5. Examples of Hungarian Family History Documents.

This set of tutorials shows examples of the most common documents you will use in investigating Hungarian family histories, and provides hints on how to interpret each. These records were selected to provide the variety of examples needed to assist researchers with much of what they will find in their own work.

With the exception of the Property Ownership Documents, the great majority of the documents shown here pertain to my own family. The fact that I was able to compile such a diverse set of records from one family results from the great diversity in my four grandparents' backgrounds. Though all were born in Hungary, among them was wealth and poverty; university education and illiteracy; peasants, burghers, and noblemen; multiple ethnicities (Magyar, German, Slovak, and Vend); and three of the major Christian denominations of Hungary (Roman Catholic, Reformed, and Lutheran). It is that diversity which, to a great extent, permitted me to compile this most important part of the Hungarian Family History Tutorial.

While the majority of readers will not find this much diversity in their own families, they and you will likely find many surprises in your Hungarian ancestry .. as I have. Those surprises -- whether they concern rogues or royalty -- are what makes climbing your family tree such an exciting and enjoyable pastime.

The examples shown here fall into the following Family History Document groups:

Ship's Manifests are shown on the three standard U.S. Government forms used between the mid-1890s and World War I. Vital Records (consisting of Marriage, Birth/Baptismal, and Death/Burial Records) are included from the pre-1895 church registers of the Roman Catholic, Evangelical Lutheran, and Reformed confessions. One example from a Greek Catholic church is shown among the death records. Certified Transcriptions, of the types most likely to be carried by an immigrant, are shown. In addition, an unusual family information sheet (Értesités) is included. Several examples of post-1895 Civil Vital Records are also shown. The examples of Personal Documents that might be carried by an immigrant are a passport, an apprenticeship book, and a military record book. Many families have maintained Property Ownership Documents over the years; several examples are provided focusing on contracts for the sale/purchase of land. The Miscellaneous Documents shown include examples of census records from 1827 and 1869, death notices, an Army muster roll, and some unusual church records, a few of which were added in 2005.

The examples of documents shown within the tutorial are too small to read the detailed entries. They are useful only to give you a general perspective on the layout of the page(s). You can view an enlarged version of each example by clicking on any blue-bordered Magnifying Glass icon (sample below). The enlarged view is shown in a separate sizeable, scrollable window, which you may minimize or close at will.

Also, clicking on any green See Note icon (sample below) takes you to the appropriate part of a set of Notes files. The note you select appears in a separate sizeable, scrollable window -- part of a file with related notes. There are three recommended approaches to the use of these Notes windows: (1) after initially causing a Notes window to appear, keep it visible on your screen and scroll to the note(s) you are interested in; (2) print the entire contents of the Notes window; or (3) close each Notes window after reading it, clicking on the icon for each note of interest. Which approach you use depends upon your personal preferences.