Some Less Frequently Used Sources in Danube Swabian Genealogical Studies By Staša Cvetković, genealogist Mt. Angel Treffen & Conference 2014 0 Mt. Angel Treffen & Conference 2014 Dear ladies and gentlemen, dear colleagues and friends, It is my great honor to be here with you. 12 years ago, when I was starting my professional genealogist career, giving a lecture to someone like you was something I did not even dream about. My goal was to escape from my boring job in a pesticide company, to do something I love to do, and to be able to put some food on the family table by doing this job. I am especially proud that, over the past 12 years, I have guided so many people from all over the world, but mostly from USA and Canada, through Serbia and the surrounding region, and I have made many friends along the way. My special gratitude goes to those people without whom this lecture would not be possible: Mrs Rosina Schmidt, najlepše hvala, Mr John and Norma Michels, Mr Henry Fisher, Mr David Preston, University of Mary in North Dakota and, last but not least, to my wonderful host Mrs Leah Ott and her dear family! I have tried to shed some light on several sources that people do not use so often in their studies and my goal is to make people realize that they can explore much more beyond the parish registers. Finally, I have to say that by no means all of the sources could be embraced by this humble work. I invite you to tomorrow’s forum, where I will preside and will be glad to answer your questions. Thank you and, if you agree, let us begin! Staša Cvetković, Novi Sad, Serbia 01 September 2014 1 CONTENTS The definition of the Less Frequently Used Sources in Danube Swabian (DS) Genealogical Studies ………………………………………:…………………………………………….…. Page 3 MONOGRAPHIC BOOKS AND SIMILAR PUBLICATIONS • • • • • • Monographic Books and Similar Publications ……………………………………….… Page 3 Short-run Printed Publications ……………………………………………………………….. Page 3 Newspapers in German Language in Vojvodina ………………….…………………… Page 7 Newspapers Before the WWI ………………………………………………………………….. Page 7 Between Two World Wars …………………………..………………………………..………… Page 9 Some Sources and Repositories………………………………………………………………… Page 9 CHURCH DOCUMENTS OUTSIDE OF PUBLIC ARCHIVES • • • • • • Introduction …………………………….……………………………………………………………… Page 10 Short History of Church and Civil Records and Document-Keeping …………. Page 11 Canonical visitations ……………………………………………………………………………….. Page 13 First Communion (Eucharist) and Confirmation (Chrismation) records ……. Page 13 Status Animarum …………………………………………………………………………………….. Page 14 Historiae Domus (Parish History Books) …………………………………………………… Page 15 ARCHIVAL SOURCES • • • • • • • • • • Investigation in Vojvodina’s Archives ……………………………………………………..… Page 16 Sources on Colonization ……………………………………………………………………..……. Page 19 Sources to Other Lists of Colonists ……………………………………………………..……. Page 20 Orphans Foundation …………………………………………………………………..……………. Page 22 Cadastral Records ………………………………………………………………..………………….. Page 23 Personal Documents ………………………………………………………….……….……………. Page 27 Ormos Collection – One Important Source of General Value for Understanding of the Life in XIX C ……………………………………………………………. Page 34 Work of the institutions, administration and courts on a city, district, county and state levels (as the general research and genealogical source) …Page 34 Archival Fonds, Collections and Other Inventory Units that Contain DS Genealogy Related Documentation …………………………………………………..….…... Page 36 APPENDIX …………………………………………………………..…….………………..……………… Page 38 2 The definition of the Less Frequently Used Sources in Danube Swabian (DS) Genealogical Studies There is a wide consensus with regard to the definitions of primary and secondary sources in genealogy. A primary source is any document or record created at the time of an event or very close to it, such as church or civil vital records, school and military records, population, land and housing censuses, deeds, wills and probates, passenger lists and so on. Secondary sources pertain to material that was not created at the time of an event and can comprise published records, books, various compilations of records, general historical works and family histories, oral history, letters etc. Having this definition in mind, we can conclude that the less frequently used sources treated in this work are mostly those primary sources which are not so often used. In terms of the resources we will address in this work, it is clear that the above definition puts archive records, church records and documents 1 in the category of primary records, and only monographic books and similar publications belong to the category of the secondary sources. MONOGRAPHIC BOOKS, STUDIES: Short-run Printed Publications There is a vast number of short-run monographic publications about the various aspects of the history of people and places in Vojvodina 2. Historian Bogdan T Stanojev wrote a useful compilation of such titles which can be translated as “Contributions to the Bibliography of the Monographic Publications on the Settlements in Vojvodina 3”. The book was published by the Archive of Vojvodina in 1996. This booklet lists the titles of and provides basic information about 841 books that cover various topics related to 256 settlements. The author compiled this bibliography in 1992 using the Matica Srpska library and other libraries, museums and archives located in Vojvodina. In his own words, the list is sorely incomplete due to the historical failure of a number of publishers to comply with their obligation to forward copies of each publication to the National Library and the Matica Srpska library, resulting in those titles’ absence from the library catalogues. It is hard to estimate the number of volumes unregistered for this reason, but there may be around 300 such books. Given the fact that this bibliography was written in 1992, it is safe to say that about 20 new books have been published annually since then, which gives a total number of at least 1,500 monographs on the various towns and villages in Vojvodina. 1 Other than the vital records which are not emphasized by the work Vojvodina as the geopolitical term is reduced in this paper to the geographic region of today Autonomous Serbian Province of Vojvodina because it mostly corresponds to the repositories and sources mentioned in this work. The region is divided by the Danube and Tisa rivers into: BATSCHKA in the northwest, BANAT in the east and SYRMIEN (Srijem, Srem) in the southwest. Today, the western part of SYRMIEN is in Croatia, the northern part of BATSCHKA is in Hungary, the eastern part of BANAT is in Romania (with a small piece in Hungary), while BARANJA (which is between the Danube and the Drava) is situated both in Hungary and Croatia. 3 Bogdan Stanojev, “Prilog bibliografiji monografskih publikacija o vojvođanskim naseljima“, (Arhiv Vojvodine, Posebna izdanja Arhiva Vojvodine“, p. 8 2 3 When we add the books of non-Serbian authors to this number, in the first place Heimatbücher or Ortsfamilienbücher by American and German-Austrian authors that have been published after 1992 4, we come to the figure of nearly 1,800 titles. The majority of the titles by Serbian authors are unknown to researchers abroad and, except for the small number of books with the abstracts in English language, I believe that fewer than 1% of those books have a full English translation. Around 10 % of these publications were written in the languages of Vojvodina’s ethnic minorities (Hungarian, Ruthenian, Slovakian etc). Certainly, it is not about the quantity but the content. The writers of these publications come from diverse backgrounds and levels of knowledge. The range spans from local amateur historians to the members of academic society. Also, the topics and approaches to the matter vary from the predominant general histories of the settlements, ethnographical, ethnological and anthropogeographical works of various scope, to some very specific, narrowly defined themes such as the history of a local guild, school, professional association (e.g. volunteer firemen association), history of a prominent family (industrial, e.g. Weifert , Dunđerski or Bohn), biographies of noble families and individuals, history of local churches, companies, newspapers etc. The vast majority of these monographs do not offer something new or valuable. Even a superficial analysis would show that most of the authors used well-known and familiar sources. However, surprisingly, a lot of the publications do contain original material to some extent, and the most valuable employ secondary sources such as interviews and testimonies