Poll Tax Register of Viipuri and Savonlinna Counties, 1701

The poll tax register (henkikirja) of Viipuri and Savonlinna counties from 1701 is available as an e-book in two parts.

Part I: Viipuri County

Part I covers the county of Viipuri, including:

• Ranta district (kihlakunta)
• Lappee district
• Jääski district
• Äyräpää district
• Kyminkartano county

Part II: Savonlinna and Beyond

Part II covers:

• Savo’s three districts
• The city of Viipuri
• Combined index for both volumes

Why 1701?

The 1701 register was chosen for several reasons:

1. It falls in the years following the great famines of 1696–97, by which time the population had partially recovered, making coverage more representative than registers from the famine years themselves.
2. It is the last register from before the Great Northern War (which began 1700 but did not yet affect the Finnish interior). It thus captures the pre-war settlement of the region intact.
3. For East Finnish families, 1701 represents the last normal year before decades of disruption.

For Genealogists

Poll tax registers list all heads of household and taxpayers in a given year. They are an essential supplement to church records, especially for periods when church records are missing or incomplete. For the Viipuri and Savonlinna area, the 1701 register is a particularly valuable snapshot of families and settlement just before the catastrophe of the Great Northern War and the subsequent cession of much of the region to Russia at the Peace of Uusikaupunki (1721).