Radix

Radix links: General Information

There are many sources available at archives and libraries throughout Hungary. First of all, there are registers. Church registers in Hungary from the beginnings to 1895 have been microfilmed by the Latter Day Saints Church (Mormons). Microfilm copies are stored in three places:
  • Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA. There are local branches of family history centers (FHC) worldwide, and you can request microfilm reels to them.
  • Hungarian National Archives, Budapest.
  • County archives of the actual locations.
There are some pitfalls that one should be aware of before starting off with research:
  • Austria-Hungary, one of the largest countries of Europe in the 19th century, was split into many a countries (Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Romania, the Soviet Union, Poland, Italy etc.) at the end of World War I (1918). When talking about people of Hungarian nationality it means that at least 50% of Hungarians became citizens of countries other than Hungary (Romania, Slovakia, Yugoslavia, the Soviet Union, Austria). Political liaisons between the successor states have not always been friendly, and I should say, there are some signs of problems even nowadays, too. This can be a harming factor for resarch outside today's Hungary. As I understand foreigners can hardly get a license to do research in Romanian and Ukrainian archives. (I have not had appointment to do research at them.)
  • State registers of births, marriages and deaths in Hungary start in 1895. At this date secular records became official, and church records turned out to be optional and of secondary importance. As said before, microfilms end with 1895. If someone need data dated after 1895, he/she has to find the way to the local authorities/churches/archives. But: alas! When you go to the archives, you will face to fact that due to personality measures the research period for birth registers is limited to current year minus 90 years, that is only until 1908 in 1998, marriage registers minus 60 years, death registers minus 30 years. Archives store the second series of matricula (registers). Master registers are at local governments' offices. Archives can make photocopies of register pages within the time range just mentioned. Churches can provide extracts for about 3 USD / record (600 HUF). (This information is valid for the Roman Catholic Church.) Extracts from records in the master registers can be requested either via the Consulates of the Republic Hungary worldwide (approx. 25 USD / copy), or from the secular register offices at local authorities. In the latter case you have to either show up personally at the office, or, you have to give a written permission to someone on-site to ask for the extracts of records. Your permission should be written in Hungarian and be signed by two witnesses. The commission should include details about your relation to those about whom you request the documents. Extracts in Hungary cost some 5 USDs/person (1000 HUF).
Hereunder you will find links to pages with general overviews, to sites with multiple pages relating to Hungarian genealogy.

Szenti Tibor író, néprajzkutató
Tibor Szenti, author of many books, makes his works available on the web here. His writings deal with the ethnography, society of the people living in today's southeastern Hungary. [Language: Hungarian ] [Added: 07/06/2002 ]
Parallel stories : Hungarian and American family narratives
These narratives were created during a course of sociology at a university in the US. 8 participants collected the memories of their Hungarian families for that project. [Language: English ] [Added: 03/06/2002 ]
2002 International Roots Conference
Between 14-18 July 2002 Dearborn, Mich. hosts this conference for family historians tracing their European roots. This is the website of the conference with detailed programs and other information. [Language: English ] [Added: 28/05/2002 ]
Disputa: az erdélyi fórum : Családfák
The genealogy topic of the online forum for Transylvanian Hungarians. [Language: Hungarian ] [Added: 24/05/2002 ]
Index : Fórum : Törzsasztal : Mire büszke a családod? Kik az õseid?
This is a forum where people talk about outstanding ancestors in their families [Language: Hungarian ] [Added: 24/05/2002 ]
A parasztpolgárosodás két lehetséges útja : XVIII. század - 1945 / Gergely Krisztián Horváth
The study is a family history of the originally peasant family of the author, from the sociological point of view. [Language: Hungarian ] [Added: 12/02/2002 ]
Az angolszász családtörténeti kutatások és hatásuk a magyarországi történeti demográfiára / Ildikó Husz
This article treats the impacts of Anglo-Saxon historical family reconstruction studies on Hungarian historical demography research. [Language: Hungarian ] [Added: 12/02/2002 ]
Kõrösi fejfák / András Jolsvai
The author of this article writes about his genealogical discoveries. [Language: Hungarian ] [Added: 12/02/2002 ]
A gyõri polgárok a végrendeletek tükrében / József Horváth
József Horváth, a researcher of testaments from Gyõr for many years, has a study here with an overview of last wills from 17th century's Gyõr. [Language: Hungarian ] [Added: 11/02/2002 ]
genealogia.lap.hu
Part of the lap.hu sites, this page has links to Hungarian genealogy research sites. [Language: Hungarian ] [Added: 11/02/2002 ]
Magyar családfa kutató site-ok
Link collection with Hungarian genealogy research sites. [Language: Hungarian ] [Added: 11/02/2002 ]
IKER : Magyar Idõszaki Kiadványok Repertóriuma : Keresõkifejezés: TS=CSALADTORTENET
This database contains table of contents of more important periodicals published in Hungary, and also, indexes their papers and studies. These are the search results for subject family history (családtörténet). [Language: Hungarian ] [Added: 13/11/2001 ]
Árvasorban, gazdagságban / János Balogh
Hungarian academian talks about his life, and how family history research touched him. [Language: Hungarian ] [Added: 26/10/2001 ]
Stresnak Surmó Gábor
Report about the genealogy presentation by Gábor Stresnak Surmó in Sal'a, Slovakia. [Language: Hungarian ] [Added: 26/10/2001 ]
Magyar family
Laszlo "Les" Jozsa has set up this site at myfamily.com to create an online club for those interested in Hungarian genealogy research. Members can send messages, upload photos, family trees, chat. To join the club one has to send an invitation request to Laszlo Jozsa. [Language: English ] [Added: 20/10/2001 ]
Jó üzlet a családfakutatás
This article about family tree research in Hungary was published in the July 24, 2001 issue of Pécs' daily paper, Dunántúli Napló. [Language: Hungarian ] [Added: 24/07/2001 ]
Magyar Nemzet : Családi titkok Ritoók Emma naplójában / György Kozma Rytoch
György Kozma Rytoch writes about the discovery of her great-grandmother's diary and about family history known from the diary. [Language: Hungarian ] [Added: 10/05/2001 ]
Boreczky Ágnes
PhD Ágnes Boreczky of the Budapest University (ELTE) researches family history from the sociological perspective. [Language: Hungarian ] [Added: 11/04/2001 ]
[Állásfoglalás]
The Hungarian ombudsman responsible for privacy protection gives his stand on publishing family trees. [Language: Hungarian ] [Added: 11/04/2001 ]
Családfa : Miért fontos illetve fontos-e az õsök nyomozása?