of people who were in some way involved in an event or were familiar with the matter. Also, the choice of archive documents is often narrowly focused to a chosen local theme and thus, while they publish documents which may be of limited use for more educated historians dealing with the “big picture”, nevertheless they may prove very worthy for researchers studying local history. For example, “Iz prošlosti Srpske Crnje”, a book by Nebojša Faranov, we can extract valuable information from the author’s recording of details from the locals, who told him about the exact way of building the “švapska kuća” 5, agricultural varieties that had been used in 1920s, names of localities dating from the 18th and 19th centuries, brands of agricultural tools, customs, dietary habits, holidays etc. 4 5 Some of those published up to 1992 were included in his work Swabian-type house 4 Toponyms from Srpska Crnja (Deutsch-Zerne) obtained from local informants, Nebojša Faranov, “Iz prošlosti Srpske Crnje 6”, Art-Projekt, 2013 The part of these books that I never fail to carefully study is the bibliography and references. To me, it is a great resource for “fishing” for new material, previously unknown to me, that I could use. A special place is occupied among the monographs by the books and studies written by professional historians and archivists, and by reprints and revisions of old publications. Such books are of great importance, since the information is reliable, direct and processed in an expert manner, and the bibliography and citations usually provide useful links to other interesting authors and titles. Below is a page from the book which is a comprehensive guide through Pančevo in 1922, with a description of all the town’s administrative, religious, cultural and other institutions and buildings. Furthermore, it lists all the merchants, craftsmen, industrialists and entrepreneurs by name and trade. 6 Title translation: From the Past of Serbische Zerne (Deutsch Zerne, rem. S.C.) 5 “PANČEVO u 38 slika, u tekstu šematizmom pančevačkih trgovaca, industrijalaca, reklamnim odeljkom i mapom Pančeva”, Dr. Nikola Milutinović, 1922; reprint by Historical Archive in Pančevo, 2011” 7 7 Title translation: “Pantschowa in 38 Pictures and the Schematism of Pantschowaer Merchants, Craftsmen, Industrials and with the Advertisement Sections and the map of Pantschowa” pančevačkih trgovaca, industrijalaca, advertisement section and the map of Pančevo”, Dr. Nikola Milutinović, 1922; reprint by Historical Archive in Pančevo, 2011 6 German Language Newspapers in Vojvodina There is one other source that is widely used among researchers all over the world: newspapers and magazines, with their articles, advertisements, engagement and wedding announcements, and obituaries. Our historian, Dr Branko Bešlin wrote a concise but extraordinarily informative book about the German press in Vojvodina during the period 1933-1941. A free translation of this book’s title would be “Harbinger of Tragedy: the German Press in Vojvodina from 1933-1941 8”. It was the period of the strong growth of national consciousness among the Germans in the region. For almost two centuries, that consciousness had been unrecognizable – rather, small local communities shared a sense of a local common identity sourced from their “old home” ancestry. The author’s review of the history of German newspaper publishing from its beginnings to the outbreak of WWI is supported by a comprehensive list of the newspapers published within the territory of today’s Vojvodina. It is an invaluable tool for the identification and selection of local newspapers for the purpose of research. Newspapers Before WWI The first newspaper in the German language published in Hungary (according to some sources, the first ever printed outside of Germany) was “Temeswarer Nachrichten”, printed in 1771 in Timisoara by Mathias Joseph Heimerl. Timisoara held, without any doubt, primacy in publishing, at all times. From the total number of 20 daily newspapers, 13 were published in Timisoara, along with more than half of all weekly magazines. On the eve of WWI, in 1914, the only daily newspapers in Southern Hungary were printed in Timisoara (Die Zeitung, Temeswarer Zeitung, Temeswarer Volksblatt, and Südungarische Reform) with one newspaper published in Arad (Arader Zeitung)” 9. 8 Branko Bešlin, “Vesnik tragedije, Nemačka štampa u Vojvodini 1933-1941”, Platoneum, Izdavačka knjižarnica Zorana Stojanovića, 2001 9 Ibid, page 17, 18 7 Temesvarer Zeitung from 4 November 1885 celebrates 25-year jubilee of Bishop Alexander Bonnaz at the helm of the Csánad Bishopric 10 The first newspapers in Vojvodina appeared in 1850s and, up to 1914, about 80 different newspapers circulated in all larger towns. 11 The prevailing type of newspaper - until the period when Kulturbund gradually achieved a decisive influence on the German press in Vojvodina - was the so-called “Provinzblatt” 12, or provincial newspaper owned by a single family who printed the papers on their own presses. This concept of family business provided longevity to “Provinzblatt”, which “newspapers whose existence depended on elusive luck in the political arena could never expect 13”. “Provinzblatt”, local and provincial as they were, are a good source for researchers of the history of local communities. The content of those newspapers was almost exclusively composed of local and regional news and depicts the life of the community in detail. News from Europe and the world were “copy-pasted” from major metropolitan newspapers. Sometimes, established German media issued special news editions to be distributed with the provincial newspapers. For instance, Die Nera (Weiskirchner Zeitung), Gross-Kikindaer Zeitung and Torontaler 10 After Vatican denied funds for the school for girls in the developing Iosefine district of Timisoara, this philanthropic bishop invested his personal wealth into the construction of the Notre-Dame sisters order school with two-tower Neo-Romanic church. 11 Ibid, page 18 12 According to Branko Bešlin, term used by Felix Milleker in „Geschihchte des Buchdruckers“ and adopted by many journalist between two world wars. 13 Ibid, page 21 8 Zeitung used German Allgemeine Miteilungen from Stuttgart. Other local newspapers used several other major German newspapers. Between the Two World Wars After the disintegration of Austrian-Hungarian Empire in 1918, six German language newspapers survived: Werschetzer Gebirgsbote and Deutscher Volksfreund in Vršac, Bacs-Bodroger Presse in Apatin, Die Wacht in Bačka Palanka, Werbas und Umgebung in Vrbas and Weisskirchner Volksblatt in Bela Crkva. After the establishment of Kulturbund in 1919, that organization started their own publishing and printing shareholding company “Druckerei- und Verlags- Aktiengesellschaft” (DVAG) in the same year. Very soon, it started to act as the national publisher for Germans in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, slowly growing the number of its own newspapers and magazines and imposing its authority on most of the other independent publishers and shaping public opinion among the German population. Needless to say, this is another important station for researchers. Compared to the “Provinzblatt” in this period, newspapers became more nationally, politically and socially engaged, shrinking the space available for more local themes and people. Some Sources and Repositories: For the identification of newspapers published within the territory of today’s Vojvodina, besides Dr Bešlin’s book, I often use a few comprehensive sources which are available online: Deutschsprachige Presse in Ungarn 1850-1920 by Maria Rozsa in two volumes: https://www.google.rs/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CB4QFjA A&url=http%3A%2F%2Fmek.oszk.hu%2F01900%2F01970%2Frtf%2F1kotet.rtf&ei=ggf6U6KoFufh4QSUjo DQAw&usg=AFQjCNG46JVCz-XoCt3-cu5xpjULotn8hw&bvm=bv.73612305,d.bGQ https://www.google.rs/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CCUQFj AB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fmek.oszk.hu%2F01900%2F01970%2Fpdf%2F2kotet.pdf&ei=ggf6U6KoFufh4QS UjoDQAw&usg=AFQjCNEdIR_MxcO-OFQJ0VwD-zCAH5hVNQ&bvm=bv.73612305,d.bGQ As for the repositories for newspapers and magazines, one of the major ones is the archive and microfilm collection kept in the Museum of Vojvodina in Novi Sad, although there are more or less valuable collections in most of the regional archives and major libraries. The Library of Matica Srpska 14 and the National Library of Serbia in Belgrade, along with other academic and public libraries in Serbia, keep some of the local newspapers in the German language, but