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Business and Occupations

Guild Records

Guild records contain lists of merchants, craftsmen, tradesmen, skilled laborers, and persons bound by indenture to serve others for a prescribed period to learn an art, trade, or skill. The records reflect the Germanic heritage of the Hanseatic League in the Baltics. Records are extant from the 1500s-1920. These records can be used to identify family groups and ages. Records go beyond metrical books as a linkage source and are considered by genealogical researchers to be as important as metrical books.

The information which may be found in these records includes the names of skilled and unskilled laborers of all types of occupations, craftsmen, apprentices, ages or dates of birth, places of origin and residence, family relationships, types of skills, etc. Many records list all the family members with marriage dates of couples and birth dates of their children. Many records are deposited at the Tallinn City Archive. Approximately 30% of the population is identified in these records