The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS, or Mormon Church) has recently micofilmed the vital and marriage records of nearly 3,000 Greek Catholic parishes which are archived in the L'viv branch of the Central State Historical Archives of Ukraine (CSHA of Ukraine/L'viv)*. The records are from Greek Catholic parishes which were/are located in the former Austrian Crownland of Galizien (Galicia), Ukraine, Poland, and Belarus. The microfilms are available through the LDS' Family History Library (FHL).

* The Central State Historical Archives of Ukraine, L'viv Branch
Sobornosti Square, 3a
79008 L'viv
UKRAINE

this address might also be useful in your research:

Director of the Central State Historical Archives of Ukraine
110 Solomianska Street, 24
252601 Kyiv
UKRAINE

It is recommended that both addresses be also written in Ukrainian.

Директору
Центральний Державний Історичний Архів
ул. Соломяньска 110, к. 24
252601 Київ
УКРАЇНА

To determine if the FHL has the parish records you want: consult the FHL card catalog, which is called the Family History Library Catalog (FHLC). The FHLC is available via a computer or on microfiche at all branch libraries of the FHL system. [We recommend that you check both the computer and the microfiche versions of the FHLC because they are updated at different times.]
[Check the telephone yellow pages, under "CHURCHES - Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints-The Family History Centers-Genealogical Libraries" for the location of a FHL branch near you.]

In the FHLC, search for the following topic in the Locality Section of the FHLC: Ukraine/L'viv/Church Records - Greek Catholic Consistory of L'viv. Then search for the village name that you need. The numbers next to the village name are file numbers. If the file number is below 1208, the file is currently available on a reel of microfilm through the FHL rental program. There is a cross reference table that identifies which files are on what microfilm reels. [Note: orders are placed by the microfilm required, not the file(s) required.] The records contained in files having numbers above 1208 will be made available by the LDS in the future.

In general, the period covered by the records is 1607-1945. But, not all village records include birth, death and marriage entries for this period. Microfilm number 1921625 describes the specific records that are available for each village and period covered.

Below is a translation of the preface to the Greek Catholic parish records that was written in 1988 by D.I. Rusyn of the CSHA of Ukraine, L'viv.

The documents contained in Series 4A of Record Group 201 contains vital records (that is birth, marriage, and deathbooks), protocols for premarital interrogatories, minutes dealing with permission to marry, marriage records, and others. Record Group 201, in general, includes records from the territory of Galicia. A few of the records are from Volyn': from the villages of Wriszcze /file number 511, or #511/,Budiatyczi /#58a/, Wolodymir Wolynskyj /#918/, and others; from Belarus: villages of Al'biani /#5-#35/, Antopol' /#43/, and others; from the Czech Republic: villages of Litomislia, Opaka, and the City of Prague /#5962 and #5983/.

The general period covered by these records is 1607-1945. Specifically, the vital record books of Sicziv cover 1607-1755, /#5073/; books for Oleszyczi cover 1700-1799, /#4201/; books for Morozowyczi cover 1701-1820, /#3945/, etc.

The books were written in Latin , Polish, and Ukrainian languages.
But, some were written utilizing cyrillic alphabet: records for the village of Zaboloci /#1998/, village of Suchodoly/#5492/, etc.

Certain birth records are artistically decorated /#1998/, some contain notes for church songs /#4276/, etc.

Some books contain references about the war against Turkey in the Balkan States, about Austria's preparations for war, and others.

Birth records of Ukrainian writers, literary critics, students of folklore are present: Markian Szaszkewicz /#4479/, Iwan Franko /#4023/, Julia Sznajder (Uliana Krawczenko) /#3841/, Filaret Kolesa /#7207/, Wasyl Szczurat /#6331/, Ambrosyj Buczma /#3439/, etc.

The documents can also be used to study socio-legal topics. In particular, this collection contains a considerable number of copies of certificates containing heraldic attestations, on paper, with soot, wax, and ink seals from the 18th - 20th century.

Prior to 1987, the vital records were kept and referred to as number 4, 4a, 4b, 4v, 4h supplement, and 5. During preparatory work, all vital record books were arranged, decoded, titles were re-edited, dates were reconfirmed along with the localities. Records were re-indexed in alphabetical order by locality. At the end of 1987, this Archive obtained over 1,000 of previously unknown vital record books from district, urban, and regional ZAHS archives (i.e., registry offices). They were all worked on and incorporated.

An index by locality has been created.

Above translation by: Walter Maksimovich, June 11, 1997

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Date Posted: June 12th, 1997
Last Revision: March 9th, 2002

Shnook-O-Meter since Jun 13 1997

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