GUIDE TO FAMILY HISTORY RESEARCH
INTRODUCTION
Genealogy or
family history research is a time-consuming, complicated and demanding work. At
the same time, its result is often very uncertain because, besides practical
experience, special skills and knowledge, as well as persistence, it requires
some good luck, too. In most cases, people start it as a hobby, for amusement or
from curiosity, then, in many instances it becomes a lifetime passion. On the
one hand, snobbism, prestige or fashion, can not be ruled out as motivating
factors, not to mention its increasing popularity as a business activity. On the
other hand, genealogy also serves much more practical purposes like acquiring
citizenship or permissions to reside, as well as inheritance cases, changing of
names, compensations and restitution, and more occasionally, scientific
purposes, e.g. demographic analyses, sociological, ethnographical or public
health surveys.
It must be
mentioned at the outset that, regarding the great majority of research cases,
there are no complete family histories, even less family trees. Only an
insignificant part of the families went through a full-scale genealogical
research, has perfect family history publications or deduced family tree (e.g.
some aristocrat and noble families whose private archives have been transferred
to the custody of a certain institution, or have been published in book form.
About commoner and peasant families data or references may be found in local
history related publications. In the case of nobles, family trees have also been
made for practical reasons. During the 17th-19th centuries, sometimes even
earlier, nobles kept record of their relatives by family trees in order to prove
who had what rights to the family's domains. In aristocratic circles it was a
point of prestige that how far could a family trace back its pedigree in time.
Family tree making had become a real cult. Sometimes, this "rivalry" resulted in
extreme, even bizarre instances, as mirrored in some family archives. For
example, the ducal branch of the Esterházy family had its history traced back as
far as Adam.
Researchers
have to use different source materials to nobility research and to families of
civic, serf, German, Jewish, etc. origin, respectively. The most frequently used
languages in the written sources preserved in the Archives are Latin ( the
official language of administration in Hungary, as late as the end of the
1830s); Turkish (in Arabic letters); Hungarian; German (in Gothic letters);
Church Slavonic (in Cyrillic letters); and more occasionally Hebrew. In most
cases, the sources are hand-written documents or registers which makes them even
more difficult to read. Consequently, genealogical research requires a certain
level of linguistic, palaeographic, as well as historical knowledge.
The first major
group of sources derives from oral tradition. However, the reliability of such
sources usually goes only as far as the time of grandparents or, sometimes,
great-grandparents. Accordingly, because of the unreliability of oral tradition,
in many cases, the research of written sources is necessary even beyond the time
of grandparents. Sometimes, notes on family events (births, baptisms,
confirmations, marriages, deaths, etc.) written in old prayer-books, Bibles or
other old and precious books, as well as photo albums preserved in the family
can prove to be helpful. Many families have their own little "archives". Due to
the compulsory preparation of proofs of origin ordered by the anti-Jewish acts
of the 1940s, a significant amount of documents concerning the ancestors seems
likely to survive from that period (mainly birth, marriage or death
certificates). From the middle of the 19th century, printed death-notices
(mourning-cards) had come into fashion. In many cases, besides the nearest
lineal relatives (husband and wife, children, parents, grandparents),
death-notices mention the more remote and collateral relatives (the so called
alliances by marriage), as well. In the National Széchényi Library an about
800,000-piece death-notice collection can be found. Printed funeral orations
(sermons), obituaries published in newspapers before funerals, as well as
acknowledgements and obituaries published after funerals contain similar
information about the family of the deceased. Information about a family's
history and origins can also be gathered from other newspaper articles,
advertisements, contemporary news, reports, feuilletons, and events. It's worth
reading funerary registers and epitaphs, too. Other written sources are
chronicles, (auto-)biographies, almanacs (annals), school registers, memoirs,
etc.
The parish
registers are the most reliable and indispensable sources of family history
research. It was Pope Pius IV who, as a result of the deliberations of the
Council of Trent, ordered the introduction of regular registration in 1563. In
Hungary, in the case of the Roman Catholic Church the Council of Nagyszombat
ordered the introduction and maintenance of parish registers at the beginning of
the Counter-Reformation in 1611, though sparse registrations occurred at some
places before that time, too. Regarding Protestant churches, the full powers to
keep registers was granted by Emperor Joseph Habsburg II, in 1785. However, at
some special localities (loca articularia), registration had begun much earlier.
