| Information on this Record: This is the record of the birth of my grand-aunt, Teréz Godina, the youngest of my grandmother's siblings. It was selected because she was born within two weeks of the beginning of civil registration. Note that the record is entirely in Magyar, even though Vendish, a Slavic language, vwas the first language of the people of this area. Battyánd in Vas county is now Puconci, Slovenia. The nearby village where my ancestors lived, then known as Rónafö, is now Predanovci, Slovenia. The family house still stands ... we had the pleasure of visiting there in 1990. |
| Reported by: Following the information about the person who reported the event are two lines that establish the credentials of the reporter. In this case it says that the registrar (anyakönyvvezetö) is personally acquainted with (személy esen ismer) the reporter. In this example, the information about the reporter doesn't help much, but in some cases a relative may report an event which could provide additional family insights. |
| Father's Information: This is about my great-grandfather, Iván Godina. Religion: in this case "ágostai evangélikus" or Lutheran (see Background for additional detail on the designation of religious confessions). Position or Occupation: for most peasant farmers (ie. smallholders) the term "földmüves" (tiller of the fields) was used during this period. Obviously, many other occupations or positions (eg. landowner) might be found here. Where father lives: this is usually town or village and house number. In small villages house numbers were assigned sequentially and did not necessarily relate to their location. In larger towns a street address, in the modern sense, might be given. Place of birth: this is usually only the town or village, but will likely include the county if it is in another county. In this case, Lehomér is a neighboring village, so no more information is given. Age: is given both numerically and written out. It was reported (incorrectly) that he was 50 at the birth of this, his last child. Don't believe everything you read! |
| Mother's Information: This is about my great-grandmother, Judit Podleszek. The same information is called for as for the father. I thought it would be interesting to note the "position/occupation" listed for this mother is "a helper to the tiller of the fields on the farm as a member of the family" -- ie. not as a hired-hand. |
| Birth Information: Place of Birth is usually town and house number. Date of birth year/month/day with both the year and day-of-the-month given numerically and written out. Time of birth uses the standard "before noon" (délelött) or "after noon" (délután) with the word for "noon" (dél) pre-printed. The hour is written out. In this case, the time of birth was 7AM (délelött hét órája). |
| Child Information: The child's sex -- girl = leány or boy = fiú -- and religious confession are given, as well as the child's given name. See Background for information about how a child's religion was determined. Of course, in this case since both parents were of the same religious persuasion, there was no question about the child's religious upbringing. |
| Information on this Record: This is the death record of my great-grandfather, Iván Godina. It again is from the town of Battyánd (Puconci, Slovenia). It does illustrate a few interesting points, discussed in the other notes. Since the registrar's handwriting is somewhat illegible, I will give the original and translation of many of the entries. |
| KISBIRTOKOS: Prior to 1848, the term "smallholder" was not often used. When it was used, it meant a nobleman who owned only a very small piece of land -- one section or less. After "serfdom" was abolished in 1848, it also applied to those landed peasants who had taken full legal ownership of the land they farmed. So, the ancestors of most Hungarian-Americans fell into the category of "kisbirtokos" -- smallholders. Note again that the reporter was personally known to the registrar. This is common in small towns. |
| INFORMATION ABOUT THE DECEASED: His name is Godina Iván. Religion: is given as "ágostai hitvallésú evangélikus" which literally translates to "Augsberg Confession Evangelical" a complicated way of saying Lutheran. Position or Occupation: is "kisbirtokos" -- see note above. Place of Residence and Birthplace are self-explanatory. Age at Death: is given as 62, actually he was 63. Age at death can be one of the most important pieces of information found in a death record. But, it is often wrong, especially for older adults. The problem is that the person with the best knowledge of the facts is dead! A common problem is that the clergyman or registrar is not sure whether the reporter is saying the deceased "is 63 years old" or that the deceased is "in his 63rd year." But that makes only one year difference. More important is that lots of people lie about their age. Perhaps they lied to the reporter. Or maybe the reporter just took a guess. Who knows? Yet in every case the age is written down as if it were etched in stone. Again, I remind you, don't believe everything you read. Use your common sense. The Names also should be self-explanatory except for the poor handwriting we see here. Two words to watch for are: "néhai" which in English is best read as "the late" and "szülletett" which literally means "born" and here is used to introduce a woman's maiden name. I'll give you the three names in English, and you try to make certain that you would recognize them in Magyar: "Mrs. Iván Godina born Judith Podleszek" and "the late István Godina, smallholder of Lehomér" and "the late Mrs. István Godina born Ilona Bánfi -- of Lehomér". |
