THE BURGENLAND BUNCH NEWS - No. 18
(issued bi-weekly by G. J. Berghold)
August 31, 1997
(all rights reserved)

This edition of the newsletter contains a list of genealogical and older
German words and terms. We also have a tale of Austro-Hungarian Roots in
Henderson, MN, the Burgenland folk song "Our Brother Vitus", the location of
various Burgenland records, and a way to order ancestral village photographs.


"BURGENLÄNDISCHE GEMEINSCHAFT" IS NOW ON-LINE!

The editorial and publishing office of the premier Burgenland newsletter for
Burgenländers throughout the world is now online.

You may wish to inquire about membership or availability of publications.
Frau Renate Dolmanits is secretary.


OLDER TERMS & SOME DEFINITIONS

(Various German-Latin-Hungarian terms are used in old records which are
difficult to define. Albert Schuch, Frank Teklits, Joe Gilly and your editor
have had much correspondence concerning some of them. The following are
excerpts from that correspondence)

Söldner (Söllner) - In modern German, a Söldner is a mercenary, a hired
soldier. In the old documents, Söldner is just a less common spelling of
Söllner with the meaning of basically: an inhabitant with no portion of the
farming land (and woods). If he owns a house, he is sometimes called
Inquilinus in Latin; if he lives in a rented house, he is usually called
Subinquilinus, sometimes Pauperus in Latin, or Inwohner, sometimes Holde in
German.

LDS Microfilm - The LDS microfilms are of Hungarian origin filmed in 1966 in
Budapest. For Burgenland villages, they filmed only the copies stored in
Hungarian archives. These copies were made from 1828 onwards, due to a law of
1827. Pre-1828-records were only filmed for villages belonging to Hungary in
1966.

Janitscharen (Janisaries) - Janitscharen (Turkish word) the "Janitscharen"
(singular: "Janitschar") were the elite infantry soldiers of the Turkish
army.

They were recruited among the people conquered by the Turks; no German word.
Each area under Turkish rule had to yearly furnish a certain number of young
boys. These were taken to Constantinople, educated as Moslems and taught
military skills. Many achieved high rank. They were the Sultan's best troops.
In later years the Corps of Janisaries (like the Roman Praetorian Guard)
eventually controlled the Sultan. This levy of young boys was one of the most
hated aspects of Turkish occupation and rule. The original Turkish word was
"Yeni Ceri", meaning "new troop". The word is said to have come to
Germany/Austria via Italy.

Spahi-Spahi (Turkish word) - Turkish soldiers on horseback were called
"Spahi"; as it says in the book, these soldiers were ethnic Turks. Again no
German word. (Ed. note - These were the church and village burners! Many
received no pay. They survived on loot.)

Gutsherren-Gutsherren (= laird = land owner) - Translations suggested by Frank
Teklits; the ending "-en" shows the plural; land owners would be correct (I
do not know the word "laird" - Ed. note - Scottish for Lord or Squire {land
owner}, so this may be correct too); this refers to the aristocrats, to the
domain (fief) owners, but since they owned almost all the land (apart from
that owned by the church or by the king), landowners will fit too.

Robot - The farmers, unless they were "liberi" (free men), were obliged to do
certain work for the domain owner; this work was called "Robot"; it was
abolished in 1848. It could be work in the fields or in the vineyards owned
by the domain, it also included supplying transport for the domain; the
amount required (a certain number of days per year) was fixed for each
village. (Ed. - Records were kept, copy to the farmers. Some families still
have them. If anyone finds any PLEASE let me know.)

Lanndtagen-Landtagen (= state parliament) - Today the "Landtag" of Burgenland
is the provincial parliament, elected by the people; back when the king and
the noblemen had all the power, the "Landtag" was a kind of a parliament of
the nobility; bishops and other high ranking clerics were part of it too,
because they were also landowners (owners of domains, estates). For a long
time, the king had to ask the Landtag in case he wanted to raise taxes - for
example when he needed money to raise an army against the Turks; the Landtag
then allowed a certain sum (which had to be paid by the peasants!); each
province (Styria, Carinthia, Croatia, etc.) had its own Landtag.

