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Information on the genealogy of the Belarusian nobility and gentry (shliakhta) can be\r\nfound in a number of general historical sources: parish registers<\/a>, census records<\/a> (gentry was included in those sources until 1816), the registers of municipal and Zemstvo courts of the Rech Pospolita, records\r\nof judicial institutions of the Russian Empire and other sources. Moreover, there are\r\nspecial historical sources on genealogy. They are kept in the fonds of the Noble Deputies\r\nAssemblies (which existed in each province) and in the fonds of provincial and uyezd\r\nmarshals of the nobility. Protocols of the Commission on Confirmation<\/strong> were made as soon as\u00a0\r\nfamilies proved their nobility. These protocols are subdivided into Protocols on\r\nConfirmation and Protocols on Adding. Protocols on Confirmation were made in the case of\r\nthe first approval of the noble origin of the family (in the territory of the Russian\r\nEmpire). They usually contain the following information: place of birth, place of\r\nresidence of the ancestors, names of the first representatives of the family and\r\ntheir\u00a0descendants with definition of their relationship (in the form of a\r\ngenealogical tree), the name and description of the family arms, records on the property\r\nand land owning (the supported records on possession of manors or so-called mayentoks), on\r\nthe holding of positions and others proofs of the nobility. Protocols on Adding contain\r\ninformation not only about the joining of\u00a0 individuals to the already recognized\r\nnoble families, but also for all children and those who did not get into the “first\r\nrecognition”. Protocols were made\u00a0 annually and were kept in the archives of the\r\nNoble Assemblies. <\/p>\r\n\r\n Family history records<\/strong> were compiled simultaneously with\u00a0\r\nProtocols on Confirmation. Originally this was done annually, but\u00a0 later repeated\r\nevery few years. The noble families were placed in the alphabetical order. Each family was\r\nrepresented in the form of a genealogical tree with a picture of the family arms. Near\r\neach\u00a0branch of the tree, the generation description was given with \u00a0reference to\r\nthe records\u00a0which proved\u00a0 the nobility. Each history was written in\u00a0\r\ntriplicate. Originals were kept in the fonds of the provincial Noble Assembly, the first\r\ncopy – in the fonds of the provincial management board, the second copy was transferred to\r\nthe Heraldry Department Archives in Saint \u00a0Petersburg.<\/p>\r\n\r\n Records on\u00a0the nobility of a family<\/strong> (or of a person) include\r\ndocuments which can prove the nobility, correspondence on the problems of submitting,\r\nregistering and correcting these documents, checking of proofs, confirming and adopting\r\nthe whole family in nobility, as well as adding individual persons and then adding other\r\nrepresentatives of the family. The following records were usually considered to be the\r\nproofs: originals or copies of the extracts from registers, census records, parish\r\nregisters,\u00a0 lists of families, and other documents. Usually, files contain copies of\r\nthe protocols on confirmation and protocols on adding, Senate edicts, pictures of arms,\r\ngenealogical schemes, any other information in existence from the moment the application\r\nfor recognition was submitted, (as a rule, since1820 when people began to submit such\r\napplications in large numbers until 1917 when the last information on recognition was\r\nreceived). Archives of the Noble <\/strong>Deputies Assemblies preserved all files\r\non the nobility. They were kept there so as both to confirm the nobility of families and\r\nfor those persons who were transferred to the tax estates. The second copy of files of the\r\nconfirmed noble families was preserved in the Archives of Heraldry department in\r\nSaint\u00a0 Petersburg.<\/p>\r\n\r\n The fonds of the Noble Deputies Assemblies which existed in the territory of the\r\ncontemporary Belarus are kept in the following archives: \r\n\r\n
\r\nThe procedure of recognition and confirmation (approval) of shliakhta families of the\r\nformer Rech Pospolita as the noble families of the Russian Empire took place at the\r\nnobiliary deputies’ meetings. Information on each family (which had to pass through this\r\nconfirmation procedure) is reflected in the protocols of the Commission on Confirmation,\r\nin the family history records, and records on the nobility of the family.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n