1897 All-Russia Census — Latvia

Surviving census data for locations now in Latvia · five phases, 2002–2015

This database consists of 27,341 entries extracted from the “All-Russia Census” of 1897 for locations now in Latvia. The 2015 addition of data from smaller communities completes the project of extracting and indexing all surviving information from present-day Latvia. Note that the names of children are not included.

This database owes its existence to the generosity, perseverance and research interests of Dr. Arlene Beare, who commissioned the data, and to members of the JewishGen Latvia Special Interest Group (Latvia SIG), and to all supporters who donated to the 1897 Dvinsk Project.

The primary purpose of the 1897 Imperial Census (Первая всеобщая перепись населения Российской империи) was to collect statistical information on the people of the Russian Empire. When the census was set up there was no intention to preserve the raw data relating to individual families, and in most cases the original entry books were destroyed, disposed of, or simply not preserved — leaving the political turmoil and general upheaval of subsequent 20th-century events to take their toll of this otherwise superb source.

The effect of these losses is particularly acute for Latvia. Insofar as census material survives it is now centrally housed in the State Historical Archives in Rīga, but the gaps are many. Complete 1897 census data have survived for Rēzekne, Krustpils, Ludza, Prieļi and Daugavpils [Dvinsk]. There are useful but only partial data for Rīga, Liepāja [Libau] and Kuldīga [Goldingen], and fragmentary remains for other towns in Courland gubernia. Where census data have survived, the range of information sought by the enumerators makes this one of the most precious genealogical and social resources for the history of Jewish families and communities at the turn of the century.

The first two towns for which data were commissioned and completed were Rēzekne (also known as Rezhitsa or Rositten), with 2,058 entries, and Krustpils (Kreysberg or Kreuzburg), with 1,486 entries, both in the former gubernia of Vitebsk. The names of children are not included in any phase, but there are links to the Latvian Archives website for further research.

The database concentrates on the head of the family, his spouse and adult children, but does not record the full details of every family unit. Occasionally there is a record of younger children, but not all siblings are consistently extracted.

It provides not only an excellent research tool for specific families who lived in these Latvian communities, but also considerable insight into the structure and fabric of the Jewish community as a whole. The database contains entries for all classes of society — from peddlers to the distinguished 72-year-old Rabbi Itzik Zion from Ludza [Liutzin] and his wife Hawa, aged 71, born in Krāslava [Kreslavka]. It is full of human detail, such as the name of the town’s Jewish wetnurse, one Rosa Lokert, born in Kovno. It contains the full range of occupations from tradesmen, teachers, synagogue attendants, shochets and shoemakers to, at the other end of the spectrum, one Beile Kurland, aged 29, the proprietor of the local house of prostitution, apparently providing services without any legal intervention.

Although street names have changed and most if not all of the old Russian names have been replaced by Latvian ones, it is usually possible to establish the equivalent modern name for a given address. Looking at the pattern of occupation, it is possible to see the dispersal of Jewish homes and businesses throughout the non-Jewish community. For addresses in Krustpils researchers may wish to refer to the maps of Jēkabpils and Krustpils that can be found on the Jēkabpils KehilaLinks page for these twin cities. You will need a simple Russian alphabet like the one provided by JRI-Poland. By taking the alphabet key you should be able to sound out the street names and identify the building addresses.

Where a patronymic is given, the surname of the father will normally be the same as the individual line entry. By careful examination of all database entries relating to a given name, it is often possible to connect three and sometimes four generations. The Russian Empire distinguished between place of birth, a matter of fact, and “place of origin”, the place with which the family was legally associated; for approximately 35–40 per cent of the individuals in this database, the two are different.

Efforts have been made to keep the historical accuracy of the original source, so that although modern names are used for the primary town of location — the census source town — the addresses and town of origin for a particular individual have been retained in their historic form as originally recorded. There are numerous town references from all over the Russian Empire, and some from other European towns and cities.

The original sources are in handwritten Cyrillic, although many of the names are clearly German in origin. The melting pot of the Jewish communities can be seen in the wide range of names with obvious Polish, Russian and Yiddish origins, and in the many German-sounding names rooted in German-administered Courland, which shared an immediate border with Vitebsk gubernia. Spelling varies enormously, and it is good practice to say the name out loud, remembering that J is often pronounced as Y and that G and H are interchangeable.

Because the database includes information about where families originated, there is a wide range of geographic references. Where possible we have followed the JewishGen standard of using the modern name of the shtetl or town, although it has not been possible to ensure that all place references reflect the most up-to-date names. Especially for smaller places, errors may have crept in and historic names may have been retained inadvertently. Researchers can investigate place name information further by using the JewishGen Gazetteer, which provides a range of names, including the modern one, plus an online generated map.

You may wish to seek further information about your family from the Latvia State Historical Archives, which holds records prior to 1906 and some from the later period as well. See information on the JewishGen Latvia SIG website.

For more details about the 1897 “All-Russia Census”, see:

This database can be searched via the JewishGen Latvia Database or the JewishGen Unified Search.