Ofener-"Ofen" - Is German for "oven/stove", but "Ofen" is also the name of a
city, which is how it is used here: the Hungarian capital Budapest was
created in 1872 out of two cities: "Ofen" ("Buda" in Hungarian) on the right
shores of the Danube, and "Pest" on the left shores; with "-er" at the end
"Ofener" = "in/at/of the city of Ofen".

Reichstag (= Imperial Diet) - The "Reichstag" was the legislative council
(parliament) of the Kingdom of Hungary, consisting of high ranking nobility
and clergy; from time to time the king called for the members to assemble; at
this time Ofen (Buda) was still the capital of Hungary (later on, Pressburg
(Bratislava) became the capital, because Ofen and Pest were occupied by the
Turks 1541-1686; Ofen became capital again in the 1780's.

Bürgertums-"Bürger" = citizen (of a town!) - With "-tum" added, it refers to
all the citizens (of towns) in the land (as a 'class' (part) of society); so
the correct word should be something like "nobility/ aristocracy" for
"noblemen" (in those days, only well-to-do inhabitants of a town were
'citizens')

Nebenhof (plural: Nebenhoefe) - A "Nebenhof" was a minor farm belonging to a
big "Meierhof"; a "Meierhof" was a very big farm (with many workers and lots
of land) owned by a nobleman or by a monastery. "Hof" is to be translated as
"farm" or "estate"; the German word "Meier" developed from the Latin word
"major"; from the English words "Major" and "Mayor" you will guess that the
"Meier" was the man in charge of the farm. Often a "Meierhof" became a
regular village in the course of time, as was the case in Mönchhof. (the
name Mönchhof, that is 'farm of the monks', indicates the ownership of a
monastery)

Stiftsleute "Stift" = "monastery"; "Leute" = "people"- So literally this
means "people belonging to the monastery"; "Leute" is used in the sense of
"Untertanen" (perhaps translates as "servants").

Wüstung/en - A "Wüstung" is a (totally) deserted (destroyed) village; -en
indicates the plural; a related verb is "verwüsten" (= "to devastate").

--- more words ---

The following are quite difficult to explain; but somehow they all are
related to one another if you have trouble understanding their meaning.
these are essential words if you want to understand the old village
structures.

Kleinhäuslerwirtschaft/en - The word "Kleinhäusler" is a synonym for
"Söllner" (literally, a "Kleinhäusler" would be an owner of a small house);
a "Kleinhäusler" or "Söllner" is a person who does not own a "Session" (see
below) - so usually all he owns is a very small house, a (few) small
field(s) and a few animals; this means he has to earn his living as a
craftsman and/or as a worker for the farmers ("Session" owners) (these people
may also have lived in rented houses) "Wirtschaft", normally meaning
"economy", also can describe a farm with everything belonging to it; so a
"Baürnwirtschaft" can be translated simply with "farm" or in some cases
"land belonging to a farm"; I would translate "Kleinhäuslerwirtschaft" with
"fields belonging to a Söllner-house"

Session/en - A "Session" (from the Latin word "sessio", which is literally
translated as "seat") is a certain fixed portion of the village land
(including fields, meadows and woods); I would suggest to translate it as
"possession" or to use the Latin word "sessio" (plural "sessiones"); I
personally would prefer the latter; when a new village was founded, usually
each family owned one whole "sessio"; sometimes a rich person may have owned
two or one and a half "sessiones"; as population grew, the "sessiones" were
divided, so later on we often find farmers who only own a 1/2, 1/4 or 1/8
"sessio", other German words for "Session" are "Lehen" and "Ansässigkeit"

Gütern - "Gut" will usually mean "(Baürn)wirtschaft" = "farm" or "land
belonging to a farm"; the plural of "Gut" is "Güter"; "von ... Gütern"
means "(out) of ... farms" BUT: just like "behaustes Gut" (a little bit
further down on page 36, literally meaning land with a house on it) you
better translate it simply with "house" or "land belonging to a house",
because it is not clear in this case if the "Gut" is a "Baürnwirtschaft" or
a "Kleinhaeuslerwirtschaft"


AUSTRIAN-HUNGARIAN ROOTS IN HENDERSON, MN (by Hap Anderson)

In my family history research, I have discovered that many families emigrated
from the same small villages in Austria-Hungary to Henderson, Minnesota.
This is the immigration account of these "German speaking" Hungarians who
lived in and around Henderson and Sibley County.

