More than 2.5 million people in the United States describe themselves as ethnic Russian, a significant presence, repeated to a lesser-extent in English-speaking countries the world over. How many more English speakers, particularly in the New World, have a Russian ancestor in their family tree? The genealogy craze means many are finding exactly that.

So why the Russian connection, so many miles away? Religion is a historical factor. Reform of the Russian orthodox church in the 17th century led to a massive split in the church, with ‘old believers’ traveling far to set up their own communities – many to the East, and the frontier lands of Siberia, and later, under continuing persecution, to the West. Religious persecution also forms part of the reason for repeated waves of Jewish-Russian migration, from the times of Tsarist pogroms, right through to the new emigration opportunities in the 1990s, after the end of the Soviet Union.

Still more can trace their Russian roots to the 1917 revolution and the civil war that accompanied it. Both the Tsarist White Army and the Bolshevik Red Army drew their followers from the population at large, and many found cause to flee when they realized they had not chosen the winning side. Particularly, those who had owned land pre-revolution were inclined to scarper, followed later by artists, poets and intellectuals of many descriptions, as the regime hardened.

How to begin your search? The best starting point for any family tree is living memory. Even if those who emigrated are long gone, auntie Lena may have picked up many clues to your origins at her grandmother’s knee, and may just need a little tea and prompting to reveal names, places, and circumstances from much further back. Be thorough, if your father doesn’t remember much family lore, is he maybe a youngest child, so might your aunts and uncles be of more use? You may even find that distant relatives have started your tree before, so get in touch. Web-sites like genesreunited, where you add your tree and search other member’s data, can lead to some big discoveries too, especially if you are not in contact with extended family.

Moving on to historical records, most countries keep ships’ listings for immigrants as far back as the 19th century, and searching these should give you arrival dates, age, ports of entry and origin. Look out for strange spellings, don’t forget these names were being transliterated from the Cyrillic alphabet, so if you’re searching online, keep your parameters very open. Be aware of Russian naming patterns, whereby both sons and daughters take a version of their father’s name as their middle name or patronymic – this is a valuable tool in tracing your family.

Does the search end there? Twenty years ago, the answer may have been yes. Now however, the field of Russian genealogy within Russia has lost its dangerous political credentials, and archives across the country are being opened up. Of course, this country’s land has been scorched more often than most of us change our hairstyles, however many records survive and some are even accessible abroad, having been microfilmed. Moving to Russia itself, it may well be necessary to use the services of a professional genealogist there to access and understand the records, so try to be as sure as you can of places and names before you do this. Meanwhile, if you have a place name, a simple search of the web can give you history and a wealth of other information to add meaning to your search, and maybe even pave the way for a trip.

The links below will give you a starting point for your search. Good luck!