Basic Slovak Genealogy Sources
Church Records
Roman Catholic was the predominant religion in Slovakia, with some Greek Catholic congregations also present. However, there were also Protestant groups extant in this region. The most prominent was the Reformed Church (Calvinist), ranking second only to the Roman Catholic population. Other denominations included Greek Orthodox, Evangelical-Lutheran, Unitarian, and others, in addition to the third ranking Judaism (Judaizmus). Records from the dioceses and other religious jurisdictions for the Slovak region of Hungary are deposited in regional archives in present-day Slovakia. Records were recorded in Slovak and Latin for most denominations prior to 1840. Hungarian was then required until 1868, and subsequent records varied with either Slovak or Hungarian, depending on the ethnology of the location. Regardless of ecclesiastical affiliation, there are basic elements among the records generated about the participants in each congregation. (The exceptions to this statement are the Jewish records, briefly discussed separately below.) Prior to 1781, the Roman Catholic Church reportedly kept records for all denominations, including Jews.
Birth/Christening records include the date of the event, name of child, names of parents, household number and/or town of residence, witnesses, and additional miscellaneous information. The information is less detailed the further back in time it was recorded. The records have been microfilmed for most areas from the earliest through 1895, and are organized chronological by date of event. With few possible exceptions, indexes do not exist.
Marriage records will usually include the date of the event, name of the groom and bride, their residence of origin, prior marital status and witnesses. Many records show ages of the bride and groom, and later records show the names of the parents for each. Residences can lead to outside towns of origin when births did not occur in the same town being researched. Marriage records are organized chronological by date of event, and are microfilmed from the earliest available through 1895. With few possible exceptions, indexes do not exist.
Death records generally include the date of death and burial, name of the deceased, age and residence at time of death. The cause of death is often listed, as well as whether a widow or widower, and a father’s name is usually given if the child is an infant. Death records are organized chronologically, and are microfilmed from the earliest available to 1895. With few possible exceptions, indexes do not exist.
|
Civil Records
Civil Registration began in 1895, wherein the government began a system of keeping their own copy of births, marriages and deaths, regardless of religious affiliation. Thus, in addition to being recorded ecclesiastically (and perhaps in a neighboring location), individuals were also recorded civilly in the town of residence beginning in 1895. The information contained in these records is more detailed than in church records, often including such details as the birth places and ages of the parents in the birth records and marriage records. The records are the responsibility of each town office, and are held at the National Archives in Bratislava. Copies are currently available only from this National Repository.
Census Records that have survived are few for Slovakia for the pre-twentieth century period. According to Angus Baxter’s In Search of Your European Roots, “censuses were held in 1809, 1880, 1890, 1910, and then in 1920 and every ten years since.” In addition, the former Hungarian county of Zemplén had a separate enumeration taken in 1869 that provides a tremendous amount of material on each household. This latter census has been microfilmed and made available at the Family History Library, though all others are available only at the National Archives in Bratislava.