My Great Grandfather, Franz WEBER and his family, emigrated from
Austria-Hungary, lived in Henderson for a while and settled in Bismark
Township, Sibley County. My Grandfather, John WEBER, was the first child of
Franz and Maria WEBER born in America. Franz and Maria WEBER and their
family, embarked at the port of Bremen, Germany on the steamship S.S. Elbe of
the North German Lloyd steamship company.

They traveled via Southampton, England across the Atlantic and arrived in the
Port of New York on June 19, 1882. Joining them on this journey was Maria's
mother, Theresa WEBER and Franz's brother Johan and his wife Anna WEBER
(Maria's sister).

The Webers on the "S.S. Elbe" came directly to Henderson following the path
of other "German speaking" Hungarian immigrant families that had left the
village of Lebenbrunn in what became the Burgenland, came to America and
pioneered the Henderson area of Sibley County Minnesota. One of the first
was Ladislaus GRASSINGER, his wife Catharina (Weber) and daughters Veronica,
Monica, Maria and sons Albert, Franz and Andrew Grassinger and his wife
Theresa (Weber), who left Lebenbrunn in 1858 and settled in Henderson. They
probably landed at the port of New York and came overland by wagon to
Illinois, then up the Mississippi River by steamboat and into Saint Paul, 103
miles up the Minnesota River to Henderson. Ladislaus and his family lived on
an 80 acre farm on Section 6 in Henderson Township (currently the Robert
MILLER farm), about 3.5 miles west of the town of Henderson. Andrew and his
wife Theresa settled in Chaska in Carver County Minnesota. Albert married in
Henderson, then settled in Brownton, McLeod County. In 1872, Joseph
GRASSINGER with his wife Barbara (WEBER) from Lebenbrunn, came over and
settled in the borough of Henderson. Andrew, Joseph, Albert and Franz
GRASSINGER were brothers and Theresia (Weber) Grassinger, Barbara (Weber)
Grassinger and Anna Weber were sisters of Maria Weber (my great grandmother).
I am currently searching the death location of Ladislaus and Catharina
GRASSINGER, they apparently moved out of the county. Following Franz and
Maria Weber in 1882, there were others. Franz BÖHM and his wife, Theresia
(Weber) and their four children from the neighboring village of Redlschlag,
Austria-Hungary came in April of 1888. The Böhm's changed their name to
BOEHM. Theresia (Weber) Boehm was a cousin of Franz Weber. Also joining
them on their trip was John B. Grassinger and Frank C. Weber, both 16 years
old and both from Lebenbrunn. The Boehm's, John B. and Frank C. traveled
together in steerage on the steamship S.S. Fulda that sailed from the port of
Bremen Germany via Southampton England and arrived in the port of New York on
April 24, 1888 (the same route as Franz and Maria Weber). John B.'s brother
Simon Grassinger made the trip in June of that same year. Mathias PRATSCHNER
from the village of Kogl in 1888. John SCHLOEGEL, with his wife Catherine
(RINGHOFER - HEILING) with their eight children, from the neighboring village
of Salmansdorf in Austria-Hungary made the trip in March of 1889. Joseph
Schloegel and his wife Maria (LEPER) from Lebenbrunn made the trip in that
same year.

Anton PÜRGER (cousin to Maria Weber) and his three children, Anthony, Martin,
and Theresa also came over in 1889 from the neighboring village of Rothleiten
(The Pürger's changed their name to Burger before arriving in America).
Andrew Schloegel, his wife Maria Heiling and daughter Rosa also came from the
village of Pilgersdorf in April, 1890.