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INFORMATION ABOUT THE DEATH: The Place and Date and Time of death (BTW it's 11PM) should be self-explanatory. HINT -- use obvious words to get an understanding of the peculiarities of a handwriting sample. This helps a lot in interpreting some pretty strange stuff. For instance, where a date is given both numerically and written out is an ideal place to start: 1900 is ezerkilenczszáz -- would you recognize it here? Even using such techniques, there are times you just can't figure out a person's writing. Keep trying, get help, and don't be too hard on yourself if you still fail. I have ... many times. (See COMMENTS on this document.) The Cause of Death is given as Hektika -- that's one you'll see frequently. Look it up in a dictionary and you'll find it's "hectic fever" which isn't much better. What we actually have is a "catch-all" lung ailment, which probably often was pulminary tuberculosis (TB) but could have been a half-dozen other things as well. Don't put too much credance into pre-World War I causes of death in rural Hungary. Their level of medicine was right "out of the middle ages." |
| Information on this Record: This is the marriage record of my grand-aunt Francesca Godina, again recorded in the town of Battyánd (Puconci, Slovenia). Note that this document represents the declaration before the registrar (in this case it was the assistant -- helyettes -- registrar) of the couple to live as husband and wife: ie. a declaration of their "marriage intentions" (házasságkötés czéljáböl). The traditional concept that a man "takes" a woman in marriage was still being honored here. As far as the government was concerned, a marriage ceremony (religious or otherwise) was not a necessity. I expect this couple was later married in the Lutheran church in Battyánd/Puconci, but I do not know the date of that ceremony. |
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GROOM: the groom, István Szukics, was a rare exception. In 1906, he came to America. Before long -- without ever bringing his family here -- he returned to Hungary. I understand that less than 25% of the pre-World War I immigrants ever returned to Hungary.
We see from the information in this document that he was from the village of Kölesvölgy and that his occupation was "a helper to the smallholder as a member of the family" (kisbirtokos segédö csládtagja). He was born on 20 Oct 1878. His father János was a deceased (néhai)smallholder, and his widowed mother's maiden name was Julia Lovenyák (özvegy Szukics Jánosné született Lovenyák Julia). The mother is listed as a "dependent" (háztartásbeli) meaning she lived in her home but was no longer responsible for the household. Presumably a brother of István had taken over the smallholding after the father's death. Following their marriage, István and Francesca lived in Rónafö, not in his home village. |
| WITNESSES: In earlier times, the witnesses to a wedding were two men who attested to the good character of the participants. These were often older members of each family ... often uncles. Later this evolved into one who attested to the groom's good character, and one who "gave away" the bride. Ultimately this became the "best man" and "maid-of-honor" that we know today. In 1903, this evolution had obviously progressed even to remote towns in Hungary, since one of the witnesses was the bride's cousin, Anna Fliszár. |
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SIGNATURES: Literacy in the Hungarian countryside around 1900 was still low by our standards. It was much better among younger people (eg. on marriage records) than among older adults. But, you will be surprised by how many records were "signed" by an X. I understand that many Hungarians could read, but not write. This partial literacy can't be judged from these documents.
An interesting mystery is confirmed by a signature on this document. When we found my great-grandmother's 1923 death record at the Puconci town hall in 1990, her married name was given as Godina, it was also spelled that way in all the earlier church and civil records we found back to 1836. My mother was shocked. Her mother and aunts had always spelled their maiden name Gojdina. Here, you see both spellings on a single document -- Francesca signed her marriage record herself as "Gojdina" though the registrar wrote it "Godina". It's probably a difference between the Hungarian and Vendish way of spelling, but anyway, this little mystery persists. |
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Information on these Records: This page was essentially chosen at random from a diverse, mostly working-class section of central Pest (Erzsébetváros). This neighborhood (district VII of the city) does include some wealthy families and a significant percentage of Jews. This page contains no information related to my family ... I know no more about these people than you will after viewing the page.
