Can anyone tell me anything about this Russian document that my grandpa has??

Question

This is the only document that my grandpa has from his mother, my great grandma Zinaida (born in Samara, Russia, her birthname was Nikiforov) for her parents, her father was Alexander Dimitriej Nikiforov of Russia (I don't know if I spelled first & middle name correctly, my grandpa has also spelled it Alexandrs Dimitrio Nikiforov and I am uncertain which is more close to being the right spelling) but he was an officer in the tsar army who apparently died in battle fighting the Bolsheviks (a very dashing looking man, see him here https://www.wikitree.com/photo.php/b/b8/Nikiforov-2.jpg in full dress uniform), and her mother who was Emma Maria Katarina Nikiforov (her birthname was Doring with the 2 dots above the o, again my spelling of her first and middle names might be a little off, she was born in Latvia). But this is the only document that my grandpa has for them. I apologize for the quality of the document, it is old and has been through ALOT, but can ANYONE please help that knows how to read Russian that can help tell me what this is a document of and what it says? 

Comments

Brandy, that is an absolute treasure - you are so fortunate to have it!

I can't help with translation, but if you edit your question and add the tag:  language  then it should help get the attention of someone who can translate it.  I know we have some Russian language people here and I expect one of them will show up here soon!

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Thank you! Great advice, I will!

Answer 1

I can not translate it into English, please try to use Google translator.

СВИДЕТЕЛЬСТВО
Настоящим удостоверяется на основании заявления гражданина Александру Дмитриевичу Никифорову в метрической книге церкви Воскресенской города Самары за тысяча девятьсот четырнадцатый год 1914 г. в части о родившихся под № 421 написано Сентября 26 рождена, 27 крещена Зинаида. Родители ея: канцелярский служитель второго разряда Самарского губернского правления Александр Дмитриевич Никифоров и жена Эмма Александрова лютеранского вероисповедания, отец православного вероисповедания.
Заведывающий отделом /подпись/
Секретарь /подпись/
Архивариус /подпись/

Дмитриевич (Dmitriyevich) is so called "otchestvo", it means his father was Dmitriy.
The document has a seal with the date on it: 28 July 1926 (number 6 uncertain).

Comments

Natalia, that is awesome!  Here is the output from Google Translate:

"CERTIFICATE
This is to certify on the basis of the application of citizen Alexander Dmitrievich Nikiforov in the metric book of the Church of the Resurrection City of Samara in the year 1,141 of the year 1414, in part of the birth of No. 421 written September 26 was born, 27 baptized Zinaida. Her parents: clerical second-class clerk of the Samara provincial government, Alexander Dmitrievich Nikiforov and wife of Emma Aleksandrov, a Lutheran confession, father of the Orthodox faith.
Department head / signature /
Secretary / signature /
Archivist / signature / "

I love Google Translate. 

Answer 2

Not to get your hopes up, as I cannot read much, but English... It looks like some sort of official documentation that has to do with registering an address. Like a passport, almost. Fascinating. Can you estimate the date that it was used?

Comments

I still appreciate you for trying to help, that's wonderful, so thank you! But if I was to have to make a guess on the time period this was made then I would have to assume (loosely around) 1910-1914, but I would pin-point it around 1912-1914. There's always that chance I could be wrong, how wrong I could be? That I'm not sure!

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Given the political climate of the time with pogroms, a Jewish history center might be able to assist, too. See if you can email it if one is not anywhere near you.

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Thanks for the advice, that's a great idea, that thought never really occured to me. I never really asked anybody for help to read it for me until now, so I never thought about it, but I will definately give it a shot!

Answer 3

Have you tried google translate? I think it has a feature to attempt translating handwriting with a picture of the item.

Comments

Yes, so far I haven't found a handwriting/camera translator that has been able to yet. I have only tried 3 different ones and so far the results have been, not able to recognize the language or when i tried to do it in smaller portions I kept getting "nothing to scan" and the end result for other one translated it to a0 nothing else, just a0. I think it's because of the condition of the document itself or the dotted lines in between all the handwritten text, or it could even be a combination of the two that is making it unrecognizable. But I will keep trying to find one that can, but I'm not too positive that I will find one that can.

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Could you transcribe it to typed text using a Cyrillic font maybe?  Then maybe a translation program could make sense of it for you.

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Cyrillic handwriting is not the same as text.  You have to first convert the handwriting to the appropriate text characters and then you could translate it.  This is quite time consuming ~ you'll have better luck lining up for a proper Russian translation.

Answer 4

You need a clearer photo - better yet, put it in a scanner and make a high quality scan.  You should do this anyways because the document, eventually, will fall apart.  The sooner you scan it, the better.  Then you'll have it (digitally) forever.

I was not able to even translate the opening line in text because I can't read it on my computer monitor.

I believe it is the registering of a birth in 1914 - it is a certificate that records that (in the church books) there is a record of birth.  I'm assuming that this is - more or less - Zinaida's birth certificate.

Wow, not easy to read; what I can pick out from this copy (and I'm sure an expert will swoop in and translate this whole thing for you, so this will just have to be a teaser):

* right in the middle of the top half, you'll see год/

this is "gohd," or "year," and right next to that you can see 1914 and what looks like a "2"

* look down 4 lines, (two lines below под) - the first word, what looks like:

Busioiuga or Bunuuga is Zinaida.  In Russian cursive, a g is a d.

Answer 5

It is the birth certificate of Zinaida which was given to Aleksander Dmitirievich Nikiforov. The birth date is 26 September 1914. Do you need the whole translation? It may take a while.

Answer 6

Did you find someone to translate? If not i will take a crack at it  or absolutely have someone who can

Comments

As you might have read above those who have been so very helpful in trying to help me figure it out, and I am VERY appreciative however, I am VERY confused and now more perplexed than ever, because my great grandma Zinaida's birthday was 9th October 1914 not September. And I even brought this to my grandpa's attention and asked him about about the confusion of being read a different day of her birth as it has been read to me. He never learned the Russian language and only knows the Latvian and English language, so he is just as confused as I am. He is very certain that she was born on October 9th, because it says October 9th on every document she had that he now has. So out of respect, I do not question my grandpa on what I do not know.

Another confusing thing is one of the above translator helpers mentioned that this birth registration or certificate was "given" to Aleksander Dimitrievich Nikiforov rather than just simply naming him on it. My great grandma Zinaida always said that her father Aleksander Dimitrievich Nikiforov was killed by the Bolsheviks fighting in the Tsar Army before she was born. So he was not alive when she was born.

Obviously I do not know Russian, so I certainly cannot agree or disagree to what someone says that they read on it and on top of that, I am in no position to agree to disagree with anything that my grandpa says. So I just really do not know. Ha <laughs awkwardly> It would be sooooo great if you knew for certain what it reads if you could give a confident translation, that would be awesome. So if it is not problem, please do and thank you.

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9th October (new stil) = 26 September (old stil in Russia)

Yes, this document was give to Aleksander in 1920. Also, he was not killed by Bolsheviks.

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Can you please elaborate?