In Hungary, the regular and compulsory registration of Israelite population was
introduced as late as the Bach Era (July 1851), but in that case, too, there
were places where registration had begun long before that date.
The microfilm
collection of the National Archives of Hungary holds the duplicates of parish
registers from the localities of the present territory of Hungary, created by
the historical churches - the Roman Catholic, Greek Catholic, Greek Orthodox,
Calvinist, Lutheran and Israelite, before 1st October 1895. In addition, the
National Archives, in small numbers, preserves microfilms of registers of the
Baptist, Unitarian and Nazarene small churches. Some copies of registers from
the territory of the historical Hungary, existed before the Treaty of Trianon,
can also be found in the Archives: mainly from Upper Hungary (from the
Csallóköz), Southern Hungary (from Bácska), the Northern Borderland
(Burgenland), the Mura region (in Slovenia), the Drávaszög (the southern part of
Baranya - today in Croatia), as well as some registers from ethnic Hungarian
villages in Bukovina.
Public (state)
registration was introduced on 1st October 1895. From that date registers have
been preserved at mayoral offices, whereas duplicates have been transferred to
the competent territorial (county) archives.
Before starting
a research in the registers, researchers need to know the wanted person's or
family's place of residence, religion, as well as his place and approximate date
of birth/marriage/death.
SUGGESTED METHOD OF RESEARCH IN THE PARISH REGISTERS
Since the main
and most important sources of genealogy are the parish registers, we briefly
speak about the technique of research as well. It is always practical to proceed
backwards in time (parents, grand parents, great-grandparents…). Besides taking
notes, it may prove to be useful to make a family tree sketch to the very bottom
of which you write the name of the starting person. Above that, write the name
of the father to the left hand side, and the name of the mother to the right.
Above the name of the father come the paternal grandparents, above the mother's
name the maternal grandparents; then above all that write the names of the
great-grandparents (8), the great-great-grandparents (16), (…) the progenitors
(64), etc. This is the so called lineal family tree. Of course, the family tree
sketch, and the research that goes with it, becomes increasingly complex and
complicated if you study and indicate the collateral lines of descent, too.
As computer
technology develops, recently the particulars of ancestors are often put into
the computer. Computerized data processing can facilitate the analysis of the
proper degree of relationship between ancestors and makes easier to establish
the correct chronological order. The National Archives of Hungary has no such
genealogical database, therefore you cannot search for data on individuals by
computer.
In case you
know the place and date of birth, as well as the religion of the wanted
ancestor, then you have the appropriate point of reference on the basis of which
you can start the research. For example, let us suppose that you know about
József Tóth that he was born on 20th October 1891, in Szabadka, and that he was
of Roman Catholic religion. In Szabadka, at the end of the 19th century there
were three Roman Catholic parishes where registration occurred (St. Theresa, St.
George and St. Rókus). If you do not know at which parish he was baptized, you
need to look over all three of them. Say that you have found the birth (i.e.
baptism) entry of József Tóth in the register of St. Theresa parish. From the
birth entry, in addition to the place and date of birth, as well as the name,
sex and legal status of the new-born, you get information about his parents,
István Tóth and Gizella Ágoston, and his godparents, too. In case of a more
precise register entry, the parents' place of origin and residence, profession,
religion, the name of the baptizer, the name of the midwife, etc. may be
discovered. The same applies to the godparents particulars. In the next move you
search for the marriage entry of István Tóth and Gizella Ágoston in the register
of marriages. In many instances, you need to look over the registrations of
15-20 years, sometimes even more, as in those days 10-15 children were born in
one family. Suppose that you have found the wanted entry, the marriage of István
Tóth and Gizella Ágoston, on 20th November 1885. The marriage entry can also
contain many important information which later may further your research. For
instance, besides the particulars of the bride and bridegroom (name, age, place
of birth and residence, religion), the personal data of the parents and wedding
witnesses, the date of announcement, miscellaneous comments, etc. At the time of
the marriage the bridegroom was 22 years old, the bride 19. Consequently, István
Tóth was born around 1863, and Gizella Ágoston around 1866. It is advisable,
however, to treat the dates calculated this way as approximate data and check
the registrations some years backward and forward, because in old times, in many
instances, registration dates were treated somewhat "flexibly", especially in
the case of brides. In such cases name indexes can prove to be useful. For
example, it can turn out that the bride (Gizella Ágoston) was born in 1868
instead of 1866, so she was only 17 at the time of her marriage. In case you
have found the birth entries of István Tóth and Gizella Ágoston, (e.g. István
Tóth, born: 20th December 1862, name of father: József Tóth, name of mother:
Vera Porkoláb; Gizella Ágoston, born: 25th March 1868, parents: Ferenc Ágoston
and Ágnes Galacz) you can turn back to the registers of marriages and start
searching for the marriage of József Tóth and Vera Porkoláb proceeding backward
in time from 1862, or the marriage of Ferenc Ágoston and Ágnes Galacz proceeding
backward in time from 1868. The found data can be added to the family tree
sketch or a photocopy can be made of the microfilm.