also some newspapers, bulletins, gazetteers, calendars and annuals not contained in any other of archives or museums in Vojvodina and, thus, this is the source always worth checking. Their online catalogue with more than 3,500,000 publications can be searched online through basic, advanced and keyword search: http://www.vbs.rs/scripts/cobiss?command=CONNECT&base=80017&lani=enI 14 Oldest cultural and scientific institution in modern Serbia, Matica Srpska was established in 1826 9 The search interface is very similar to the Library of Congress online catalogue (now when I mention this great institution, it is always clever to check what they have! Whole trick is in clever use of the keywords and syntax) I would like to mention two other major sources that could be used in a search for local newspapers in German language: Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Wien http://www.onb.ac.at/index.php Széchényi-Nationalbibliothek, Budapest http://regi.oszk.hu/index_en.htm To broaden the search to the network of Serbian libraries whose catalogues are available through the joint (shared) online available database, use the following link: http://www.vbs.rs/scripts/cobiss?ukaz=BASE&bno=99999&id=1335132483660761 It will include the titles from the National Library in Serbia in Belgrade and 162 other Serbian university and public libraries which are in the system. CHURCH DOCUMENTS OUTSIDE OF PUBLIC ARCHIVES Introduction: Most of the church vital registries (CB’s) from the period beyond 1895 up to date, and the registries and documents that will be treated in this paper (Historiae Domus, Libri Confirmatorum), are kept in Bishoprics and parishes. In Vojvodina, we have: • Three Roman Catholic Dioceses with 38 parishes in Zrenjanin Diocese (cca. 70,000), 94 parishes in Subotica Diocese (cca. 300,000) and 34 parishes in Srem (Srijem, Syrmien) Diocese (with Petrovaradin rectory) (cca. 50,000); • Slovakian Evangelical church of Augsburg Confession with the bishopric in Novi Sad with 40 parishes; and • Evangelical Christian Church of Augsburg Confession with the Bishopric in Subotica with 18 church communities. Both of these Lutheran churches (of A.C.15.) claim to be the successors of German Evangelical Church of A.C. which was discontinued in the beginning of the 1950s. It is important to say that more than half of those formally speaking parishes are in fact filial churches, and the mother churches cover two or three villages on average. 15 Of Augsburg Confession or in Latin, Confessio Augustana, primary confession of faith of the Lutheran Church 10 The availability on request of the records kept in the Roman Catholic parishes is also quite problematic due to poor English language 16 knowledge and consequent unresponsiveness. Over the last year or two, the prices of issued certificates significantly increased, probably due to the increased demand. The prices are not standardised at diocesan level and can range from 5 to 10 EUR per certificate. Sometimes, beside the language problems, there may be an unwillingness to conduct the more complex search requests. Short History of Church and Civil Records and Document-Keeping The serious approach to the keeping of vital records in the Western Rite Christian Europe relates to the Council of Trent (Concilium Tridentinum) which defined the obligation for Roman Catholic parish priests to keep records of baptisms and marriages. Pursuant to the Trent Council decisions, Pope Paul V prescribed in 1616 the keeping of five types of church record: Birth registries (Liber baptisatorum), marriage registries (Liber copulatorum), death registries (Liber defunctorum), Confirmation registry (Liber confirmatorum) and the book of parishioners/parish families (Liber status animarum, lit. “state of souls”). Within the territory of today’s Vojvodina, the keeping of vital registries became mandatory for all acknowledged religions by Imperial Decree in 1784. Civil or public records in the lands of the Austro-Hungarian Dual Monarchy became operative from 1 October 1895 after Article XXXII of the Law on State Vital Records Registries was passed by the Parliament in 1894. After WWII, pursuant to Article 48 of the Law on State Vital Records Registries in 1946, church vital records were acknowledged as public documents and consequently were taken away from the churches. According to the same Law, they were supposed to be transcribed and brought back to the churches by 31 December 1951 at latest. They have not been returned yet. On 7 July 2011, the Serbian Government signed the agreement on returning church books to their respective owners but, surprisingly, both sides concluded that this move would be premature at this moment – the Government still has not digitized the church records (or the majority of them) and the Church is not ready to take responsibility for the adequate receipt, storage and preservation of such a huge collection. In my personal opinion, this will be accomplished within two (very optimistic estimate) to six years (being the anticipated time by which Serbia may join EU and comply with its regulations, standards and recommendations). 16 Although the number of English speaking priests is constantly growing, most of the parish priests speak Hungarian, Serbian and a number of them speak the German language (S.C.) 11 07 July 2011, Msgr. Stanislav Hočevar and Gov. Minister Marković signing the agreement on returning of the parish records to the RC church (same agreement was signed with dignitaries of other religions Over its three centuries of existence, Germans within the territory of today’s Vojvodina used to belong to one of three main churches. Most Germans were Roman Catholics, while the rest were mostly members of the Evangelical (Lutheran) Church of A.C. A minority used to belong to the Reformed or Calvinist church. After the ethnical cleansing of Germans from Yugoslavia under the Communists, German presence in the church community life in all of those churches practically ceased to exist. Today, Hungarians and Slovaks, as the most populous minorities in Vojvodina, comprise the vast majority of non-Eastern Orthodox believers. First of all, we have to point out that diocesan archives exist for all the religions within the territory of Vojvodina, but, from the point of view of a researcher, the situation with those archives is quite disappointing. The scope of documentation important for genealogists that is kept there is too often limited to the period after WWI, while the availability of the documentation for researchers is restricted since the archives are not meant for public but for internal use only. They would provide a vital certificate on a request but that is about it. Recently, the Zrenjanin Diocese archive decided to create a central diocesan archive. The order was given to all parish priests to prepare for the transferring of all books and old documents from their parishes to the former Franciscan monastery of St Charles Borromeo, now seat of the Roman Catholic parish of Pančevo. They already provided appropriate space and metal archival shelves for this purpose. At this point, it is unknown if the doors of this archive will be open for researchers not belonging to the clergy and under what terms but, personally, I feel optimistic with regard to this. 12 Whilst waiting for the church archive to become operational, which will certainly take some time, a lot of valuable sources can be found at the basic organizational church units – the parishes. Parish home closets and shelves and church towers often hide forgotten and overlooked important documentation. Fortunately, the church has recently begun to put serious plans into effect in order to assemble, record and organize such documents. The central RC archive and the library in Pančevo are a good example for that. Generally speaking, the most common documentation comprises the following: a) Canonical visitations 17 The practice of appointing “patriarchs, primates, metropolitans and bishops 18” to visit their respective dioceses, personally or by their “vicar-general or visitor” on a regular basis, “with a view of maintaining faith and discipline and of correcting abuses by the application of proper remedies” 19 was established in early Christian days, abandoned in High Middle Ages and reintroduced by the Council of Trent 20. In practice, such visitations meant the complete investigation and insight into the spiritual and material affairs of the diocese. Available canonical visitations reports for the territory of today’s Vojvodina are kept (one copy) in the Dioceses of Zrenjanin and Subotica and are of great interest for RC Church historians and to some extent to the chroniclers of local communities, but they do not have much value for genealogists. b) First Communion (Eucharist) 21 and Confirmation (Chrismation) 22 records Having the importance and weight of the Holy Sacraments in the RC Church, the attention that both deserve is accompanied by the strict and mandatory keeping of records on children and (in some special cases adults) who received those Holy Sacraments. In Protestant denominations, it is less elaborate in the Lutheran (Evangelical) Church than in the Reformed and is considered more as a ceremony of coming of age. These records cannot be found in archives other than as rare exceptions, since the new communist authorities did not need them. At the time, they were after the church vital records that were taken away from churches after the WWII, brought to the local civil registries and gradually transferred to the regional archives according to the territorial criteria. Thus, these records are kept in parishes but the annual lists of the children eligible for the Confirmation used to be delivered to the bishop who is, “being a successor to the apostles 23”, the original minister of Confirmation. 