages)
- 1847 Metric books (335 pages)
- 1848 Metric books (300 pages)
- 1849 Metric books (322 pages)
- 1850 Metric books (121 pages)
- 1852 Metric books (211 pages)

There are 4 other metric books in total for specifically Zamikhiv and Dunaivtsi that do not include the other parts of Uchitsya. There is also a PDF concerning the construction of a synagogue in the district between 1847 and 1851. Known records for the period of Alexander II and onwards are severely lacking.

Notary Records

These scanned books for Ushytsky county are not uploaded to Kravkovsky's database or Wikisource. These are notary records, and contain both Jewish and Christian names in them, and are not separated by religion, as metrical records and censuses are. They include:

- Documents of notarial acts in Ushytsky county 1880-1889 (72 pages)
- Documents of notarial acts in Ushytsky county 1890-1897 (80 pages)
- Documents of notarial acts in Ushytsky county 1898-1905 (84 pages)
- Documents of notarial acts in Ushytsky county 1906-1910 (80 pages)

Modern & Soviet-era Records

Additionally, you can check out the indexed and searchable Yad Vashem database (in English) for those who are listed as having been born, having lived, or having died in Ushytsia at the time of the Holocaust.

Those with relatives in Nova Ushytsia during the post-Soviet era, the Library of Congress (through Miriam Weiner) has a 1993 phonebook for the Nova Ushytsya district. Start on page 37 for a list of individuals in the directory.

Anyone who wishes to request a civil registry record (such as birth, marriage, or death) from the Soviet Period (around 1921ish-onwards) can do so through the Kamianets-Podilskyi Raion Civil Registry Office. To my knowledge, you are able to request records without a court order that are older than 75 years (which would be up to 1949 in 2024), regardless of whether or not a judge has signed off on it for legal purposes. This is according to Clauses 19 & 20 of Section IV of the Rules regarding the civil registry.