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Vital Records - Extracts

 

You will often come across extracts of vital records.  The extract is not the original record kept by the priest in the parish registers of births, marriages, and deaths, but rather an official copy based on the information found in the parish register.

The forms of the extracts come in all shapes and sizes depending on the time period, country of issue, and person creating the document.

Here are some typical examples of extracts you may come across.  Certainly, the translations will still help you decipher a document even if the document is in a slightly different format.

 

Certificate of Baptism

Popular format from Eastern Galicia/Western Ukraine including Ukrainian and Latin.  Often our ancestors brought over, or later sent for, this important document.  The forms were usually in Latin or in both Latin and Ukrainian.  As was customary in the church registers, the first names of the people were usually in Latin while the last names were spelled in Polish, or using Polish phonetics.

 

Certificate of baptism

On the part of the Greek Catholic chapel of the church of St. John the Baptist in Czeremosznia
it is announced that in the registry books of this church, volume IV, page 64 is found the following:

Year, month and day
of birth, baptism and confirmation
House
number
Name Religion Sex Status Parents Occupation Godparents Occupation
Year of our Lord

one thousand nine hundred seven/1907/ the 20th day of January born and the 23 day of January baptized and confirmed.
Czerem-
osznia, 23
Iosyf
(in Ukr.)
Greek Catholic boy legiti-mate Father:
Stefan Makarowski, son of Herasym and Antonina.
Mother:
Anna, daughter of Leon and Klara Geża
local farmers Tadeusz Gulka and Apolonia Wenger, wife of Feliks local farmers
  Midwife: Anna Borowska
  In the absence of the parish priest baptized and confirmed by Rev. Ivan Polosnyk, Greek Catholic priest from Bużek

This certificate I sign with my own hand and certify with the church's seal.
 

Biały Kamień, day 7th of June, A.D. 1922

 

 

 

 

Another example of a Certificate of Baptism

Another example of this common format.  At the top of this example is the geographic information for both the church and the government jurisdictions.  Of course, this is critical to finding one's own ancestral parish and village.

 

Diocese:  Leopoliensis (Latin for Lwów, Львів / Lviv)                   Deanery:  Brodiensis (Latin for Броди / Brody)
County:   Brodiensis (Latin for Броди / Brody)                             Parish:  Hołoskowice (in Ukr. Голосковичі / Holoskovzchi)

Certificate of Birth and Baptism

On the part of the Greek Catholic parish Hołoskowice church St. Epifania
it is announced that in the registry books of this church, volume VI, page 177 is found the following:

Year, month and day
of birth, baptism and confirmation
House
number
Name Religion Sex Status Parents and Occupations Godparents and Occupations
Year of our Lord
one thousand nine hundred seven/1907/ the 30 day of September 1907.
162 Hryhoryi
(in Ukr.)
Greek Catholic masculine legitimate Luka Masła, sone of Dmytro and Helena Czechut.
Iustyna Cap, daughter of Ivan and Helena Gilenycz, farmers in Hołoskowice.
Mykhailo Puzyr
Anna Oohaj
farmers from Hołoskowice
  Midwife: Ksenia Kujec
  Baptized and confirmed on the 30th of September 1907.  Rev. Iosyf ?, parish priest.
  Hołoskowice, 28/6 <June>, 1927.

This certificate I sign with my own hand and certify with the church's seal.

 

 

 

Certificate of Baptism
(contemporary Polish Roman Catholic Church extract)

Diocese: Kielce
Parish Roman Catholic Church

<Stamp reads:>  Roman Catholic Parish
                          Saint Nicholas (Sw. Mikołaj)
                          in Stary Korczyn
                          28-126 Nowy Korczyn

Certificate of Baptism

St: Mikołaj
in: Stary Korczyn
1.  Year and Number of Baptismal Register/Book:  1883 Roman        Catholic Record #15
2.  Given name and surname:  Kazimierz Sroga
3.  Name of father:    Andrzej                                       Religion: Roman Catholic
4.  Name of mother:  Marianna  Maiden name: Widłak     Religion: Roman Catholic
5.  Place and day of birth:  Senisławice 22 January 1883 year.
6.  Date and place of baptism:  22-January-1883 Stary Karczyn
7.  Notes in baptismal register/book: there are no notes

Stary Korczyn, day 13-December.   I affirm conformity with the baptismal book

 

 

 

 

Extract from a Polish state Office of Vital Records
(Urząd Stanu Cywilnego, commonly abbreviated USC)

According to Polish regulations, older records are delivered from local churches to local town record halls, known in Polish as Urząd Stanu Cywilnego, which is commonly abbreviated USC.  These record offices are found in larger towns which support all of the local neighboring villages. Usually when you request records from these record offices, you will get a typed or hand-written extract.  Unfortunately, all of the detail that is found in the original parish record may not be copied over to the extract.  The clerk simply fills in the appropriate lines on the form and unknowingly leaves out potentially critical information to a genealogist.