In an ideal
case, by means of the research technique described above, the family tree can be
traced back continuously even for 250-300 years (about 8-10 generations),
however it all depends on many different factors. First and foremost on the
researcher's experience, language skills and handwriting expertise, as well as
on such objective factors as the time and accuracy of registrations, the
mobility of the family in point (peasant families were the most immobile,
soldiers, merchants, railwaymen and clerks conducted a much more migratory
life), the possible changing of names (Magyarized names!) or religions, etc. The
marriage service usually happened at the place of birth or residence of the
bride. In case of an engaged couple where the bride and the bridegroom belonged
to different Christian churches, the religion of the bride was determinant.
The sketch of
the explored family tree of the Tóth family looks as follows:
OBSTACLES AND DIFFICULTIES OF RESEARCH IN PARISH REGISTERS
Of course,
research is rarely as simple as that. Many researchers, for lack of proper
information about their families, find serious difficulties even in tracing back
their origins until 1895. If there is no indication at the last known entry of
the place/date of birth or residence of the explored/found ancestor, or there
are inaccurate data - that is where difficulties begin. These concepts were
frequently mixed up and the priests who kept the records often used the
definitions of the place of birth and residence, which were not the same in
every case, inconsistently. In such cases, the most practical solution is to
look over some years forward and backward in the registers of the last known
entry, supposing that you are lucky enough to find the place of origin or birth
of your explored and known ancestor's parents at one of his/her elder or younger
brother's or sister's register record. According to the general practice, in the
absence of definite birth/origin information, the great majority of researchers
continues research in the registers of the appropriate religions of the
surrounding localities. In many cases, taking the last known place as their
starting-point, they look over all the registers of the localities situated
within a radius of 10, 20, 30 kilometres or even more. This is an enormous work,
and even this can turn out to be useless. Rarely but not impossibly
registrations of one religion can be found in the register of another religion
(e.g. a Calvinist in a Lutheran or a Greek Catholic in a Roman Catholic), as
that denomination had no parish or church at the time or it was too far away
from there. In some cases, supplementary genealogical sources may help to solve
such problems (see the next chapter).
Rare family
names often encourage inexperienced researchers. The appearance of such a name
in another place, county or region, and its unchecked use, in most cases leads
astray and more rarely to the expected solution. At the same time, a too common
surname (e.g. Horvát[h], Kis[s], Kovács, Nagy, Német[h], Pap[p], Szabó, Tót[h],
Varg[h]a, etc.) can be equally deceiving. In such a case, the most advisable is
to check such other data of the record as the address, street-number, names of
the godparents/wedding witnesses, etc. These can be decisive in identifying the
possible circle of persons. Sometimes, registrars used cognomens or nicknames as
official family names, or used alternately and mixed actual family names and
cognomens.
Inaccurate,
imperfect or missing register items can also put an end to a research or at
least can make it extremely difficult. As mentioned above, in the 19th century
and earlier, registration happened by oral declaration. As a result, especially
in the case of outlandish surnames (German, Polish, Slovak, Croat, etc.)
mis-spelling was very frequent. There are instances where a certain person's
surname is differently spelt whenever it appears in the registers. Sometimes,
the registration of a new-born baby had simply been missed out from the
register. If a village or small farm lay far away from the parish-church, the
baby was weakling and on top of it all there was a cold winter and huge snow,
then the midwife fleetingly baptized the baby. If the parents later forgot to
announce all this to the parish priest, the baby's birth simply could not appear
in the register. Wars, revolutions and other unusual events also affected the
accuracy of registrations. This way many persons were registered as legally dead
10-15 years after the actual date of their death, usually with the date and
place where eyewitnesses had seen them to die in battle or last seen them alive.