The main reason for the large Hungarian immigration between 1880 and 1893 was
the agricultural crisis in Europe. One of the possible reasons they came to
Henderson was that the terrain was similar to "the old country". The area
around Lebenbrunn is very hilly, like the Henderson area. The latitude of
Lebenbrunn and Henderson is close, Lebenbrunn at 47-28' North and Henderson
at 44-31' North, so the climate would be similar also. Temperate climatic
conditions prevail throughout most of the province of Burgenland, Austria
(Hungary, pre 1921); and the average annual temperature is about 10 C (50
F). Another reason was that in 1889, a fire in the village of Lebenbrunn
burned 38 of the 42 houses. Fire broke out in house Number 3, which spread
immediately to most of the other wooden houses. Only the church, the school,
and house numbers 32, 34, 35 and 41 survived the fire.

In 1921 after World War I, the break up of Austria-Hungary resulted in the
area of Western Hungary being transferred to the Austrians, creating the
province of Burgenland. Therefore, Lebenbrunn is now located in the province
of Burgenland in the country of Austria.

For more information about these families and locations, you can visit the
following Internet web sites:
http://www.rootsweb.com/~mnsibley/ - Sibley County MnGenWeb
http://www.the-burgenland-bunch.org - Burgenland Genealogy
Group


AN EARLY BURGENLAND FOLK SONG

Albert Schuch has tapes of Burgenland folk songs. One dates to the time of
the Turk (1528-1715) and is still sung. Some of you may have learned it from
your parents. He writes: One of the songs from the other Burgenland CD,
"Unser Bruader Veitl" is sung by the "Schlerchor Jennersdorf" (Jennersdorf
school choir). We also sang it in elementary school. It is a song about the
times of the Turkish wars. Lyrics as I remember time (a little different from
those on the CD) are something like: (dialect/German/English)-
(ed. note-this may be the first time you've seen the Burgenland German
dialect called "Heinzen" or "Burgenländisch". Your immigrant ancestors if
from south Burgenland would have spoken it.

It's very phonetic. Burgenland poet, Josef Reichel (born in Güssing) wrote
many well loved poems about his homeland in this dialect. One of the most
well known is "Mei Hoamat" (my homeland):

Unser Bruader Veidl, wl ar a Reida wern
Unser Bruder Veit (Vitus), will auch ein Reiter werden
Our brother Vitus wants to become a rider (soldier) too

Hod er jo kua Reider Ross, wia wl ar uana wern ...
Hat er ja kein Reiter-Ross (Pferd), wie will er einer werden ...
He does not own a horse, how will he get one ...

(Then his mother makes him a wooden horse etc. ...)

Reid, Veidl, reid, da Trk is nimma weid ...
Reite, Veit, reite, der Trke ist nicht mehr weit ...
Ride, Vitus, ride, the Turks are already near ...


LOCATION OF OLDER BURGENLAND RECORDS

Having seen older church visitation and aristocratic family records surface
in various places, I asked Albert Schuch if he knew where some of the
originals were archived and whether they had all been translated.

His reply follows:

Visitationen - The script originals are kept in the Diözesanarchiv Eisenstadt
(1757) and somewhere in Hungary, I think in Steinamanger (Szombathely) (1697).
A few others have also appeared in print, but mostly for the northern regions
of Burgenland. In general, very few of the old script documents have been
transcribed. So they can only be used in the archives. (Most scientific works
based on archive material do not mention many names, so they are of little
genealogical value.)

Esterházy Archives - Parts of the Esterházy archives are kept in the Forchtenstein
castle. I have never been there and I have heard that it is very difficult to get
access to the archive. It is, after all, private property. Other parts of
Esterházy archives are kept in the Hungarian National Archives in Budapest.
Parts have been microfilmed for the Burgenländisches Landesarchiv in Eisenstadt.

Batthyány Archives - The Batthyány archives for the domains of Schlaining,
Pinkafeld and Kittsee are kept in the Burgenländisches Landesarchiv, so they are
quite easy to access. I have seen parts of them for my masters thesis. It is more
difficult to get access to the Herrschaftsarchiv Güssing in the Güssing castle. I
think right now it is almost impossible. The Batthyány archives of Körmend have
been transferred to Budapest, so they are part of the Hungarian National Archives
today. Again, parts have been microfilmed for the Landesarchiv.