17 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canonical_visitation Meehan, Andrew. "Canonical Visitation." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 15. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912 19 Ibid 20 Church nineteenth ecumenical council that lasted from 13 December 1545 to 04 December 1563 21 (typically received around the age of seven in the Latin Rite) 22 (usually received several years after First Communion) 23 apostolic succession, “Dictionary of Beliefs and Religions“, Wordsworth Reference, 1995 edition, p. 29 18 13 The Archive of Vojvodina church book fond (F-402) 1826-1895 is the biggest fond of church vital registries in Serbia (bishop’s transcripts), covering hundreds of villages within the territory of today’s Vojvodina. However, there are gaps within this fond. Typically, the characteristic pattern for most of the parish registers is for gaps of sporadically missing years during the period 1826-1840s and for a gap for the period around the 1850s. The very good news is that the Confirmation records and the records on First Communion were preserved in majority of the parishes for the period where gaps exist in vital registries. This information is confirmed by the Zrenjanin Bishopric and the source says that the Confirmation and the First Communion records start along with the vital records, mostly from the end of 18th and the beginning of 19th century. It is true that there are certain gaps produced by the parish priests’ inactivity but this was more the exception than the rule. Early Kovin (Kubin, Kevevara) Confirmation records (extracted from the volume 1776-1828) This makes the Confirmation and First Confirmation records a valuable auxiliary source for supplementing the missing vital registers. The biggest problem with these records are the availability issues, due to the fact that they are dispersed across parishes, not catalogued and sometimes hard to access – RC parish priests now, due to the dwindling numbers of parishioners, often cover two or more villages and it is sometimes hard to locate and budge them to look for some old records. But, as long as the records are there, there is always a way to eventually obtain them. c) Status Animarum For some unfortunate reason, there is a sad lack of Status Animarum (SA) - in the form of separate church records or the records included/attached to the vital registries - for the parishes in Banat. I tried to find at least a hint on the state of SA in a few manuscripts of Dr Friedhelm Treude which he wrote after the WWII and were available to me. Dr Treude was a historian who committed a good part of his 14 studies to the Germans from Banat and is responsible for the microfilming of Banat parish records (later used by FHL of LDS church) but I was able to find only some lapidary reference to SA in his papers. I have tried to find some answers in the church sources but no satisfactory answer ever reached me. I have high hopes in a few very knowledgeable contacts I intend to consult in the near future, in Timisoara and Pančevo but, at this point, I cannot provide you with answers. It is a pity, since neighboring Croatia has an extensive collection of SA and, while investigating there, I realized how useful SA would be for my studies. There is a somewhat better situation in the parishes in Batschka, but again nothing like the fortunate situation in Croatia. d) Historiae Domus (Parish History Books) Since we just established with regret that we are short of SA for Banat, it can come as a surprise to reveal that almost every parish has its own Historia Domus, or parish history book (PHB), kept by the parish priests. While this type of book is not focused on individuals and an assessment of their efforts to lift up their spiritual state and knowledge as the case is with SA (while providing us with the super useful genealogy information), PHB can be absolutely a delicacy for the parish and town historians. Wars, troubles with “haiducken24” and horse thieves, famine, founding of schools and fire watch towers, fixing the roads, good or bad years for vines, bishops in canonical visitations, the railway coming to town, plague and cholera, festivals and holidays... everything has its place in a parish priest diary. If, that is, he is not too lazy to write (which happens sometimes, leaving frustrating 10-year blanks a possibility…). Here are two examples from Kudritzer parish history book. One is not so cheerful and pertains to the worrying increase in Syphilis transmission in 1833 in Timis and Torontal: 24 Hajduks, Heiducks - Outlaws and highwaymen, sometimes romantic figures of freedom fighters in Balkans (S.C.) 15 But the news from 1926 was much happier – new church organs with pneumatic tube systems were ordered from the master organ-builder Josef Brandl of Magdeburg 25: ARCHIVAL SOURCES Investigation in Vojvodina’s Archives Vojvodina, which is the Autonomous Province in the Republic of Serbia, has nine regional 26 archives plus the Archive of Vojvodina in Novi Sad which is superior to the regional archives and coordinates and controls their activities. There are few limiting factors for researchers in archives, the most important being the following: 25 Saxony, Germany Zrenjanin, Kikinda, Bela Crkva and Pančevo in Banat; Novi Sad, Subotica, Senta and Sombor in Batschka and Sremska Mitrovica (Archive „Srem“) in Srem or Syrmien. 26 16 The laws and regulations with regard to access to archival documentation and obtaining copies of archive documents are in some aspects obsolete and conservative compared to the majority of similar archives in, for example, Europe, USA and Australia. Foreign citizens have to obtain a permit prior to research. These permits are issued by the Provincial Ministry of Culture and Public Information in Novi Sad. Formally, the time for issue is 30 days from application, but in practice it only takes a few days (technically, it is possibly to get it in one day). It is a formality since no permits are ever denied but, still, it is a nuisance. Applications can be sent by e-mail. A standardised policy for accessing records does not exist, although the central archive (AV) is recently trying to make it more uniform. Their effort to improve information management, accessibility and user-friendliness toward the researchers is evident in the past years. Their contemporary looking website is growing fast and the content is becoming increasingly interesting and informative 27. Some archives issue photocopies, some make digital photos upon your request (when the documents have not already been digitized). The majority of archive fonds and collections in Serbia have not been digitized. In comparison with other archival collections, some of the church registry book collections have being digitized to a somewhat greater extent. At the present time, no archives in Vojvodina make available any online records (either commercially or free of charge) 28, which restricts the possibility of remote research only to individual and personalized emails to the archives. Some archives, such as the Archive of Vojvodina, make available contact forms on their websites for researcher requests. They charge for the work of their employees per your request (a typical daily fee is about 15 EUR), plus the costs of scanning, which is quite high and goes from 1 EUR upwards for a scan of a single parish register entry. Cost of photocopies for the majority