Important note regarding territory that was once in Poland before WWII but not in Poland after WWII:  After World War II the borders of Poland and the USSR were changed.  The Polish border actually moved about 200 kilometers to the west.  Therefore, a considerable amount of territory which was in Poland before WWII all of a sudden found itself inside the USSR.  Often, Roman Catholic records from this area of Poland were moved to a USC in Downtown Warsaw.  This collection of records is often referred to as the Zabużański Collection as the term "zabużański" means "beyond the Bug River", which is roughly the new eastern border between Poland and what was the USSR (today, the border would be between Poland and its three eastern neighbors Lithuania, Belarus and Ukraine).

This example comes from the USC in Downtown Warsaw, also known as the "Zabużański Collection".

Republic of Poland

Office of Vital Records in Old Town Warsaw
Province                        Downtown Office
Nr. ZB <back side>-940/14/1896 <parish> Bialy Kamien, date 18-March-1896
 

Complete Transcript of Birth Record

Data concerning child
1.  Surname: GULKA
2.  Given name: Jozefa       3. Gender: Female
4.  Date of birth: seventeenth of March one thousand eight hundred
ninety-six (17.3.1896 year)

5.  Place of birth: Usznia

Data concerning parents
                        Father                   Mother
1.  Surname      Gulka                   Gulka
2.  Given name  Ignacy                  Maria
3.  Maiden name ********             Drabczak
4.  Date of birth  20-June-1867     18-March-1874
5.  Place of birth  <blank>            <blank>
6.  Place of residence at time of child's birth      Usznia

 

 

 

 

Extract of Birth Record inter-war period

Form written in Polish since at the time the region was a part of the Poland.  Often the information filled in is in Polish, Latin (most likely copied directly from the original church record in Latin) or Ukrainian and/or Ukrainianized Polish.

In this example below, notice the first names are written in Latin (Michael and Basilius, which would correspond to Михайло/Mykhailo and Василь/Vasyl in Ukrainian.) 

Also note that the author of the extract used Polish spellings of place names.  However, since the official language of the Polish Republic was Polish, this is not unexpected.  Here are the corresponding languages' spellings for the geographic areas mentioned:

Polish Ukrainian (transliterated) Ukrainian (proper Cyrillic)
Tarnopol Ternopil' Тернопіль
Przemyślany Peremyshliany Перемишляни
Wołków Vovkiv Вовків

 

Republic of Poland                     Issued for the purpose of showing to the sub-district
Province: Tarnopol                   for the use of registering residents.
Jurisdiction: Przemyślany         Free of charge
Sub-district: Przemyślany
Place: Wołków
Parish: Wołków

Extract of a birth record

On the basis of the civil registries for the year 1923 I affirm, that
Michael (Mykhailo in Ukrainian) Kuszniz born in Wołków
on the 2nd day of 10th month in the year 1923
of father Basilius (in Latin.  This is Vasyl in Ukrainian)
and mother Anna Jarkyj .  Place of residence of the father Wołków,
Przemyślany (district).  Occupation of father
** agricola (Latin for "farmer").
I confirm the agreement of this extract with the original.
Wołków day 18th month V (5 or May) 1936.
                                             Signature of civil registrar

*With the drawing up of the extract from the civil registry, in agreement with the local regulations of the regional district law, some of the above information is not specified, you should leave appropriate fields blank or write them down in such a way in which the information is pointed out in the record.
**For children of unmarried parents indicate address and occupation of mother.

 

 

 

 

Certificate of Marriage

Popular format from Eastern Galicia/Western Ukraine including Ukrainian and Latin.  Often our ancestors brought over or later sent for this important document.  Often the forms were just in Latin or in both Latin and Ukrainian.  As was customary in the church registers, the first names of the people were usually in Latin while the last names were spelled in Polish, or using Polish phonetics.