Availability of the church records - Those which are kept in Eisenstadt in the
Diözesanarchiv are in theory open to the public. But you have to make an
appointment. VERY little space there, so they won't wish to attract many people.
I was there a few months ago, but only to check which books they kept there and
which were in the parishes (for a few villages). I will be able to tell you more
about the Diözesanarchiv in a few weeks, since I plan to look for leather
workers in the church records of two parishes some time in August.
- As regards the records kept in the parishes, I guess you are more or less at
the mercy of the local priest. (Ed. note: again, copies of records from 1828,
the basis of the LDS Salt Lake City microfilm collection, are in the Hungarian
National Archives in Budapest.)


ANCESTRAL VILLAGE PHOTOGRAPHS

Mary Montoya recently sent me some historical material concerning the village
of Halbturn. Included in the package was advertising material from James A.
Derheim who operates under the name "European Focus Photography". For a
price, Derheim will contract to provide pictures of ancestral villages in
Europe. Mary wrote "he does a wonderful job".

Leland Meitzler, Executive Editor of Heritage Quest Magazine, has also used
his services and recently wrote an article in that magazine (Mar/Apr
1996-issue #62) concerning Derheim's work and how pleased he was with the
results. Derheim apparently puts a group of contracts together in a general
geographic region and then personally visits the site and takes photographs.
Prices (1996) for Austria start at $395 for 20 or more photos at one
location, $485 for two, etc. While not cheap, this is considerably less than
one would pay to visit the area and take pictures. While I took hundreds of
photos on my last 5 week trip, my cost for film and processing alone was
about $200 and I was burdened with 2 cameras, lenses, filters and a sack of
film. In addition one would generally not have Derheim's experience or
photographic expertise. A substitute until one can take that long planned
trip. (Derheim advertises in Heritage Quest magazine).


LANGUAGE TIP (from A. Schuch)

In early German, the letters "B" and "P" are often interchanged. This is a
very important point, especially when reading old records. You should tell
those members who do not know about this. This interchange can still be
observed today in spoken language: In Burgenland (and probably any other
Austrian) dialect, P is often pronounced B. Same applies do "D" and "T", but
not as often.


ONE OF THE REASONS YOU'LL FIND BURGENLAND MEMORIALS TO THOSE EMIGRANTS WHO
CAME TO THE UNITED STATES (from A. Schuch)

An interesting letter of 1899: When in 1899 the Protestants of
Fürstenfeld/Styria built their church, they were desperately in need of
money. Among others they asked Protestant 'Burgenland' emigrants in America
for help. On 12 Dec 1899, Johann RUISS of Kukmirn sent the following letter
from Allentown: (translated):
"... Vicar ILGENSTEIN (of Fürstenfeld) asked me to collect money for the
Fürstenfeld community ... we collected 100 $ and 50 Ct, which I am sending
you today. May it be a New Years Day gift. ... We are all just workers doing
day jobs (I hope this is the right translation for "Taglhner") and we cannot
do much ... Although all of us are Hungarians, we don't forget our German
brothers at Hungary's border." (Ed. note: In 1997 purchasing power, that
$100.50 would be about $4635.00! Bread has gone from $0.03/loaf to $1.39)


TWO THIRD COUSINS FOUND AND LINKED!

Your editor is extremely pleased to report that as a result of an article in
the Burgenländische Gemeinschaft newsletter, he has found a previously
unknown third cousin and proved a link to another. Klaus GERGER from Vienna
and Güssing contacted me last week, sent me his family GEDCOM and
established a solid link to my ancestors. We and former BB member Jude Mulvey
share Johannes Pöltl (POELTL) of Rosenberg (Güssing) as a great great
grandfather. Klaus has two young daughters who along with my six grand
children have now acquired many new cousins. Klaus will be joining our group
as soon as he prepares his membership listing. I'll be reporting more on this
contact later.