Budapest's Family Tree Ltd. treats the basics of Hungarian genealogy research in this PR article published in Magyar Krónika, Hungarian language newspaper in Canada. [Language: Hungarian ] [Added: 15/02/2001 ]
115 éves a Turul : Egy szakfolyóirat rövid története / Nyulászine dr. Straub Éva
Dr. Straub, archivist and editor-in-chief of Hungary's most established genealogy journal, the Turul, gives an overview of the history of the periodical on the 115th anniversary of its life. [Language: Hungarian ] [Added: 09/02/2001 ]
Kard és Koszorú : Tallózás ezer év magyar uralmi és katonai jelképeiben
This is a page of abstracts of contributions from the conference dealing with symbols of rulers, entities, military in Hungarian history held in Budapest, November 2000. One of the sections was dedicated to heraldry, with quite a few authorities delivering speeches. [Language: Hungarian ] [Added: 07/02/2001 ]
Honismeret
Honismeret is a Hungarian journal of local history and culture. Starting with issue 2000/2 its content is available on the web, too. Navigation between issues is somewhat tricky, one have to change the web address manually. Web page name of the 2000/2 issue is Ho000200.htm, that of the 2000/3 is Ho000300.htm and so on. [Language: Hungarian ] [Added: 06/02/2001 ]
Dunántúli Napló Online : Levéltár : kutatók és kutakodók
Interviewed by Hungarian regional daily paper, Dunántúli Napló Baranya County Archives' director Imre Ódor speaks about family history researchers visiting that archives. [Language: Hungarian ] [Added: 29/12/2000 ]
Mit rejtett az öreg plébánia?
This is an article about the recent finding of the Roman Catholic Church register in Egerszalók. Published in Heves County's daily paper: Heves Megyei Hírlap. [Language: Hungarian ] [Added: 22/12/2000 ]
Rajzoljunk családfát! : A bõség zavara
The Transylvanian daily paper Bihari Napló (Nagyvárad, Oradea, Romania) asked its readers to contribute genealogical papers, articles early 2000. Aladár Szilágyi reports on the success of this invitation. [Language: Hungarian ] [Added: 19/12/2000 ]
Researching your Hungarian heritage : A listing of books and other materials available in the local history and genealogy room St. Joseph Public Library
An offer list of books with annotations for the Hungarian ancestry researcher from South Bend's (In.) county public library. [Language: English ] [Added: 07/12/2000 ]
HungaryRoots
HungaryRoots looks like a new, comprehensive site for Hungarian genealogy. There are things yet to be done, still, it looks promising. [Language: English ] [Added: 01/12/2000 ]
Utódok a családfa árnyékában : Gudenus János József a legdemokratikusabb tudományról
An interview with János József Gudenus, author of the multi-volume book about the 20th century history of the Hungarian aristocracy. Published in the 18 Nov 2000 issue of Hungary's daily, Magyar Nemzet. [Language: Hungarian ] [Added: 20/11/2000 ]
Családfakészítés : Hogyan, hol kutathatunk õseink után?