Even so, many of them were missed out from the registers of deaths and
disappeared in the storms of history. Sometimes whole pages or years are missing
from parish registers as a result of fires, floods or just for the lack of
priests. If a parish priest died and there was no chaplain, registration
stopped. Until the middle of the 19th century the parents of newly married
couples were rarely indicated in the registers. For example, István Kiss, (20)
and Anna Varga, (19) got married on 27 October 1842. Let us presume that,
between 1822 and 1823, 3 Anna Varga-s and 4 István Kiss-s were born in the same
town or village. As there is no information about the young couple's parents at
the marriage registration, in the absence of identification data (e.g. street
name, street-number, godparents, etc.) the research can stall. Registers of
deaths can still be looked over to exclude some of the persons with the same
names who possibly died before the date of the marriage. From the 80s and 70s of
the 18th century backwards, there were frequent inaccuracies in the
registrations of births, as well. Usually, the mother's family name was not
recorded. For example, István (Stephanus), born on 15 August 1783; parents:
Péter Sípos (Petrus) and Anna. In such cases, the researcher should search for
the possible brothers and sisters of István in the registers of births created
before and after 1783, supposing that, after all, at one of their records the
family name of the mother appears. If this does not lead to the expected result,
one should search for the marriage registration of Péter Sípos and Anna. If you
have good luck and find it, usually there must be indication of the bride's
family name. Even so, you can still find more marriages of persons with the same
names. In that case, the "real" couple must be identified by means of other
registry items. Similar inaccuracies may be found in early registers of
marriages and deaths, too (e.g. on 2nd August 1775, János Farkas (Joannes) and
Ilona (Helena) got married). When, at the end of the 18th century and the
beginning of the 19th century, churches switched over from continuous
registration to the registration with tables and columns, such inefficiencies
became less frequent but did not completely disappear. As a general
characteristic, the older the registers are, the more inaccurate they are, the
less data they contain and the more difficult they are to read.
Of course,
besides parish registers, mainly as supplementary material, researchers can also
use other sources, e.g. national, county and local census returns, as well as
lists of taxation and church-rates (tithe, Regesta Decimarum), terriers,
copyhold tables, annexes of reports on canonical visitations (Visitationes
canonicae), i.e. the Conscriptiones animariums (census of souls), (military)
recruitment lists, school registers and almanacs, etc.
By means of
these sources it is not possible to trace the continuity of generations, but
sometimes they may have significant role in filling gaps. At this stage, mention
must be made of the Historia domus, a record kept in parish-churches and
chaplaincies. These records may serve with many information about the history of
a town or village, as well as the life of the believers and the whole
population. For example about the construction of the church and the school, the
starting date of registration, succursal churches, settlements or relocations,
revolutions and wars, epidemics, floods and fires, weather, etc. Local history
monographs also often include helpful genealogical information.
If the subject
of the research is a noble family it is always practical to begin with studying
the relevant literature. The literature concerning nobility is exceptionally
abundant and extensive. The most effective research can be done in major public
libraries (e.g. the National Széchényi Library or the better supplied county
libraries) or in minor but specialised libraries of museums and archives (e.g.
the Library of the National Archives). Only after studying the secondary
literature it is advisable to start research into the primary archival sources
(see the enclosure). The great majority of researchers is satisfied with finding
the family crest or "sheepskin" (patent of nobility) and the donatory
(ancestor). Only very few take pains to deduce the line of descent between the
two ends and to explore the age-long hiatus systematically. We remark that in
Hungary nobiliary privileges were abrogated as early as the period following the
1948-1849 revolution and war of independence, however, the sovereign granted
arms as late as 1918. The noble title, privileges and status were terminated on
the basis of Article 1. of Act IV/1947: "On termination of certain positions and
titles".
In addition to
the parish registers the most practical means of research to study the past of
civic families is the archives of the relevant city/town. The city of Budapest
(Archives of the City of Budapest; 1052 Budapest, Városház u. 9-11),
Székesfehérvár, as well as Győr and Tatabánya have their own city archives.
Archives of other cities are usually integrated with the competent county
archives. Of course, research in the National Archives may also prove to be
successful. In the first place, the national census returns of 1715, 1720 and
1828 may be taken into account.