 

Empire of Austria                    Circle (District): (Pol.) Stanisławów.  (Ukr.) Станіславів / Stanislaviv
Crownland of Galicia                Diocese: (Pol.) Lwów.  (Ukr.) Львів / Lviv
Number:  71                           Parish:  (Pol.) Halicz.  (Ukr.) Галич / Halych

Certificate of marriage

On the part of the parish of the Greek Catholic Chruch of (Pol.) Halicz.  (Ukr.) Галич / Halych
it is announced that in the registry books of marriages of this church, volume __, page __ is found the following:

Year Groom Bride

 

Month House No. Name Religion Age Single or Widower Name Religion Age Single or Widow Witnesses

Name and Occupations
Year of our Lord

one thousand eight hundred 1893, the 7th of February
235 Teofil Kopystianski, Greek Catholic alum of the Seminary in Leopolis (Lwów, Lviv), son of Iulian Kopystianski priest and deacon of Halicz/Halych and Antonina nee Sebratowicz Greek Catholic 22 years old single Aleksandra Zajaczkowska, daughter of Filon Zajaczkowski, baillif of the judicial district of Halicz/Halych and Klementyna nee Harasymowicz Greek Catholic 19 years old single Filaret Sembratowicz, baillif of the judicial district of Monasterzyska.
Atanazy Zajaczkowski, baillif o
   

This certificate I sign with my own hand and certify with the church's seal.

 

 

 

 

Extract of Marriage Record inter-war period

Form written in Polish since at the time the region was a part of the Poland.  Often the information filled in is in Polish, Latin (most likely copied directly from the original church record in Latin) or Ukrainian and/or Ukrainianized Polish.

Interesting note on language and first names.  In this example below, notice that some first names seem to be written in Ukrainian using Polish spelling (Stefan, Sofja).  These are spelled in Ukrainian Стефан / Stefan and Софія / Sofia.  While some other names are written in Polish (Franciszek <listed here in genitive form Franciszka, or "of Franciszek">, and Katarzyna <listed here in genitive form Katarzyny, or "of Katarzyna">.  These would correspond in Ukrainian to Франко / Franko and Катерина / Kateryna.  However, this could be the result of a confused bilingual clerk, a clerical error/confusion or might even be a legitimate reason, such as Franciszek was an ethnic Pole who went by the name Franciszek and not the Ukrainian equivalent Franko (which is impossible to tell without looking at the original record and knowing the ethnicity and or "preference" of the people involved.

 

Also note that the author of the extract used Polish spellings of place names.  However, since the official language of the Polish Republic was Polish, this is not unexpected.  Here are the corresponding languages:

Polish Ukrainian (transliterated) Ukrainian (proper Cyrillic)
Tarnopol Ternopil' Тернопіль
Przemyślany Peremyshliany Перемишляни
Uszkowice Ushkovychi Ушковичі
Czupernosów Chupernosiv Чуперносів

All of this is a perfect example of the unique multilingual, multicultural society of Eastern Galicia/Halychyna.  Notice the signature of the civil registrar is in Cyrillic Ukrainian...as he is a Greek Catholic priest (the signature starts with "O", abbreviation for "Father")! 

 

                                           Duplicate

Republic of Poland                     Issued for the purpose of showing to the sub-district (gmina)
Province: Tarnopol                   for the use of registering residents.
Jurisdiction: Przemyślany         Free of charge
Sub-district: Przemyślany
Place: Uszkowice
Parish: Uszkowice Greek Catholic

Extract of a marriage record

On the basis of the civil registry for the year 1936, No. 8, I affirm that
Stefan Hrycaj, occupation farmer, religion Greek Catholic, born on 26th-VIII 1907 year
in Uszkowice, sub-district (gmina) & district of Przemyślany, resided in Uszkowice, sub-district (gmina) & district of Przemyślany
son of the late (s.p.="sacred memory") Stefan <Hrycaj> and Justyna <maiden name> Chomiak also Zofia
Hałajko, occupation farmer, religion Greek Catholic,
born on 1 November 1916 year in Czupernosów, sub-district (gmina) & district of Przemyślany
resided in Czupernosów, sub-district (gmina) & district of Przemyślany
daughter of the late (s.p.="sacred memory") Franciszek and Katarzyna <maiden name> Marmulak
contracted a marital union on 24-November 1936 one thousand nine hundred thirty six.
I confirm the agreement of this extract with the original.
Uszkowice day 20th , month February 1937.
                                             Signature of civil registrar

 

 

 

 

Extract of Death Record inter-war period

Form written in Polish since at the time the region was a part of the Poland.  Often the information filled in is in Polish, Latin (most likely copied directly from the original church record in Latin) or Ukrainian and/or Ukrainianized Polish.