END OF NEWSLETTER-EDITED & DISTRIBUTED BY GERALD J. BERGHOLD
 

THE BURGENLAND BUNCH NEWS - No. 18A
(issued bi-weekly by Gerald Berghold)
August 31, 1997
(all rights reserved)

This edition of the newsletter contains what we hope is a definitive primer
explaining how to interpret those marvelous Burgenland microfilm records
available from the Latter-day Saint (LDS) Library in Salt Lake City. We've
received many questions over a long period of time concerning the definition
of words in those records. If you haven't defined them for yourself, you may
wish to print this article and keep it handy for those days when you're
laboring in an LDS Family History Center. Special thanks to Albert Schuch
for his most scholarly help and to new member Joan Straub for asking the
ultimate questions that triggered the subject.


TRANSLATING BURGENLAND CHURCH RECORDS
(by Gerry Berghold & Albert Schuch, suggested by Joan Straub)

Having spent many hours reading Hungarian Burgenland church microfilm over a
period of years, it is still easy to recall the dismay with which new
genealogists may first view them. Chicken scratches written in a completely
unfamiliar language (Hungarian) liberally sprinkled with what looks like
Latin and German! Column headings in all three languages or none at all.
Abbreviations never before seen and village and family names bearing no
resemblance to what we are seeking. Advancing a few frames we find some
printing instead of script, which helps us translate the script and later,
perhaps village names changed to something we recognize. As we puzzle the
column headings we find one that must mean name, another that is age, one
that has to be mother and father and with dictionary help we slowly proceed.

The above approach to translation won't appeal to everyone and I'm afraid
some give up just when they're on the threshold of finding their first
European record. I remember an individual with an obvious classical education
who told me he had given up on what he called "chicken scratching Babel".
Later, I had cause to view those same records and found clues to three
generations of his ancestors. Upon being advised he soon returned to the
search. To preclude this from happening to any of the Burgenland Bunch, this
article will try to guide you through the penetrable maze of Austro-Hungarian
church records. It is possible that new questions may still arise and new
definitions may later become necessary. I don't have the expertise to explain
German script, that's something you must experience on your own. Fortunately,
very little German script was used in the Burgenland after 1800 and
Hungarian records, which use the Latin alphabet, are actually easier to
read than those in German script. Latin script can also be appalling but I've
found that if you persevere you will become familiar with each recorder's
handwriting and will eventually be able to decipher it.

Latin used for church records is fairly easy. Only the flowery "boiler plate"
or liturgical introductions used in very early records is difficult. These
follow the pattern "Praise be to God on the feast day of St. XXXX in the YYYY
year of our Lord's glorious resurrection, etc. was baptized by Father NNNN,
ZZZZ, a son, born DMYY to the most worthy NNNN, a citizen of XXXX and his
lawfully wedded wife NNNN, etc." This type of record vanishes about 1828 when
the government or the church decreed a set record format.

German dictionaries are readily attainable and most of the German used is not
difficult. (See "Death Records" for many German terms). Where Latin and
German are used as column headings, they generally follow the same order as
the Hungarian. As the years pass, the record formats expand and contract, but
the basic headings still appear. This leaves Hungarian as the major problem
and the following should help:


HUNGARIAN RECORDS

These will be found in a very general form both with and without headings.
The most common data found are record number, date of birth and/or baptism,
name of child, sex, religion, legitimacy, place of birth (house number after
1848), name of pastor officiating, father and mother, names of godparents,
comments; generally in that order. Civil records of birth (starting 1896)
have much more data, but the same words used for baptisms apply. By law,
starting in 1828, church officials were given the responsibility of recording
births, marriages and deaths. They were required to submit copies of their
records to government archives. Some of the copies are good, others not. The
copies were stored in the Budapest Archives where they were microfilmed by
the LDS in the 1960's. These are the records most of us see. The originals
(including pre 1828 data) are at many Burgenland churches; while some sent
older registers to central archives. Sometimes in early records, or at the
discretion of the recorder or copier, only date, name of child, parents
names, godparents and pastor will be shown. A cross next to the child's name
signifies infant death as does the name "anonymous" which suggests
"stillborn".