The compact format of marriage and death records is very similar to this birth record format. Obviously some of the columns are different on the left-side page. But, the right side page is essentially identical with places for signatures and corrections/updates. |
| Microfilming of these Records was done by the Hungarian government shortly after World War II (the fine print in the margin says 1947). Apparently the background coat-of-arms and the marginal inscriptions seen on these pages was added in the microfilming process (perhaps as an overlay or possibly pre-recorded on the film stock). But, since this "feature" does not have any effect on the data, it is not material to your research. |
| Child Information: Note the last two records on the page. They are a pair of stillborn male twins. The Magyar words "halva született" means stillborn -- literally "born dead" and it is an important term to remember. Stillbirths are even found in most 19th century baptismal registers, often with the birthdate provided and the baptismal date left blank. Note: the appropriateness of baptizing an infant who died "in the process of birth" is a point of theological contention between various Christian faiths ... an argument that is too technical to get into here. |
| Parents Religion: by this time, Budapest had become a true "melting-pot" of people of various ethnicities and religions from across Hungary. As a result, mixed marriages which were unthinkable throughout most of the Hungarian countryside had become commonplace in Budapest. That is well-evidenced by this page. The five couples shown here represent two mixed marriages (both Roman Catholic and Reformed), one sanctioned-but-still-mixed marriage (Roman Catholic and Greek Catholic), and two marriages within faiths (a pair of Roman Catholic's and a pair of Jews). This diversity was not an aberration in that neighborhood, I found it throughout the microfilm. |
| Information on this Record: This page was again selected at random from a Budapest register for the Erzsébetváros section (district VII) of the city. I borrowed this microfilm for another purpose and decided to copy a page to use in this tutorial. I know nothing about any of the people listed here. This page illustrates that the compact format was put into use in Budapest much earlier than in smaller towns, and it again shows the diversity of the population of the capital city. Of course, the need for the compact format was much more apparent in Budapest, where the volume of record-keeping was huge compared to any other city in Hungary. |
| Microfilming of these records: In this case, it is obvious the coat-of-arms was added later, since these pre-World War I Budapest records bear the post-World War II communist coat-of-arms. These records were filmed in 1961 according the tiny marginal inscription. But again, since this "feature" does not have any effect on the data, while somewhat disconcerting, it is not material to your research. |
| Information about the Groom and Bride: looking over the four marriages on this page, two things stand out: we again see Mixed Marriages are common. Marriage #1 is a Jewish man (izr) marrying a Roman Catholic (r. cat.) woman. Marriages #2 and #3 are a pair of Reformeds (ref and a pair of Roman Catholics, respectively. And, Marriage #4 is again mixed -- this time a Reformed man and a Roman Catholic woman. The other thing I note are the Places of Birth. Of the eight people involved in these four marriages, only one was born in Budapest. The others are from all over Hungary. The huge migration from the countryside to Budapest is evident here (just as the huge migration from Hungary to the U.S. is evident in the Ellis Island ship arrival records). |
| Notes on Marriage Statements: the examples seen here are not necessarily typical. In Marriage #1, the groom noted that he uses the name Armin instead of his legal given name of Áron. It is interesting to note that he had already (probably legally) magyarized his family name from Spitzer to Szilágyi. In Marriage #4, the legibility of the note is a problem, but it appears to say that children of the marriage will be brought up in the father's religion. After 1895, the normal situation in mixed marriages (ie. boys take their father's religion, girl's take their mother's) could be overridden by a marriage contract. Although I'm not absolutely certain, it appears this was the case here. |
| Information on this Record: I came upon this record while looking for children of my grandmother's siblings who remained in Hungary. It was so unusual, I had to include it here. The record of interest is #2 on the page, the birth of István Gráber in South Bethlehem, PA in 1912. His parents were from the Battyánd area -- his mother is probably a distant relative of mine, but I have not positively established that yet. The purpose of reporting the birth to the Austro-Hungarian consulate was obviously to establish dual citizenship. The child, born in the USA, was a natural-born American citizen. But, by registering him as a child of Hungarians living outside the country, his Hungarian citizenship also was established. This would ease potential problems if the family ever returned to Hungary. |
| Reason for Delayed Recording: Why it took so long (almost 2 1/2 years) for the birth to be recorded is unknown. But, we don't know whether the family reported the birth promptly, or waited perhaps a couple of years. Some event in America, or even the onset of World War I in Europe may have spurred them to report. Also, in such a period of great international tension, transmitting this very minor type of information from the Philadelphia Consulate to the Washington Embassy, then to Budapest (probably via Vienna), and finally to the backwater little town of Battyánd obviously was very low priority. Perhaps, what is more amazing is that the record got there at all! In any case, don't expect a lot of success looking for your American-born ancestors in Hungarian civil records. |
| Missing Data: All data concerning age and religion is missing. It probably simply wasn't reported at the Philadelphia consulate, and therefore was not conveyed to Europe. Clearly the parents knew their own ages, and their religion was Lutheran. In fact, South Bethlehem was one of the two sites of Vendish Lutheran churches in the U.S. While the congregation in New Brunswick, NJ no longer exists, the church in Bethlehem proudly goes on. [There are Lutheran churches of Vendish origin also in Texas, but these were established by Vends from eastern Germany rather than the Slovenian Vends who were Hungarian citizens.] |
| Explanation of Circumstances: This column is used to explain the extraordinary circumstances of this birth registration. Apparently, both parents presented themselves at the Imperial and Royal Consulate in Philadelphia to report the birth of this child to Hungarians living outside the country. It's not hard to understand their rationale, but it is somewhat harder to explain the signature of the person making the report in the registrar's book. It is signed Mrs. Iván Gráber. Clearly the mother did not return to Hungary in the mean time, if she had there was little point in reporting to the consulate. More likely is that the registrar signed the book on her behalf, or that the Mrs. Gráber who signed was the paternal grandmother. This might make sense if the little "squiggle" before the father's name could somehow be interpreted as "ifj" meaning "Jr". In that case both his mother and his wife would be Mrs. Iván Gráber. |