For those
interested in the history of serf families, similarly to civic families,
(besides parish registers) it is most practical to start with census returns.
Coming to know that at which landlord's domain the family lived, the next move
is the same as in the case of market-town commoners, research must continue in
the family archives of the relevant landlord. In the case of serf or cottar
(landless) families it is also advisable to look over terriers (archival
call-number C 59), census returns (E 156), as well as church-rate and tithe
indexes (Regesta decimarium, E 159), accounts and receipts.
Researchers
interested in German settlements of the 18th century (mainly to Baranya, Tolna,
the Bakony, Bácska and the Banat) may have luck, in case the settlers got to the
southern part of Hungary between 1781 and 1790 as a result of Chamber
settlements. Several publications have appeared concerning German settlements;
the works of Werner Hacker are highly recommended.
However, if the
settlers in point did not get to Hungary in the course of the settlements of
1781-1790, it is almost sure that the relevant list of settlers should be
searched for in Vienna.
Neither will
the name of the settlers appear in the list if they got to Hungary otherwise
than in the framework of Chamber settlements. The names of German settlers
brought to Hungary by private landlords (e.g. the Germans in the Bakony, Baranya
or the Swabians of Tolna) can only be found in the family archives of the
relevant private landlord in very fortunate cases.
Otherwise, in
the case of German settlers the same sources must be looked over as in the case
of civic or peasant families. The census returns of 1828 must be studied, as at
the time of its preparation the settlers already lived in Hungary.
OTHER FAMILY HISTORY SOURCES IN THE
NATIONAL ARCHIVES
In terms of
genealogy, the following sources may also prove to be valuable: county census
returns and (county) general assembly protocols, the cadastral land survey
records from the age of Joseph Habsburg II, military recruitment lists
(Rekrutierungs-register; microfilm collection: B 283-B 967), the nobiliary
records from the recent territory of Hungary (Acta Nobilium Comitatuum,
16th-19th centuries; the original records are kept in the competent county
archives; microfilm collection: boxes B 1121-B 1430, B 1564- B 1583).
As a result of
the economic crisis at the end of the 19th century, until the outbreak of World
War I more than 3 million people emigrated from the territory of the
Austro-Hungarian Monarchy to America, hundreds of thousands of whom were
Hungarians. In fact, the emigration-fever reached Hungary as early as the
beginning of the 1880s. According to statistical accounts, between 1899 and
1913, 1.390.525 persons emigrated from the territory of the Kingdom of Hungary,
among them 400.000 Hungarians, mostly through the seaports of Fiume and Hamburg.
More than 86% of the emigrants settled down in the USA. The third and fourth
generations of the emigrants descendants give a considerable proportion of
foreign family history researchers. Most of them no longer speaks Hungarian, and
they have only very confused and inaccurate memories about their families
(names, places of birth/marriage, dates, etc.). American researchers tend to
generalise - e.g. his/her grandfather/great-grandfather was born/died or got
married somewhere in the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, presumably in Budapest;
his/her grandfather/great-grandfather served in the Monarchy's army and died in
World War I, one of his/her great-great-grandfathers was the soldier of Kossuth,
etc.
Regarding
genealogy, we recommend Hungarian-speaking American researchers the following
publications: Puskás Julianna: Kivándorló magyarok az Egyesült Államokban
1880-1940. Budapest, 1982. and Tezla Albert: "Valahol túl, meseországban, …"- Az
amerikás magyarok 1895-1920. Budapest, 1987. (this latter has an English
translation, too: The Hazardous Quest. Hungarian immigrants in the United
States. Budapest, 1993.) From Hungary the great majority of emigrants sailed to
America by Cunard Line through the seaport of Fiume. The smaller part of them,
however, departed from Hamburg by the Falk & Társa (Falck & Compagnie) company.
The emigrations that occurred through Fiume appeared in a local newspaper, the
"Kivándorlási értesítő" (c. Emigration Report). This paper, published in Fiume
(recently Rijeka, Croatia) between 1903 and 1907, fortnightly provided detailed
lists of the emigrants who embarked at Fiume (name, age, place of birth, etc.;
microfilm collection: box 47355). Former daily and weekly Hungarian newspapers
published in the United States also contain a great deal of information on
emigrants (immigrants): Amerikai Magyar Népszava-American-Hungarian People's
Voice (New York, 1899-1942); Bevándorló-The Immigrant (New York, 1904-1911),
Magyar Híradó-Hungarian Courier (Pittsburg, 1907-1925); Magyar Hírlap-Hungarian
Herald (Detroit, 1914-1933); Magyarok Vasárnapja-Hungarians' Sunday (Cleveland,
1901-1927); etc.