Note how quickly the form was filled out.  Abbreviations are used for the name of the province and district.  "Trnol" for Tarnopol (in Ukrainian Тернопіль/Ternopil) and "Pryemysly" for Przemyślany (in Ukrainian Перемишляни/Peremyshliany).  Also, in each case the first names are written in Latin, as in "Michael", "Joannes", "Anna").  Also, where the form asked for date of birth, the author of the document simply wrote "70 years", most likely copied write from the original church register.

Republic of Poland                       Issued for the purpose of showing to the sub-district
Province: Tarnopol  (abbr.)           for the use of registering residents.
Jurisdiction: Przemyślany (abbr.)  Free of charge
Sub-district: Przemyślany
Place: Wołków (abbr.)
Parish: Wołków

Extract of a birth record

On the basis of the civil registries for the year 1933 I affirm, that
Michael (Mykhailo in Ukrainian) Kuszniz, military status**: ------
P.K.U.***: ---------, names of parents: Joannes (in Latin, Ivan in Ukrainian)
of the maiden name Anna born on the day: _____ month: 70 years old
of the religious rite Greek Catholic, occupation: "agr" (abbreviation for "agricola", Latin for farmer)
lived in Wołków, died in Wołków
on 19th/12 (December)/1933.
I confirm the agreement of this extract with the original.
Wołków day 5 , month 6th (June) 1937 year.
                                             Signature of civil registrar

 

 

 

 

 

Soviet-era Death Record

When the Soviet Union took over the region of Eastern Galicia/Western Ukraine in 1939, they applied standard Soviet vital record practices.  Records were taken out of the churches and put in local town record offices.  This particular record comes from one of these offices for the village of Usznia/Ushnia, located today in Złoczów/Zolochiv district, in Lwów/Lviv province, in Ukraine.

The form is written in Ukrainian and Russian.  However, all of the parts filled in by the author of the document are in Ukrainian, including the signature.  (there's a "soft sign" <ь> after the "s" in Boiakovskii, which is characteristic of Ukrainian, not Russian)

The name of the local town record offices, and associated abbreviations, changed over the course of time to reflect national language and boundaries.  The English is translated as "Registration of Civil Records".

Soviet-era Russian Зaпись aктов грaждaнского состояния (Zapis' aktov grazhdanskogo sostoiania) ЗАГС
Soviet-era Ukrainian Запис актів громадянського стану (Zapys aktiv hromandians'koho stanu) ЗАГС
Independent Ukraine Ukrainian Реєстрація актів громадянського стану РАГС
  Реєстрація актів цивільного стану РАЦС

 

<Ukrainian>                                                                    <Russian>
Peoples Commissariat                                    People's Commissariat
of Internal Affairs                                          of Internal Affairs
Department of Civil Registration Records          Department of Civil Registration Records

                         <Ukrainian>     Certificate of Death Number 7
                         <Russian>       Certificate of Death
                         Citizen:         Hranychka
                                            Surname <in Ukrainian - in Russian>

                                             Olimpia Vasylivna
                                            Name and patrynymic  <in Ukrainian - in Russian>

                         <Russian> Died: <written in Ukrainian> 18 March 1941 year eighteenth
                         <Ukrainian> Died:    (writing out dates of year, day, and month) <in Ukrainian> <in Russian>
                                                    of the year one thousand nine hundred forty-one.

                                                                    according to what is in the book of records
                         of civil registration of deaths for 1941 year March month 18 day
                         made in accordance with the registration.           Bureau of ZAHS <village of> Ushnia

<in Ukrainian>          Place of death:   town, village:  Ushnia                 district
<in Russian>          Place of death:   town, village:
<in Russian>             district:  Olesko                          province:  Lviv
<in Ukrainian>           district:                                       province:

<in Ukrainian>   Age and cause of death:  78 years, <старість> old age
<in Russian>    Age and cause of death:

Head of the bureau of ZAHS    <signature> Boiakovskyi 

 

 

 

 

 

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