Skip to main content

Hungarian Genealogy: Research Tip #11


The theme of today's tip is: 'Notes' On A Record

The one thing I will always emphasis on, is reviewing the actual parish records. A great deal of information can be uncovered about the family simply by just looking at their baptismal, marriage and death/burial records. One thing that is always a pleasant surprise, is later-written notes indicating a marriage, death and even possibly a name change. The remainder of this article
will be the examination of the various 'notes' that can appear on church and civil records. I hope it makes you pay close attention to the entirety of your family's records.

Alföldi Juliánnának
törvényes férje Nácsa
János él ugyan: de 2. év
óta [olta] nem laknak együtt.
Jegyzette Szalai István, lelkész
This excerpt was taken from the 'comments' (észrevételek) column on a baptismal record from 1854 in the Reformed parish of Szentmihály in Szabolcs megye, Hungary. It states that mother of the child was the same Alfödi Juliánna whose legitimate husband was Nácsa János; but they have not lived together for two years. Recorded by the pastor, Szalai István.

Say, perhaps, that this was the baptismal record for your 2nd-great-grandparent. With these additional notes written in about the mother, you will be able to more accurately find our who Juliánna was. The next step you would take, is looking for a marriage record for Nácsa János to Alföldi Juliánna.

Bende Johannával 19 évig,- másdoik
nejével 15 évig élt,- 1 fiu maradt
This next example comes from a death record for a 69 year old man. It states that he was married to his first wife, Bende Johanna, for 19 years and his second wife (named on the document) for 15 years, and he had 1 son. These notes open up a wealth of information to be found about the family: two marriage records (one to each wife), a death record for wife #1 and a baptismal record for his son. Watch for any notes and all information provided on those documents, as they'll open up the possibility of even more records.

első szülött fiu
m.h. 1854 Janu 2
This example highlights the thoroughness that some parishes had; this 'note' comes from a baptismal record. It states that the child being baptized was the "first born son" and that he died (m.h.=meghalt) on 02 January 1854. This, of course, allows for the possibility of finding several records: firstly, the death record for the deceased child; and secondly, a marriage record for the parents.

Always be thorough in your research and analyze every piece of information on a document. One such item, such as a house number or the mention of a divorce (elvált), could be what makes your brick-wall crumble.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Hungarian Church Records Now Digitized At FamilySearch.org

Much to the delight of my colleagues and Hungary Exchange Facebook group, many Hungarian church records have become digitized and freely viewable online at FamilySearch.org. You can now browse and enjoy these records at home, instead of needing to frequent your local FHC, and you will spend less money from having to order the microfilm. The Reformed and Roman Catholic baptism indexes, as well as the Jewish Vital Records indexes, don't appear to link up with their proper digitized image yet, so there certainly is still work to be done behind the scenes. Click to enlarge The best way to find your parish is to search the microfilm catalog, under the Place category, at  FamilySearch.org/catalog/search . Most localities will come up this way, however not all villages or towns had a church or synagogue for each religion - hence requiring the citizens to travel to the nearest neighboring village. There are several gazetteers that help guide you to the correct parishes and many o...

Hungarian Funeral Notices & Family Relationship Terms List

An often overlooked Hungarian collection on FamilySearch holds a treasure trove of genealogical information.  Hungary Funeral Notices, 1840-1990   are printed funeral or death notices, similar to obituaries in other counties, and the originals are currently held at the National Széchényi Library (Országos Széchényi Könyvtár, or OSZK) in Budapest, Hungary. Over a quarter of the collection covers Budapest and the remainder for the rest of Hungary, although I have seen notices for individuals in Austria, Germany and what is now Croatia, Romania, Serbia and Slovakia. The funeral notices were preserved on microfilm by the LDS between 2003-2006 and consists of 582 microfilm and can be reviewed in the microfilm catalog . These were later digitized (accessible through both links above), but 9 microfilm still remain to be digitized. It's unclear why Syatmárz, Syecsez, Syeibert, and Syékely are spelled with SY, when it should be SZ. Ebeczki-Blaskovich, Ernő-Edelényi Szabó, Józse...

Rare Old Hungarian Wines to Be Shown at 1934 Fair

Chicago Daily News, Roll 675 25 Nov 1933, Page 11 [Click to enlarge] While conducting newspaper research in Chicago several weeks ago, I came across an article on Hungarian wines to be presented at the 1933-1934 Chicago World's Fair. The fair was otherwise known as the Century of Progress, itself being a celebration of the city's centennial. A transcript of the article is below: " Rare Old Hungarian Wines      to Be Shown at 1934 Fair By John Drury     Rare old wines from the former royal cellars of Budapest, some of the villages dating back a century will be on exhibition in a proposed new Hungarian pavilion at A Century of Progress exposition next year, it was announced today.     The musty old bottles will not be for sale to fair visitor, the announcement added. They will be merely on display and the labels will indicate the ages of the various types of wines. Tokays will be the main feature of the exhibit, but there will also be Burgundi...