To researchers
interested in families of Jewish origin we recommend the following publications
as primary information: Kempelen, Béla: Magyarországi zsidó és zsidó eredetű
családok ("Jewish families in Hungary") I-III. Budapest, 1937-1939; Stein,
Artúr: A felekezeti anyakönyvek Magyarországon II.rész, A zsidók anyakönyvei és
konskripciói ("Registers of denominations in Hungary, The registers and censuses
of the Jews"), Budapest, 1941; Az izraelita anyakönyvi kerületek székhelyeinek
és területeinek kimutatása ("Index of the seats and areas of the Israelite
registry districts"), Budapest, 1885; Haraszti, György: Magyar zsidó levéltári
repertórium ("Hungarian Jewish archival repertory"), Budapest, 1993; A
magyar-zsidó oklevéltár (Monumenta Hungariae Judaica) 1-18., Budapest,
1903-1980; Note that the Hungarian Jewish Archives can also be found in
Budapest. (Address: 1075 Budapest, Síp u. 12.)
Mention must be
made on the fact that the research of these families is perhaps the most
difficult one. Several reasons have contributed to this: as we mentioned in the
introduction, Jewish population was obliged to adopt family names by Emperor
Joseph Habsburg II., for he disapproved of the oriental type Jewish names (e.g.
Akiba ben Moses, i.e. Akiba son of Moses) the use of which were inconsequent
anyway. That was when Jews adopted German family names, but mass Magyarization
of names occurred only from the last third of the 19th century, whereas the
1920s and 1930s saw a massive conversion to Christianity, first and foremost for
political reasons and for fear, to avoid the effects of anti-Semite laws and,
after all, pogroms. Compulsory registration was also introduced relatively late,
in 1851. Due to the persecution of Jews during the Second World War, countless
Jewish-related documents (including registers!) had lost or perished. The
exceptional mobility of the Jewish people makes research even more difficult
(due to their way of life they moved from one place to the other almost
permanently).
In addition to
the registers of births, marriages and deaths it is absolutely necessary to look
over the censuses of Jewish population taken for different purposes and in
different times.
1. Census Returns of Jews of
1725-1728-1755 (Royal Hungarian Locotenential Council, Acta Judaeorum -
call-number: C 29) (microfilm collection: boxes 26557, 40789-40795)
2. Transylvanian Census of Jews of
1813-1845 (F 46) (microfilm: box 1605)
3. Country-wide census of Jews of 1848
(Only the material of 23 county and 15 cities survived, organised in the
alphabetical order of cities and counties; Police Material of the Ministry of
1848-1849, H 15; microfilm collection: census returns B 1721-B 1725)
4. Census Returns of Jews 1827-1853.
Original place of preservation: Hungarian Jewish Archives, Budapest (microfilm
collection: box 45851).
CHANGING OF
NAMES (RENAMING - MAGYARIZATION)
Regarding
family history research, the question of renaming (Magyarization) may also be
crucial. After all, if you do not know who Magyarized his name from what and
when, research can easily stall. Magyarization assumed more considerable
proportions in the second half of the 19th century, and again between the 20s
and 40s of the 20th century. Two publications deal with this subject: Waltherr,
Imre: Névváltoztatások ("Changing of Names") 1817-1871 (manuscript, Hungarian;
the Library of the National Archives of Hungary), 1872. Szentiványi, Zoltán:
Századunk névváltoztatásai. Helyhatósági és miniszteri engedéllyel
megváltoztatott nevek gyűjteménye ("The Changing of Names in Our Century")
1800-1893. Budapest, 1895.
The renaming
records of the 20th century (1904-1944) are kept in the Archives of the Ministry
of the Interior (K 150). Only the alphabetical card-indexes have microfilm
copies (microfilm collection: boxes 30789-30809).