BAPTISM (Keresztelési)

The Hungarian equivalents of English baptism terms are:
Baptism = Kerésztelési
record number = Folyó szám
date of entry-year, month, day = A bejegyzés ideje (év, hó, nap)
date of birth = Szülekése napja (month can be Latin form)
born = szül. (abbreviation for szüleinek)
date of baptism = Kerészteltetëse napja
name of child = neve (baptism name = Kereszt-neve) (Latin, Germ. or Hung.)
sex = neme (leány = female, fiu = male)
legit = imacyszarmazása (törvényes =legitimate),
spurius = illegit (törvénytelen = illegitimate)
place of birth (house number) = szúletéshelye (after 1840's, Hungarian name can be used)
name of pastor officiating = A keresztelëmék neve or Keresztéläjök
father and mother, name, religion = A szüléknek neve, jelleme s vallása
residence and status = polgärisorsok (status, like Paraszt = peasant)
religion = Ag. h. ev. (Lutheran), R. kath. (Catholic)
father = atya (can be preceded with "Szülei")
mother= anyja (same as above)
if a parent is deceased = oszvegy, for widow or "nehai", late or deceased
unknown = ismeretlen
age = életkora
names of godparents & residence = A keresztelés samuluch or Kereszt Atya és Anyjai
comments = Kilgazitások

MARRIAGE RECORDS

Many baptism terms are also used for marriage records. Albert Schuch was kind
enough to expand on them. Rather than redo his work, they're published here
as he submitted them.

HUNGARIAN - LATIN RC MARRIAGE RECORDS HEADINGS (Albert Schuch)
|
In this list, the Latin heading is always followed by the (almost
word-to-word) Hungarian translation; in two cases (marked with an * in front)
the Hungarian phrase has been split up, so this became less clear; some
misspellings cause trouble too.

* N(UME)RUS CURRENS (L) = FOLYO SZAM (H) = current number; "folyo" = "current"
(another meaning of "folyo" is "river"); "szam" = "number"

ANNUS MENSIS ET DIES COPULATIONIS (L) = AZ ESKETES EVE ESKTES A NAPJA (H)
= year, month and day of the marriage; "esketes" = "marriage"; "ev" =
"year"; "nap" = "Tag"; I cannot find a word "esktes", so I think this is
just "esketes" again; "month" would be "honap"

NOMEN ET CONDITIO SPONSI ET SPONSAE (L) = NEV S POLGARI SORSA A JEGYESNEK (H)
= name and status (standing, occupation) of the bride and bridegroom
"nev" = "name"; "sors" = "status"; "polgari" = "civil"; "jegyes/ek" = "fiancee/s"

* LOCUS ORIGINIS ET DOMICILE NUMERUS DOMUS (L) = SZULITESUK S LAKASUK
HELYE HAZAZAMUK (H) = place of birth and residence and house number;
"szletes/ek" = "birth/s"; "lakas/ok" = "residence/s"; "hely" = "place";
"hazszam/ok" = "house number/s"

AETAS (L) = KORUK (H) = age; "kor/ok" = "age/s"

NOMEN ET CONDITIO TESTIUM (L) = A BEZONYSAGOK NEVE N POLGARI SORSA (H)
= name and status of witnesses; "nev", "sors", "polgari" = as above; I didn't find
a match for "bezonysagok", so it will be misspelled; but it has to be "witnesses"

NOMEN ET OFFICIUM (COPU)LANTIS (L) = AZ ESKETO NEVE ES HIVALALA (H)
= name and office (maybe in the sense of rank or department) of the priest;
you have to add "copu" to "lantis", then it means "the one who marries them",
i.e. the priest; also the meaning of "esketo"

NUM PROMULGIT VEL PERPENSATI... VEL ALIQUO IMPEDEMENT... (L)
were the wedding bans published... and was there any impediment to the marriage

OBSERVATION (L) comment ESZREVETEL/EK(H) comment/s (end of Schuch article)

DEATH RECORDS

These are easiest of all, because they are so terse. Two items bear special
attention, however. Cause of death will be shown using medical terms
prevalent at the time of death. Some are very difficult to translate into
today's terms. The list of causes is endless. You may wish to acquire one of
the many good genealogical publications which list Latin or Germanic causes
of death.