of the records other than the parish registers is much lower, ranging from 0,10 to 0,20 EUR per page. There is no fee for the use of archive documents within the reading rooms meant for researchers. However, the quantity of archive documents which can be ordered in one day is limited, and those limits are set internally by each archive. E.g., in the Archive of Vojvodina, the limit is set to two archive boxes per day (about 0.2 m per box) for the parish registers. An average town is “covered” by two or three archive boxes, so sometimes you need to plan two days for researching an entire town’s parish registers. There are differences in archival terminology in different countries, so I will provide a brief description of the terms that will be used as we go along. Archives in Vojvodina keep substantial quantity of documents sorted in archival fonds according to the largely accepted principles of provenance and original order. Fonds, or as you prefer to say in US and Canada, record groups or collections, 29 are the “chief archive units in the Continental system 30” and can 27 http://www.arhivvojvodine.org.rs/index.php/sr-yu/ With the exception of the Archive of Subotica parish records collection which started a project of publishing the collection online free of any charge http://e-arhiva.suarhiv.co.rs/index.php?lang=eng You have to register before you proceed with your online research 29 In our (Serbian) archivistic, term „collection“ correspondents with the definition given by Steven Hensen in his „Archives, Personal Papers, and Manuscripts: A Cataloging Manual for Archival Repositories, Historical Societies, and Manuscript 28 17 be described as “the entire body of records of an organization, family, or individual that have been created and accumulated as the result of an organic process reflecting the functions of the creator 31”. In order to stay focused on the topic, I will not list ALL repositories and sources that may contain references to the genealogy of DS. Instead, I will rather speak about the sources that provide significant and substantial information in regard to the study of DS family history in archives in Vojvodina. In my investigations, for practical and organizational purposes, I often plan and divide the investigation phases to the periods that roughly but essentially correspond with the various archive fonds (principle of provenance). There are several such important milestones: - - - - Second half of 18th century to the Hungarian Revolution of 1848 after which feudalism and serfdom were abolished and civil rights became common for all citizens. Period of Voivodeship of Serbia and Banat of Temeschwar (Woiwodschaft Serbien und Temescher Banat), short-lived autonomous crown province of the Austrian Empire from 18491860 Period of the dual monarchy (Austro-Hungarian Empire) from 1867-1918 WWI (1914-1918) Period between the disintegration of Austro-Hungarian Empire and WWII. Treaty of Trianon from 1920 confirmed the de facto situation from the end of 1918, delivering sizeable portions of several ex-Hungarian counties (Bacs-Bodrog, Torontal and Temes) to the newly established Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, later Kingdom of Yugoslavia. WWII - in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, started by German bombing of Belgrade on 6 April 1941, and ended in 1945. Period between October 1944 and the beginning of 1948 is certainly the darkest hour in the history of DS, during which about 50,000 32 or 10 % of total population of this ethnic minority lost their lives and almost everyone lost their property and their motherland. Various types of camps for Germans existed on the territory of Vojvodina: internment camps, working camps, central camps for civilians and the camps for civilians incapable for working (elderly people and children) which, given the treatment of the inmates, equaled the death camps. Central camps provided the forced labor for the working camps and for local agriculture and, to a lesser degree, industry. And the last period would be period after the camps for Germans were disbanded in early 1948 to the present day. Libraries – 2nd ed.”, Society of American Archivists, 1989: „A body of archival material formed by or around a person, family group, corporate body, or subject either from a common source as a natural product of activity or function, or gathered purposefully and artificially without regard to original provenience.” 30 Jenkinson, Hilary,” A Manual of Archive Administration”, Percy Lund, Humphries, 1966 31 Richard Pearce-Moses, “A Glossary of Archival and Records Terminology”, Society of American Archivists, 2005 32 Number of victims ranges between conservative and underestimated 36000 to equally not credible 90000. 18 There is one additional division that is important in terms of availability of vital registry records and it is the one to the period until and beyond 1895 when the civil registries started on the territory of today’s Vojvodina, but we will not be addressing those sorts of records here. Sources on the Colonization An epic effort by Martha Remer Connor to transcribe the 1828 census helped many to get closer to their origins. Microfilming of the censuses that followed in 1857 and 1869 was restricted to some particular regions and does not cover the historical counties on the territory of today’s Vojvodina. I would like to draw your attention to some other sources that are, in my opinion, not used often and extensively and are 50 to 100 years older than 1828 census. • • Pursuant to the first “impopulation” (colonization) patent brought by Neoaquistica commisio (Committee for the Newly Acquired Regions), that presided over by Leopold Karl von Kollonitch (Leopold Kolonić) in 1689 was such a success that the administration in Moravia and Schlesien had to ban further immigration 33. As “kammeralist”, Kollonitch favored German settlers. Due to the Ferencz Rakoczi uprising from 1703-1711, this colonization wave was short-lived. The next colonization groups arrived from 1712 to 1718, but larger groups of colonists started to arrive in 1723 when some 17 villages, mostly in eastern Banat, were settled. That colonization was organized through the administration in Timisoara and the administrative counselor Franz Samuel von Rebentisch. Colonization by the very first German settlers at the end of 17th century - and before the “impopulation” patent sanctioned by Emperor Karl (Charles) VI in 1722/23 - was recorded in the 1715 and 1720 Urbarial census of Hungary. This census is of no major genealogy importance for DS for several reasons, but it has some limited value. 1715 census did not yield expected results and the soldiers in the frontier were not listed, unlike in the 1720 census. A commission from Matica Srpska compiled and published in 1968 an excerpt in five volumes with a list of and information on Serbian inhabitants emphasized by this Urbarial census (mostly the soldiers but other categories, too), which I have used extensively for Serbian-related investigations. It is available online through Hungarian State Archive (Magyar Országos Lévéltar), so it is worthwhile trying http://mol.arcanum.hu/ It gives some free information but later requires payment. Also, you need to install their application in order to use the database. Second one are the “Impopulation” (colonization) records 1783-1785 34, kept on 16 microfilms 35 with tens of thousands of colonists’ records, containing the name of the settler and names of his dependant family members (women, children), age, place of origin (in approximately 90 % origin is listed) and the place of destination. Records are sorted in chronological order, starting in May 1783, and several different forms that were used. Most of the settlers were heading to BacsBodrog County but there are a significant number of families which were directed to Timisoara. 33 Branko Bešlin, „Naseljavanje Nemaca u Vojvodinu“, Platoneum d.o.o., 2006, p. 14 Microfilms exists in the Archive of Vojvodina under the signature I-279-295,“Registratura Mađarske Komore Budimpešta“ and in Budapest State Archives as Magyar Kamara Regisztratúrája, E-67, Impopulationalia, Magyar Országos Levéltár 35 It seems that in Budapest Archive, the same collection comprise 12, not 16 microfilms. I cannot explain the difference (S.C.) 34 19 • Protestants are clearly distinguished in the religion column (sometimes simply as “acatolics” and sometimes more precisely as “Lutheri”, “Lutherani” or “Calvini”, “Calviniani” etc). The second collection could be very interesting for the researchers whose primary interests are the villages in Syrmien (Srem, Srijem) and Slavonien. There are four boxes of Xerox prints from 1969: The first, second and third boxes contain the registry of Urbariums: “Urbaria et Conscriptiones” registers of fief ownership with the lists of the lands with their serfs. 