The more
significant microfilmed genealogical sources preserved in the Microfilm
Collection of the National Archives of Hungary are as follows:
Libri Regii -
(A 57) 1527-1867 years (microfilm collection: boxes 37217-37251)
Libri regii
dignitatum - (A 62) 1786-1867 (microfilm collection: box 23353)
(Libri regii
primae classis - B 18) Transylvanian Royal Books 1687-1848 (microfilm
collection: boxes 7191-7204)
(Libri regii
dignitatum secundae classis - B 20) Transylvanian Royal Books 1790-1848
(microfilm collection: boxes 7204-7205)
Libri Regii -
The National Archives of the Chapter of Gyulafehérvár - (F 1) 1581-1680
Transylvanian Royal Books (microfilm collection: boxes 1193-1205; 2330; 26516/2
and 39237-39245)
The National
Archives of the Convent of Kolozsmonostor - Protocolla, libri regii et
stylionaria (F 15) 1534-1708, Transylvanian Royal Books (microfilm collection:
boxes 1576-1596)
Royal Books -
Ministry Responsible for the Affairs Concerning the King - (K 19) 1867-1918,
Transylvanian Royal Books (microfilm collection: boxes 7042-7047)
Acta nobilium
(records concerning proofs of nobility under Charles Habsburg III and Maria
Theresa) 1723-1784 (C 30) (microfilm collection: boxes B 1089-1120 and 9384)
Departmentum
nobilitare 1783-1848 (records of the department established to confirm nobility)
(C 57) (microfilm collection: boxes B 968 - B1089; the list and the name index
are in the boxes B 968-975)
County
nobiliary records (and county assembly protocols) see the National Archives'
List of Records, Index of Microfilms or the computer database.
Genealogical
tables 13th-19th century (National Archives, Section P) (microfilm collection:
boxes B 1431-B 1470)
Genealogical
tables 16th-19th century (Archives of the National Government Authorities of
Transylvania, the National Archives of the Chapter of Gyulafehérvár) (F 6)
(microfilm collection: boxes B 1470 -B 1471)
Genealogical
tables 16th-19th century (Judicial Archives) (O 59) (microfilm collection: boxes
B 1471 -B 1473)
Károly
Pataki-collection 1500-1899 (A 133) (microfilm collection: boxes B 1583 -B 1585)
Peláthy-collection 1500-1899 (R 272) (microfilm collection: boxes B 1534 -B
1563)
Daróczy-collection (microfilm collection: boxes 40593 -40684; the original
manuscript is preserved in the Ráday Archives)
Minor Fragments
of Family Fonds 1527-1957 (R 319) (microfilm collection: boxes 47504 -47544).
This contains family records and fragments of fonds which cannot be integrated
into the family archives of the National Archives. The families are arranged
alphabetically.
Domestic
crested charters and nobiliary papers 1526-1923 (R 64). Only an insignificant
fragment of this is on microfilm (229 selected frames). It was transferred to
the custody of the National Archives from the Archives Department of the
Hungarian National Museum. Meanwhile, it has been considerably expanded by
purchase, donations and rearrangements. The publication entitled "A Magyar
Nemzeti Múzeum könyvtárának címereslevelei" ("The Crested Charters of the
Library of the Hungarian National Museum") vol. I-VIII; Budapest, 1902-1942 by
Antal Áldássy, as well as the alphabetical card-index of family names have been
created by processing these records.
Foreign crested
charters and nobiliary papers 1541-1882 (R 126). ). These were transferred to
the custody of the National Archives from the Hungarian National Museum, as
well. Largely, charters of Holy Roman emperors, imperial palatines, Austrian
archdukes and Estates, as well as Russian tsars, Polish kings, etc., along with
several conferment (of knighthood) and some diplomas of indigenatus. Some of
them are Hungarian-related. These have no microfilm copies.
Conscriptio
Portarum. Records concerning the preparations of the national censuses of 1715
and 1720, their administration and the modification of tax system carried out on
the basis of the census returns. 1695-1720 (N 76) (microfilm collection: boxes
3149 - 3152)
Antiquiores
conscriptiones (N 77) (microfilm collection: boxes 3152 - 3154)
The census
returns of 1715 (N78) (microfilm collection: boxes 3119 - 3131)
The census
returns of 1720 (N79) (microfilm collection: boxes 3131 - 3149, 3154)
The census
returns of 1728 (only the material of some counties preserved in county archives
) (microfilm collection: boxes 8374 - 8386)
Departamentum
urbarie 1723 -1848 (C 59) (microfilm collection: boxes 4107 - 4314, 20667-20702)
The national
census returns of 1828 - Conscriptio regnicolaris (N 26) (microfilm collection:
boxes B 1 - B 282, 8612, 25389 -25404) Only the heads of housholds are named,
the other adult family members (aged 18-60), as well as servants, serfs, and the
landless are indicated in points of numbers. The number of major domestic
animals is also indicated.
