Major updates to Cemetery Databases and Best Genealogy Forums pages

Thanks to the surge of interest in genealogy in Russia and Ukraine, more resources are appearing online. That results in many new additions to the Cemetery Databases and Best Genealogy Forums pages.

I really didn’t expect to find many new databases for the Cemetery Databases page but a trend is spreading in Russia and other former USSR countries. Cemetery databases are appearing more online to build up cemetery maintenance businesses as more interest develops in genealogy.

It is a complete blessing to be able to find cemeteries documented online in Russia, Ukraine and other former USSR countries. Death records cannot be obtained in Russia until 100 years have passed and in Ukraine until 75 years have passed.

Many of the databases are in Russian but I explain on the Cemetery Databases page on how to use the websites with browser translators such as Google Translate.

The same is the case for the Best Genealogy Forums page. Those who truly want to make breakthroughs in their genealogy research need to try to use these forums in Russian and Ukrainian. Apps for browser translation really open opportunities to find relatives in the former USSR and fellow genealogy enthusiasts who will be eager to help you.

I repeatedly say this on my blog because one major mistake I made. Sixteen years ago, I found the All Russia Family Tree forum. I refused to try to learn how to use the forum, the largest genealogy forum for the Russian-speaking world.

When I realized years later I could combine my basic Russian language skills from my childhood and Google Translate to use this forum, I found that my grandfather’s nephew in Kyiv, Ukraine, was looking for my family. By the time I found his phone number online and had a friend in Moscow call his house, he was dead for two years already.

Thankfully, I connected with his daughter and she is visiting my house in July. We already met two years ago in Washington, D.C., but had I not been so stubborn I could have met her family and an army of cousins in Kyiv, my mother’s and her parents’ birthplace, a long time ago.

Now a war between Russia and Ukraine is preventing me to see my paternal grandmother’s brothers’ birthplaces in Luhansk and fear of terrorism is stopping me from visiting other areas of Ukraine.

Jump on any chance to use the resources on this blog. Challenging yourself will put you on a journey that cannot be imagined as I have shown in my blog posts. Stubbornness in genealogy only solidifies the cement holding up the brickwalls.

Follow this blog with the top right button to learn about other major updates to resources.

Related posts:
10 Mythbusters for making breakthroughs in Russian genealogy
The cure for fearing Russian-language genealogy websites to make breakthroughs
Secrets of searching the Internet in Russian and Ukrainian like a native speaker
Guide to Using the Best & Largest Russian Language Genealogy Forum (with a video guide)