1st box: 444 prints, spans years 1722-1749; 2nd box: 358 prints, spans years 1720-1745, 3rd box: 261 prints, spans years 1745-1773 The fourth box is the census of the church and feudal (seigniorial) tax of 1/10 and 1/9 of the agricultural yields – “Conscriptiones Decimarum et Nonarum Croatie et Slavonie 1594-1734 ” 36, with 469 prints ranging from 1718- 1721 Sources to the Other Lists of Colonists Other resource for the research of the colonization and migrations comprises various contracts, transactions and deeds between, on the one side, the various landowners (many of whom received vast lands as the spoils of the successful war against the Ottomans), magistrates of free Imperial cities, merchants who were buying land through direct deals or at auctions, and the church which sometimes traded lands, and, on the other side, the colonists. I would like to present an example. Below you can see one page of the early census of colonists from Austria, Bohemia, Moravia, German states, Lothringen (Lorraine), Alsace and Luxembourg settled Baja, (Nagy)Baracska, Csatalya, Hercegszanto, Bereg, Kolut (Ringdorf), Gakowa, Kruschiwl, Gara, Vaskut, Istvan Megye, Csavoly, Melykut, Tatarhaza, Katschmar and Bajmok (Nagelsdorf). This page is a part of 16-page list and pertains to the part of the settlers to Gakova and Kruschiwl (there is one more whole page with Gakova settlers and four pages with Kruschiwl colonists). 36 Popis desetina i devetina u Hrvatskoj i Slavoniji 1594-1734, Hrvatski Državni Arhiv 20 From the Catalogue with chronologically arranged summary descriptions of the contents of the chosen documents from the fond of Bacs-Bodrog County (1688-1849) 37 The list comprises 5 columns, from left to right: 1) Place of colonization (2/3 of the page lists Gakowa settlers and 1/3 is the beginning of the list for the colonists to Kruschiwl), 2) Given and family name, 3) Age of the colonist, 4) Place of origin of the colonist and 5) Year of colonist arrival to the place of colonization. 37 Lajčo Matković, Tadija Grosinger, „Bačko-Bodroška županija (1688-1789)“, Katalog odabranih sadržaja dokumentata (17881789), vol. VIII/7, Arhiv Vojvodine, Novi Sad, 1996 21 So, if we take as the example my client whose investigation was the reason for obtaining this list, we have determined that one of his ancestors, Michael Pleli, age 37, arrived in Gakovo (Gakowa) from Kernbach (Germany) in 1771. Dozens of similar lists can be found in this one (Bacs-Bodrog) and the other fonds covering Torontal and Timis counties by using the catalogues 38 published by the Archive of Vojvodina. Some of the regional archives use other kinds of publications for tracing such lists, but it is a fact that the existence of some lists of this kind is not highlighted and they have to be pinpointed through the right choice of the fonds and the narrowing to the archival units that may contain the desired materials. Both summary inventories and analytical guides can be of help. Orphans Foundation (Funds) 39 Very often, researchers hit brick walls caused by an ancestor having been an orphan. Also often, researcher may not be aware that THIS is the problem and they turn their attention in other directions. So, if at one point in your investigation you uncover potential adoption situation, you should turn to the Orphans Foundation (OF) records. As the name itself says, certain attention is needed in order not to confuse this institute with the institute of adoption of the children. So, what was OF in Vojvodina at the time? Legal custody, care and control over orphans within the territory of today’s Vojvodina existed as the ward of the community as early as the end of the 18th century and were monitored and managed by the parish. It existed in a form of OF. In the social environment where orphanages did not exist for a long time, usually not until the end of the 19th century, care in the community care was the major way of looking after orphaned children. State regulation of this matter was later defined by law. Gyámsági törvény (HUN) (Guardianship Act) was the law brought by Hungarian Parliament on 7 July 1877 to define and regulate the institution of legal guardianship and the matters related to the care, support and protection of both orphans and incapacitated seniors. Pursuant to this Law, OF were established in Hungarian counties and consequently Torontal County OF was established with a seat in Gross Betschkerek. After the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Torontal County, its territorial jurisdiction was limited to the part of Banat belonging to the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and the activities of this institution ceased in 1948. The content of this sort of material which is most appealing for researchers is the orphans’ files and lists. Other than that, you can expect to find records and information about the appointments of legal guardians and the guardian committees, lending money on interest, guardians’ reports about their clients’ assets, reports on guardians’ abuses, auctions in favor of OF, solving disputes between guardians and the heirs, claims of tutors and curators, general and vocational education of clients, ending of 38 39 Catalogues of the chosen contents from the archival fonds In Serbian/Croatian: siročadski sto(l) 22 guardianship with the clients who attained the age of majority, annual censuses of the orphans’ property, legal representation before courts, and so on. The archive fond for the Banat OF is vast and very well preserved. It is kept in the Archive of Zrenjanin as “Banatski siročadski sto (1849-1947)” under the signature F-471 and comprises 89 meters of document placed in no fewer than 640 archive boxes (!), which makes it the biggest fond of this kind in Vojvodina. Similar but considerably smaller collections exist also in archive of Zrenjanin for Bacs-Bodrog county under the name and signature: “Siročadski sto Bačko-Bodroške Županije 1880-1949”, F-404 comprising 5 meters of documents and 40 archival boxes, missing years span: 1881-1888 and 1890-1899 and for the city of Zrenjanin: “Gradski siročadski sto Petrovgrad - Zrenjanin (1881-1946)” Also, in the other regional archives: Historical Archive Bela Crkva: “Siročadski sto Vršac (1866-1918)”, “Siročadski sto Vršac (1941-1945)” Istorijski arhiv Bela Crkva, “Siročadski sto Vršac (1919-1940)” Historical Archive Subotica, “Siročadski sto grada Subotice (1874-1947)” Historical Archive Sombor, “Siročadski sto (1913-1947) 40” Cadastral (Land Survey) Records 41 Meaning: Cadaster, cadaster (n. ) -A public register showing the details of ownership and value of land made for the purpose of taxation Short regional cadastral history: The first general cadastral survey for the territory of Habsburg Empire was conducted under Emperor Joseph II (based on the decision of his mother, Empress Maria Theresa) between 1763 and 1768. The second cadastral survey for the whole territory of Habsburg Empire (the so-called Franciscan after the Emperor Francis I) was carried out between 1806 and 1869. The third general cadastral survey was performed under the Emperor Franz Josef I between 1869 and 1916 and the cadastral measurement registers with the cadastral maps for Banat, Batschka (Bačka), and Syrmien (Srem) are kept in several local archives. Usage: In genealogy, cadastral surveys can be a valuable auxiliary tool and we often use them in our genealogy practice, not only as a substitute to partially fill gaps in vital registers but also to provide additional information for our clients. That information may include the size and nature of the ancestral real estate property. Furthermore, it gives us the vital information on house numbers which can be then related to the appropriate cadastral map (if map is available). Even some other maps relevant to the period may allow us to pinpoint the exact locations of ancestral homes when used along the cadastral books. 