Death Register of a Ruthene Town
1836-1883 -- Documenting
Five Language Changes in Less than 50 Years.
This register is from the Greek Catholic Church in the village of Gellért in Sáros county. It is intended to show that the registers of Greek Catholic churches aren't much different than those of Roman Catholic churches, and is also illustrative of the frequent language changes that may be found in registers from the periphery of historic Hungary. This register is not associated with my family, and I will not go into any detail ... it is simply provided to show examples from a Greek Catholic register which includes a few pages in Russian, using the Cyrillic alphabet.
The village of Gellért is in northernmost Hungary -- in the "High Tatra" range of the Carpathian mountains. Its name in Slovak is Geraltov, in Russian it is Gerált, and in Ukrainian it is Heralt. It is probably typical of the many Ruthene (now usually called Carpatho-Rusyn) mountain villages of historic northeastern Hungary.
For basic background on the Greek Catholic Church:
1836 Latin Death Register Page.
Latin was typical at this time in all Catholic churches.
1845 Magyar Death Register Page.
This is an unusually early switch to Magyar for a Catholic church.
1850 Latin Death Register Page.
The switch back to Latin happened as soon as the 1848-9 Hungarian War for Independence was lost.
1854 Russian Death Register Page.
Apparently the Russian language was used during part of the Austrian military occupation of Hungary.
1858 Latin Death Register Page.
The register goes back to Latin when Magyars begin to regain control of the country.
1883 Magyar Death Register Page.
Finally, the register goes back to Magyar until the end of WWI when this village becomes a part of Czechoslovakia. Note that entry #13 is the burial of a Roman Catholic by a Greek Catholic priest.
