Belarus Gazetteers

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Belarus

Gazetteers

Gazetters are invaluable resources for finding out about your ancestor's town/village. Often, this is the place to find out the name of the church deaney/deaconate. -You need the deanry/deaconate name to find church records.

Belarus was created from five imperial provinces: Minsk, Vilno, Vitebsk, Mogilev and Grodno.

Słownik Geograficzny Available Online

The Geographical Dictionary of the Kingdom of Poland and Other Slavonic Countries (in Polish) Słownik Geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego i Innych Krajów Słowiańskich is available by book, microfilm, CD and now online. It is very useful resource for the period 1864-1918. The Slownik includes descriptions of villages,towns and cities in what is now Belarus and Lithuania as well as Poland.
A searchable version is available at Domena Internetowych Repozytoriów Wiedzy

Polish Roots - Tips on how to access and use the Słownik Geograficzny. This page also has a list of towns for which the Słownik Geograficzny has already been translated from Polish into English.

Belarus was created from five imperial provinces: Minsk, Vilno, Vitebsk, Mogilev and Grodno.

Gazetteers were published for all of these provinces except Grodno. The references are below:

Minsk. Yarmolovich, V. S. Spisok naselennykh mest Minskoi gubernii [Populated places in Minsk Province]. Minsk, 1909. (Film 1,923,576 item 1)

Mogilev. Pozharov, G. P. Spisok naselennykh mest Mogilevskoi gubernii [Populated places in Mogilev Province]. Mogilev, 1910. (Film 1,923,576 item 2)

Vitebsk. Spisok naselennykh mest Vitebskoi gubernii [Populated places in Vitebsk Province]. Vitebsk, 1906. (Film 1,923,576 item 3)

Vilno. Spisok volostei i sel'skikh obshchestv po mirovym uchastkom Vilenskoi gubernii [List of volosts & towns by court district, Vilnius Prov.]. Vilnius, 1873. (Film 2,268,932 item 3)

Administrativno-territorial'noe ustroistvo B.S.S.R. (2 Vol.) FHL INTL Reference book 947.8 Ea.

Tsentral'noe Statisticheskoe Biuro B.S.S.R. Spisok naselennykh miest B.S.S.R. (b. Minskoi gubernii). FHL INTL film 2044163, item 1.

Belarusian Gazetteer

Belarus is divided into six provinces called oblasts. A series оf gazetteers, with a volume for each oblast, was published between 2003 and 2010 and called Назвы населеных пунктаў рэспублiкi Беларусь (Nazvy naselenykh punktaŭ Rėspubliki Belarus' : (Name of oblast) voblasts'). (Names of inhabited places of the Republic of Belarus: Name of oblast)

Brest - Бресцкая вобласць (Intl. Ref. Area 947.89 5En)

Gomel - Гомельская вобласць (Intl. Ref. Area 947.81 E2n)

Grodno - Гродзенская вобласць (Intl. Ref. Area 947.88 E5n)

Minsk - Мінкская вобласць (Intl. Ref. Area 947.8 E5pma)

Mogilev - Магилёўская вобласць (Intl. Ref. Area 947.82 E2n)

Vitebsk - Віцебская вобласць (Intl. Ref. Area 947.84 E2h)

These volumes can only be used at the Family History Library while they are recently published and covered by copyright and cannot be filmed and circulated. Each volume has

a foreword in both Belarusian (Прадмова) and Russian (Предисловие),
a list of abbreviations (see below),
and the Belarusian Cyrillic alphabet with transliterations and examples.

The main body of the text, written in Belarusian, presents the locality names in order of:

province (oblast, область),
district (raion, раён) and
village council (selsovet, сельсавет) (generally not listed in genealogical documents),
and then the various locality names (nazva, назва).

At the end of each volume there are four comprehensive locality lists with reference to page numbers;

in Belarusian (Паказальнiк назваў населеных пунктаў на беларускай мове)
in Latin writing (Паказальнiк назваў населеных пунктаў лацiнцкай графiкай)
in Russian (Паказальнiк назваў населеных пунктаў на рускай мове)
old locality names (Паказальнiк страчаных назваў населеных пунктаў)

Abbreviations:

аг. – аграгарадок -- agricultural town
ак. – аколiца -- surroundings
в. - вёска -- village
выс. – выселак -- settlement
г. - горад -- town, city
г.п. – гарадскі пасёлак -- settlement
ж. – жаночы род -- feminine gender
з. – засценак -- jail
к.п. – курортны посёлак -- resort
м. – мужчынскі род -- masculine gender
мн.- множны лік -- plural
м-к –маёнтак -- manor
мяст. –мястэчка -- Jewish settlement
н. – ніякі род -- neutral gender
п. – пасёлак -- settlement
п/с – пасялковы савет -- settlement council
п-ча – паселішча -- settlement
рзд – раз’езд -- road fork
с. – сяло -- bigger village
р.п. – рабочы пасёлак -- industrial settlement
с/с – сельсавет -- village council
ст. – станцыя -- station
ф. – фальварак -- manor farm
х. – хутар -- single outlying agricultural dwelling
ц. вобл. – центр вобласці -- provincial capital
ц. п/с – центер пасялковага савета -- village center
ц. р-на – центр раёна -- district center
ц. с/с – центер сельскага савета -- settlement center
чыг. ст. – чыгуначная станцыя -- railroad station
чыг. р-д – чыгуначны раз'езд-- railroad fork

Column Headings

ЯЗНЕНСКИ СЕЛЬСАВЕТ

JAZNENSKI VILLAGE COUNCIL

Центр --- в. Язна

Center -- village Jazna

Назвы населеных пунктаў і парадыгмы іх скланения

Locality names and examples of their declensions

Тып населiшча	Назва на беларыскай мове	Род (лик)	Парадыгма скланеня	Транслитарацыя на лацiнку	Назва на рускай мове
Type of settlement	Locality name in Belarusian	Gender (number)	Example of Declensions	Locality name in Latin Letters	Locality Name in Russian

Варыянты назваў населеных пунктаў

Variations of locality names

Тып населiшча	Асноўная назва	Варыянты
Type of settlement	Basic locality name	Variations

СТРАЧАНЫЯ НАЗВЫ

LOCALITY NAMES NO LONGER IN USE

Назвы, якия ўжываюцца да цяперашняга часу

Locality names which are still used

No п/п	Назва на рускай мове	Адмiнiстрацыйнае падпарадкаванне (пасялковы або сельскi Савет дэпутатаў)
Running number	Locality name in Russian	Administrative jurisdiction (settlement or village council)

Additional Geographic Resources

Gazetteers for Belarus, Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania links to many villages

More information about how to access and use the Słownik is available from Steve's Genealogy Blog

Janenowak 01:31, 3 January 2015 (UTC)