40 41 City of Sombor, S.C. Not to be confused with population and housing censuses 23 About the cadastral survey records: The majority of cadastral registries were preserved, but this is not the case with the related maps. Practically, it means that we can almost always get the information on the property owner (taxpayer), address and the size and the category of all of his properties, but that is not always followed by the appropriate maps (where missing from the sets). The language of the cadastral survey registries was mostly Hungarian and the Description of the Boundaries of the Cadastral Municipality with the Map and the Tax Payers Directories (alphabetical and by the address) were usually in both German and Hungarian. Cadastral survey registers consists of several different types of records (books), most usually the following: - Kőszégnek Számolati Jegyzőkőnyv - Geodetic part of the survey, technical and of no particular importance for the genealogist. - Birtokrésleti Jegyzőkőnyv - This type of registry provides the most important information: number of land lot (which can be later associated with maps where available), name of the property owner, his house address, category of the property (house, stable, manufacturing unit, agricultural land, vineyard, orchard, etc) with the corresponding area measured in Ől and Hold (old Hungarian land measurement units which we convert to modern units) Example of the Main Cadastral Register (Ernsthausen, 1875) 24 - Adókőszégnek Határleirása - Description of the perimeter (boundaries) of the cadastral municipality; comes with the small-scale map (these small-scale maps should not be confused with the survey largescale maps!). Usually, there are two similar bilingual booklets (in Hungarian and in German). Cadastral Boundaries Map (Zichydorf 1874) - Betűsorozatos névjegyzék - (alphabetical) directory of the taxpayers with their house addresses. There existed, as a rule, a similar directory but by the house number (address) order. Both of those were written in German and Hungarian languages. Tax Payers Directory Alphabetical (Zichydorf, 1875) 25 - Other documentation: usually lists of land lots by the soil quality, sorts and the distribution of the cultures and farm animals etc. Survey maps: Those large-scale maps (1:1,500) consist of physically separated parts and one small-scale map (master map) with the grid of quadrants, each quadrant representing one separate map part. Depending on the size of the village or town, there are usually from 15 to 30 map parts sized 1 m x 80 cm. For big cities such as Pančevo and Novi Sad, there are several hundred map parts related to the actual cadastral book (Birtokrésleti Jegyzőkőnyv) - “Feld Brouillon der Stadt und Comunität Pancsova” Example: Setschanfeld Cadastral Master Map 1875 COMBINED with the section 5 of the Setschanfeld Cadastral Map (section 5 colored blue on the Master Map grid) Old Hungarian land area measurement units: Hold: The official kataszteri hold or cadastral hold, used for land taxation, is 1,600 square öl or about 0.5752 hectare (1.421 acres or 5752 m2); this unit is equivalent to the Austrian joch. Ől - a traditional Hungarian distance unit comparable to the English fathom. The öl was equal to 6 láb or about 1.896 meter (6.22 English feet), making it the Hungarian version of the Viennese klafter. 1 square ől = 3.594816 square meters. 26 Personal Documents For the period of the 19th century, this category comprises mostly “Meisterbriefs” (master craftsman licences) and “Wanderbücher” (journeyman’s “passport”). MASTERBRIEF: Ropemakers’ guild in Neu Betsche (Aratsch) in Banat issued a master craftsman certificate (masterbrief) of ropemaker (Seiler) to Andreas Gromann (b. 7 June 1822) on 5 December 1850, Archive of Zrenjanin Collection of Charts and Diplomas Wanderbuch 42 is a journey book which served as the passport and the working resume and reference. It was issued to apprentices who completed their apprenticeship and allowed them to travel as a journeyman in search for work and to gain experience. Such a book would contain all of the positions he held (places he worked at) along with the record of the time and place where he worked. His engagement was verified by a stamp or a master’s signature. Once he completed his journeyman career 43, he usually worked on his masterpiece 44 which allowed him to get his Meisterbrief (master craftsman license), join the guild and start with his own Master craftsman career. 42 Wanderbuch example, see page 32 Wandering was a guild regulation and in 19th century Vojvodina - 3 years of gaining experience was the most usual timeframe 44 Masterpiece (Meisterstück) was made in front of two master craftsmen 43 27 Nearly all of the nine regional archives have their own collection of these documents but the most important ones are in the Archive of Pančevo, which keeps the most voluminous collection of Wanderbücher (664 books), and in Novi Sad, which holds a wide collection of personal documents that, besides Meisterbriefs and Wanderbücher, includes travelling salesmen’s books, passports, working books of servant staff, livestock passports etc. Personal documents in Archive of Vojvodina are kept in fond F. 470, (The Collection of Civil Personal Documents 1742-1923). Few examples of personal documents: Begging permit, 1876 and 1877 45 45 Archive of Vojvodina, F. 470, (The Collection of Civil Personal Documents 1742-1923) 28 Begging permits were granted by the city captainships, district and municipal administration allowing begging on their territory for a time limited usually to 24 to 48 hours 46 Working Book (Munkakonyve, Pracovni knižka, Arbeitsbuch) 47 46 Article of Zoran Stavanović from Archive of Vojvodina, published in a expert archival magazine „Zapisi“, Historical Archive Pozarevac, pages 83-93 47 Archive of Vojvodina, F. 470, (The Collection of Civil Personal Documents 1742-1923) 29 Servants’ Books 48 (Dienstbotenbuch, szolgati konyv, cseledkonyv) 48 Archive of Vojvodina, F. 470, (The Collection of Civil Personal Documents 1742-1923) 30 Peddling Books - Hausirbuch (Hausirbuch, hazalokonyv, knjžka na obchodn po domich, liro di commercio girovago) 49 49 Archive of Vojvodina, F. 470, (The Collection of Civil Personal Documents 1742-1923) 31 Vandrovke, Journeymen Books (Wanderbuch, vandorkolonyv, wandrownicka knjžka, stranovnica, putna knjiga 50) – 152 + 664 Austrian Civil Code from 1811 (Allgemeines bürgerliches Gesetzbuch, ABGB) proscribed that vocational skill is needed for doing of any kind of job. Wanderbuch served as a personal and passport document for the journeymen who travelled to various places in Empire and abroad to improve their workmenship. 51 50 Source: Internet (Swiss Wanderbuch) Article of Zoran Stavanović from Archive of Vojvodina, published in a expert archival magazine „Zapisi“, Historical Archive Pozarevac, pages 87-89 51 32 Passport (Reisepass, Scheda Passualis, Passuales, Passir Schein, utazo-level, utlevel, igazolasi jegy): 216 passport sheets and 30 passport booklets All of the above documents had status of public documents. They were tremendously important because they allowed the freedom of movement. That freedom was, in 18th and the first half of 19th century reserved only for the civiles, or citizens had a freedom of movement as opposed to the plebs (plebeian) who were serfs tied to the landlords estates (their only alternative was work in the manufactures in the cities which was often much harder than being on the land). Josef II abolished serfdom in 1785, but it was reintroduced very soon in 1788, since the noblemen conditioned their 33 participation in Austrian-Russian-Ottoman war with restoring of old system. Serfdom was definitely abolished in 1848 and the freedom of movement became common for everyone. Ormos Collection - An Important Source of General Value for Understanding Life in 19th century For researchers interested in the history of Banat villages, ethnology and ethnography, folk customs and life in Banat in 19th century, there is a collection created by historian Sigismund Ormos which is microfilmed (on 12 reels of film) and available in Archive of Vojvodina as “Ormosi Gyűjtemény” (Ormos Collection), 1859-1860. This collection is originally the collection of Banat Museum in Timisoara (established 1872). The original collection is now held in the Romanian National Archives in Timisoara under the name and signature: TM-F-00131 Fondul Familial Ormos Sigismund (1801-1908). Work of the institutions, administration and courts on a city, district, county and state level (as a general research and genealogy source) Documents produced by the work of various institutions from the period of the colonization in 18th century to the expulsion of DS from Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia in late 1940s are sorted in a number of various archival fonds and collections in Archive of Vojvodina and nine regional archives. Some archival documentation is still waiting to be included to appropriate inventory units and some of it is attached to the collections of “varia” 52. All of the administrations and institutions at all levels, from the local to the highest, created their share of documents that contain information significant for genealogists. Chambers of commerce, guilds, municipalities, courts, Magistrates of Free Imperial Cities, councils, counties and others were all the creators of this vast documentation. Below is an example of an unfortunate event, a fire, affecting the village of Kudritz with a list of affected households. It is possible to track down the history of the case, through the correspondence and orders exchanged among different administrative subjects before the relief was actually dispatched - the Imperial Commission in Temes, Temes County, Cameral treasury in Temes and the Hungarian Royal Council in Pozsony (Pressburg, now Bratislava, capital of Slovakia). The fire happened in 1777 and 44 houses were destroyed as a result. It took four years before the administration responded but, once the wheels of bureaucracy machine were started, it did not take long before local administration started to execute the orders of the superiors in Pozsony - the first letters were exchanged in December of 1780 and the distribution of relief funds was realized in February 1781. 