Only the
material of some towns and counties survived from the census returns of 1857,
mainly fragmented. (microfilm collection: boxes B 1726 - B 1735, B 1751 - B
1804, B 1809, B 1811 - B 1813)
The census
returns of 1869 are also very deficient and only contains the records of some
towns and counties (microfilm collection: boxes B 1474 - B 1533, B 1586 - B
1720, B 1735 - B 1751, B 1804 - B 1810, B 1813 - B 1816 )
Dicalis (tax)
census returns (Conscriptiones portarum) 1530-1707 (E 158) (microfilm
collection: boxes 1627 - 1686)
Regesta
decimarum (church-rates/tithes census returns) 16th-18th cent. (E 159)
(microfilm collection: boxes 9537 - 9935)
Terriers of
1785/1786 (Transylvania only) (F 51) (microfilm collection: boxes 24995 - 25023)
Urbaria et
conscriptiones - U et C (terriers, contracts) 15th-19th cent. (E 156), card-
index in the main research room (microfilm collection: boxes 2201a - 2577a,
31537-31538)
Miscellaneous
census returns (Transylvania) 16th century to 1809 (F 49) (microfilm collection:
boxes 8643 - 8676)
The census
returns of 1750 (Transylvania only) (F 50) (microfilm collection: boxes 26469 -
26515)
National
nobiliary census of 1754-1755 (Cathalogus Nobilium A 75) (microfilm collection:
box 40788)
Transylvanian
census returns of Jews 1813-1845 (F 46) (microfilm collection: box 1605)
Cziráky-terrier
1819-1820 (Transylvania, Conscriptio Czirakyana) (F 52) (microfilm collection:
boxes 25674 - 25727)
Cesuses of Jews
1725-1728-1755 (Acta Judaeorum - C 29) (microfilm collection: boxes 26557, 40789
- 40795)
National census
of Jews of 1848 (towns and counties alphabetically arranged) (H 15) (microfilm
collection: boxes B 1721 - B 1725, list and index: 31143-31144)
Census of Jews
1848, Pozsony County (microfilm collection: box 43504)
Census of Jews
1827-1853. Original place of preservation: Hungarian Jewish Archives, Budapest
(microfilm collection: box 45851)
Military
conscription lists - with some exceptions (e.g. Heves County) 19th century to
1918. (The original list are preserved in the county archives, microfilm copies:
microfilm collection: boxes B 283 - B 967)
Hungarian Royal
Chancellery (Acta Miscellanea, Fasc. 5 Genealogy-related records, 17th-19th
cent., A 120; microfilm collection: box 31618)
Protocols of
canonical visitations (Visitationes canonicae) - mainly usable in genealogy in
case they include the so called "Lista Animarium" i.e. "census of souls".
Arranged by dioceses and deaneries; microfilm collection: boxes 52, 847-850,
1687-1691, 2591-2599, 4456-4458, 5197-5201, 10491-10498, 13745-13748,
20013-20017, 21076-21086, 21168-21197, 21769-21794, 21937-21964, 23358-23373,
23443-23619, 23717-23749, 23781-23854, 26687-26690, 29061-29067.
The records of
the National Board of the Order of Knights (originals in the Archives of War
History; microfilm collection of NAH: boxes 48150-48177). Order of Knights
("Vitézi Rend") -related records are also preserved in NAH (N 109, Ladula SSS
1921-1944; records of the National Board of the Order of Knights, P 1709, from
1940-1946 but these have no microfilm copies). In Hungary, the title of knights
were terminated in 1945, but it was kept alive abroad, what is more, it was
accepted by the International List of Orders of Knights, in 1992. In the same
year, the Order of Knights was restored in Hungary, too.
Székely
(Szekler, i.e. Magyar of Eastern Transylvania) lustrum registers and nobiliary
census returns 1635-1737 (F 136, microfilm collection: boxes 1710-1712)
Homagialia
1706-1839 (F 138, microfilm collection: boxes 9392, 45212-45223) The crested
seals of several Szekler families can be found in the homagialis texts.
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