General things about family history research in Hungary. This is a short article published in Hungary's daily, Népszabadság. [Language: Hungarian ] [Added: 19/10/2000 ]
Kik is lesznek õseink? : Divatba jött a családfakutatás, néha azonban csalóknak esünk áldozatul
Published in Hungary's most read daily, Népszabadság this article has general information about research possibilities. [Language: Hungarian ] [Added: 19/10/2000 ]
Finding Hungarian ancestors
One page overview of research possibilities from America. [Language: English ] [Added: 20/09/2000 ]
Múltvadászok : Kis magyar családkutatás
An article about genealogy research in Hungary published in Hungary's daily Magyar Nemzet. [Language: Hungarian ] [Added: 13/09/2000 ]
Népszámlálások Erdély területén 1850 és 1910 között
A very good description of national censuses in Hungary between 1850 and 1910 [Language: Hungarian ] [Added: 13/06/2000 ]
Népszámlálások a jelenkori Erdély területén
An overview of the national censuses taken in Transylvania (Erdély) during the 19-20th centuries, with a special emphasis on ethnic groups [Language: Hungarian ] [Added: 13/06/2000 ]
Szellemi erõk összefogása a régióért : Családkutatás, közéleti szalon, mûveltségi vetélkedõ
Békés County's daily reports on the news of the local college. They plan to start a genealogy project. [Language: Hungarian ] [Added: 24/05/2000 ]
Ha nem lenne internet, mi sem lennénk... : Egy családfakutató vállalkozás sikertörténete
Andrea Wesselényi's interview with Family Tree Ltd's György Eötvös about their firm and genealogy research on the internet, originally published in the Hungarian printed internet magazin, Internet Kalauz. [Language: Hungarian ] [Added: 19/05/2000 ]
Felix G. Game, specialist in Austro-Hungarian genealogy
Professional genealogist and translator, author of several articles in family history journals, Felix G. Game started a new site with articles and other interesting information on Austrian and Hungarian genealogy. [Language: English ] [Added: 29/03/2000 ]
Magyar családtörténeti web archívum
This site aims at providing comprehensive information on Hungarian genealogy. It took a promising start, but there are no updates. [Language: Hungarian, English ] [Added: 13/03/2000 ]
Index : Családfakutatás : Törzsasztal : Fórum
This is a message area of Hungary's most popular online magazine, Index. This thread started back in February 1999, had a boom in January 2000. [Language: Hungarian ] [Added: 01/03/2000 ]
Hungarotips : Hungary with pictures and sounds, genealogy
Started off late 1999, this site is growing. Has several features: general introduction, query board, guestbook, links. [Language: English ] [Added: 01/03/2000 ]
A Pallas nagy lexikona
This is a famous Hungarian national encyclopedia from the end of the 19th century. Its 16 volumes have 110,000 entries, almost 10,000 illustrations. Its text-version is downloadable from the Hungarian Electronic Library site. The full version (with images) can be purchased from the publisher of the CD-ROM release. [Language: Hungarian ] [Added: 03/08/1999 ]
Austro-Hungarian Empire -- Cross-index
Federation of East European Family History Societies has a couple of pages dedicated to Hungary. [Language: English ] [Added: before July 1999 ]
Family History in Hungary: Család-Történet Magyarországon (includes Slovakia). An other copy
Alex Glendinning gives you a report of his experiences while researching in Hungary. [Language: English ] [Added: before July 1999 ]
Our family tree
This article, printed in the Hungarian weekly, 168 Óra covers genealogy research. Mr. György Eötvös of Family Tree Ltd. being interviewed. Available in Hungarian, as well. [Language: English ] [Added: before July 1999 ]
Hungarian/American Friendship Society (HAFS) // Specializing in Hungarian & Slovak Genealogy
Useful information on research. However, Mr. Holmes has apparently put an end to editing these pages. [Language: English ] [Added: before July 1999 ]
Family Tree Genealogical and Probate Research Bureau
Genealogical consulting service in Budapest. This professional research bureau has good information for the beginner. [Language: English ] [Added: before July 1999 ]
Családfakutatás : A múlt évgyûrûi
The popular Hungarian business weekly HVG reports on the situation of family history research in Hungary. ooops: 04/03/1999: this page seems to be gone. [Language: Hungarian ] [Added: before July 1999 ]
Geneologists help Magyars track roots By Michael J. Jordan
This article has appeared in The Budapest Report in 1995. It gives an overview about genealogical research in Hungary. ooops: 20/11/1998: This page seems to be gone. [Language: English ] [Added: before July 1999 ]
Tájékoztató a családtörténeti kutatásokhoz
An authoritative guide to genealogy research in Hungary. Mr. József Berkes of the Hungarian National Archives has a shortened version of his book on family history research, which will come out in the near future, on the National Archives' website. [Language: Hungarian ] [Added: before July 1999 ]
Institute for Historical Family Research
Genealogical consulting service based in Wien, Austria. Besides providing details about their services, a lot of useful information can be found there. [Language: English ] [Added: before July 1999 ]
Hungarian genealogy main page
This is the Hungarian page of WorldGenWeb. [Language: English ] [Added: before July 1999 ]
Burgenland Bunch Homepage
A homepage for the researchers in Austria's federal state Burgenland, once western part of Hungary. Many of their newsletter articles cover topics of general Hungarian family history interest, not only Burgenland-specific subjects [Language: English ] [Added: before July 1999 ]
The genealogist // Hungarian genealogy
One-page overview of Hungarian genealogy research. [Language: English ] [Added: before July 1999 ]
Danube Swabians
Although these pages are compiled to give information on the Danube Swabians (ethnic Germans) genealogy in Hungary, they worth visiting for others, too. They have lots of information of general interest. [Language: English ] [Added: before July 1999 ]