52 Unsorted documents of various provenience and content. Can be grouped according to the chronological, name, geographical and other criteria (S.C.) 34 Table with the list of indebted citizens of Gudritz, with the amount of their debts and the estimation of damage that fire caused to their property, dated 9 February 1781 53 53 RS 002 F. 10 Tamiška županija (Timis County), box 7, document 23, Language: Latin, 2 pages 35 Archival Fonds, Collections and other Inventory Units that contain DS genealogy-related documentation 54: Since it is impossible to make a comprehensive review of all of archival materials, I made a table which covers some of the most important archival units that can be used for DS genealogical and related studies: Signature Name RS 002 F. 2 RS 002 F. 7 BAČKO - BODROŠKA ŽUPANIJA (Bacs-Bodrog County) SLOBODNI VOJNI KOMUNITET PETROVARADIN (Free or Privileged Military Municipality Peterwardein) TAMIŠKA ŽUPANIJA (Timis County) RS 002 F. 10 RS 002 F. 11 RS 002 F. 13 RS 002 F. 25 (758) TG 56 TG TG TG TG TG Ф. 39 Ф. 35 F. 131 4 Span (inclusive) dates 1688-1849 1702-1918 Reposi tory AV AV 1731-1849 AV TORONTALSKA ŽUPANIJA (Torontal County) 1731-1849 AV VLASTELINSTVO BILET (Seigniory Bilet) 55 1726-1885 AV SREZ BILET (District of Bilet) 1850-1860 AV NEMAČKO-BANATSKI GRANIČARSKI PUK BROJ 12 (Deutsch-Banat Regiment Nr. 12) Grad sa uređenim senatom Bela Crkva (Bela Crkva, City with Senate) Magistrat slobodne kraljevske Varoši Vršac (Magistrate of the Free Imperial Town of Werschetz) Opština Jermenovci (Urmenyhaza Municipality) Opština Plandište (Zichydorf Municipality) Opština Plandište (Zichydorf Municipality) Sreska komisija za konfiskaciju Vršac (District Property Confiscation Committee Werschetz) Udruženje zanatlija Kikinda (Craftsmen Association Kikinda) Trgovinsko-ugostiteljska komora Kikinda (Merchant and Catering Chamber Kikinda) Nemačka narodnosna grupa u Banatu i Srbiji (Deutsche Volksgruppe Im Banat und Serbien) Magistrat municipalnog grada Pančeva (Magistrate of 1756-1872 PA 1786-1918 BC 1796-1918 BC 1839-1918 1931-1937 1941-1944 1945-1954 BC BC BC BC 1886-1950 KI 1876 - 1961 KI 1941-1944 ZR 1794-1918 PA 54 LIMITED TO THE ARCHIVES IN BANAT - Addendum pertaining to Batschka and Syrmien will be published online at www.synergia.rs in October 2014, S.C.). It will also include MILITARY RELATED SOURCES which are not part of this table 55 Seigniory Bilet was constituted from the lands that Zagreb Kaptol (Bishopric) got (in 1800) as the compensation for the lands with about 50 villages that were taken away from it in 1780’s and included to krajinas (military frontiers) of Banska and Karlovac (S.C.) 56 From topographic guide, signatures n/a 36 23 91 Many 44 F.3 F.7 F.175 F.176 F.177 the Municipal City of Pantschowa) Kraljevski sudbeni sto – Pančevo 57 Imperial Court Pančevo Okružni sud – Pančevo 58 County Court Pančevo Narodni odbori and Skupština opštine Pančevo 59 Peoples’ Committees and the Municipality of Pantschowa Opština Brestovac 60 Brestowatz Municipality Nagy Becskerek - Rendezett Tanácsú Város (Gross Betschkerek – City with Senate) Zbirka zavičajnog muzeja u Svetom Hubertu, Solturu i Šarlevilu (Collection of the Homeland Museum in St. Hubert, Seltour and Charleville) Sreska komisija za konfiskaciju Jaša Tomić 63 (District Property Confiscation Committee Modos) Sreska komisija za konfiskaciju Srpska Crnja 64 (District Property Confiscation Committee Deutsch Zerne) Sreska komisija za konfiskaciju Zrenjanin (Petrovrgrad) 65 (District Property Confiscation Committee Gross Betschkerek) 1873-1918 PA 1919-1941 PA 1944(5)-1947(9) PA 1882-1918 PA 1769-1918(20) ZR (1931-1944) 61 1797-1997 62 ZR 1945-1946 ZR 1945-1946 ZR 1945-1946 ZR KEY TO THE ABBREVIATIONS: AV - ARCHIVE OF VOJVODINA ZR - ARCHIVE OF ZRENJANIN BC - ARCHIVE OF BELA CRKVA PA - ARCHIVE OF PANČEVO KI - ARCHIVE OF KIKINDA 57 Among other documentation, contain the court cases and the registries of craft businesses and companies (Sg. 23.3) Among other documentation, contain the court cases and the registries of craft businesses and companies (Sg. 23.3) 59 Fonds on the work of Peoples’ Committees in about 50 villages in the SW Banat (around Pantschowa), often containing lists of persons (Germans and other nationalities) whose property was nationalized/confiscated and the list of the colonists who are getting their property 58 60 Containing the title deeds for the households Period from the museum's establishment to its closing 62 Year span (inclusive years) 63 District Property Confiscation Committee Modos (with the registries for Modos and the villages in the district: Pardan, Stefansfeld, Banatsko Višnjićevo, Sartscha, Setschan, Neusin, Konak, Boka, Schurjan) 64 The same as above, villages in the district: Sankt Georgen an der Bega, Banatski Dušanovac, Banatsko Karađorđevo, Neue Zerne, Klari, Vojvoda Stepa, Ruskodorf, Aleksandrovo (Livade), Toba, St. Hubert, Heufeld, Mastort, Tschestereg 65 Aradatz, Ernsthausen, Elisenheim, Botos, Elemer, Jankov Most, Kleck, Kathreinfeld, Rudolfsgnad, Lazarfeld, Lukacsfálva, Sigmundsfeld, Muschla, Orlowat, Perlas, Stajićevo, Farkaždin and Tschenta 61 37 APPENDIX: INVESTIGATION IN VILLAGE AND MUNICIPAL REGISTRY OFFICES: Since this paper does not deal with parish and civil vital records, I will give a basic explanation about research in village and municipal registry offices. Each municipality has a certain number of village or town offices which are the parts of the local administration, each with its registrar handling the registry books. Registries, except for several villages in Syrmien, mostly have complete records for the period beyond 1895 (up to date). The 1895-1914 civil registry books were supposed to be handed over to archives but a number of those are still in the registry offices. The process of data input of registry information continues from several years ago up to this day and is not finished yet; it is being performed from the newest records to the oldest. The majority of local registry offices have managed to complete the entries from 1945 to date, and some offices have progressed further back to the oldest records, but the process will probably not be finished for several years. According to regulations, foreign citizens cannot apply for certificates in civil registries without special permission. This is not just a formality. Serbian researchers are also affected by the restrictions imposed by the regulations, since one has to produce satisfactory legal cause or be a close relative in order to obtain a certificate. Registrars will rarely perform a look-up for a person whose vital dates or at least years are not known (unless the information is already in the computer system). Ambitious and vague requests are likely to be dismissed. Of course, being in the business, I know how to go around in order to get what I need; and I would gladly share tips but I am afraid that they would not work for someone who is not local. So, in conclusion bureaucracy is an important limitation factor in obtaining other information of genealogical importance when some relevant information is kept in a governmental institution. Progress has been made in recent years in some institutions but, overall, it is still a complicated process to get the required information. Staša Cvetković Synergia Genealogy Agency Novi Sad, Serbia www.synergia.rs [email protected] Tel.: +381 21 553 265 Mobile: +381 62 598 517 38
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