In addition, while parents of the deceased are rarely shown, spouse
indications (where couples are involved) or father's names (for children)
frequently are shown. Spouse may be identified by "the widower of Name
deceased". Children's names will be followed by "son of Name". Latin "filia"
or "filius" is often used, like "Johannes, son (filius) of the farmer Name
and wife." A death record for the Martin Luther Kirche in Eltendorf contains
the following, Hungarian (H)and Latin(L) terms shown following English
translation of German:

Heading: Todten Protokoll für das Jahr 1830- death register for year 1830,
Á Halottnak or A meghaltnak(H), Protocollum Mortuorum(L) or Defuncti (L)

Der Verstorben-the deceased

Reading Left to Right:

Anzahl-Number-Száma(H)-Nrus (numerus) currens(L)
Sterbetag-Date of death-Halálá Napja(H)-Annus Dies(L), year & day
Begrabnisstag-Date of burial-Temetése Napja(H)-Dies Sepulturae(L)

Namen, Stand und Wohnort-Name, status, residence (note:about 1840 house
numbers came into use and will be found following village names)-Neve,
polgári sorsa és lakhelye(H)-Nomen Cognomen Defuncti (L) Sometimes
"Religio" (religion) and "Conditio" (status) are also shown

Locus originis et habitationus numerus domus(L)-place of birth and residence
(number)-Szu'letése s lakása helye házszám (H)

AnSacramentis provisus(L)-were the sacraments admisistered?- answer is
usually "provisius"
(variation-Fuit ne provisus Sacramentis Moribundorum?)

Locus Obitus(L)-place of death; Locus Sepulturae(L)-place of burial

Alter-Age, shown as "number jahre"-Kora(H)-Aetas(L) or Annorum(L) or Dies
(days) or Mensius (months)

Krankeit-sickness (cause of death like "fibris" or
fever)-Betegsége(H)-Morbus(L) sive aliud genus mortis (or some combination)

Begleisender Prediger-Officiating pastor (name)-Egyházi
elkiséröje(H)-Nomen Sepelientis(L)

Two points concerning death records. Remember that they can take you back in
time. If one of your ancestors dies in 1850, age 72, you have just uncovered
an ABT 1778 birth date. Likewise, scan for infant deaths to preclude
duplication of names. As infants died, their names were often repeated for
new children. My grandfather had two "Johns" before he gave up and used
"Julius John" for a third son who survived as my father.

This should cover most of the church records seen from the year 1770 to 1896.
The civil records (1896-1921) are different and have much more data and
different formats. The same words; however, will be found. One important
point. The first name to appear at the top of a civil record is normally the
name of the person reporting the incident (birth, death, etc.). This will be
followed by the name of the notary. Individuals concerned will be found in
the body of the record, male first in the case of a marriage, then his
parents, then the bride, parents and witnesses.

If all of the above is still Greek to you and you're really having trouble, I
strongly urge you to spend a few dollars and get a copy of "Following the
Paper Trail", Shea & Hoffman, Language and Lineage Press, 60 Old Northfield
Road, New Milford, CT 06776. This most informative guide to deciphering
foreign genealogical records covers German, Hungarian and Latin along with
many other languages. Has examples of documents, comments concerning
language and script.

Another is "If I Can You Can... DECIPHER GERMANIC RECORDS", by Edna M. Bentz,
13139 Old west Ave., San Diego, CA, 92129. She inscribed my copy "Happy Hunting".
This has a very good script primer, terminology and symbols, illnesses and
occupations, Latin terms, and a wealth of other good material. While slanted
toward north German records (it also includes Danish) it is apllicable to any
Germanic area. Cost is minimal.

At the end of each record year, you will find comments by the priest or
pastor. They will include the sum total of baptisms, marriages and deaths,
some ecclestiastical comments and if you're lucky, at the very end of the
records an index. ALWAYS go to the end of the film and look for an index.
They were used to quickly find baptisms. The index will be in alphabetic
order with no secondary alphabetization.


END OF NEWSLETTER-EDITED & DISTRIBUTED BY GERALD J. BERGHOLD