The extracts of baptisms (or births), marriages and deaths of Armenians of Jerusalem, whether Kaghakatsi or Vanketsi, date back only to around 1840, a period of over one and a half centuries.
     Given the fact that Armenians have been living in Jerusalem for over ten centuries, the records presented here represent a mere fraction of the demographic history of the Holy Land.
    The records are part of the archives of the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem, and were made accessible to us through the support and encouragement of the late Archbishop Torkom Manougian, the reformist 96th Patriarch, a firm believer in "glasnost" and "perestroika" who will also be remembered for his reconstruction efforts.
     The records, or "domar"s in Armenian, were photographed by one of Jerusalem's leading photographers, Garo Nalbandian - a labor of love that saw him painstakingly film the 250 pages of the three "domar"s.
     Due to obvious privacy concerns, the pages are available for viewing only to bona fide Armenians of Jerusalem whose ancestors appear there.
     The project is also making available a one-in-all Family Tree file (in PDF, Acrobat, format) which lists the names and relationship of family and clan members of over 3,000 members of the  Kaghakatsi "tiefeh" (community), based on information supplied by friends whose contributions are appreciated and gratefully acknowledged here.
     However, despite all their help and all our efforts, gaps in our presentation still exist - and visitors may also come across some entries that might be duplications.
     Until such time, therefore, when the spirit will move other members of the community to come forward with their input, we shall have to be satisfied with what we have been able to salvage as we struggle against unremitting attrition that sees the number of elder members of the Kaghakatsi, valuable repositories of vital genealogical and historical information about the community, dwindle.