Thursday, October 28, 2010

Best Hungarian Websites

Family Tree Magazine releases an annual list of what they think to be the "101 Best Websites". I admit that these lists are very handy, but they neglect bringing attention to websites about specific ethnicities, nationalities and countries. This is why I'm creating my list of 'Best Hungarian Websites'. They're organized with what I think to be the most useful websites first. I unfortunately haven't been able to compile 101 links.. haha.

1.) RadixHub: 1877 Gazetteer of Hungary
http://www.radixhub.com/radixhub/gazetteers/1877/

This is the most useful website I have ever used, and continue to use on an almost daily basis. It's initially organized by counties and also alphabetically, which is very useful. If you happen to not know the county your town is in, you can easily find it alphabetically.

Within the county pages the towns are organized in a table by district, and then alphabetically within each district. Each town is listed by it's name, any know alternative names for the town and then finally the parishes for each religious denomination. Not every single town had a church for every religion, so it wasn't uncommon for residents to travel to a neighboring town to attend church.

This website is especially useful when you search the FamilySearch online Library Catalog, and find that the town your ancestors are from.. don't have church records for their religion. Check this website and you'll be able to figure out where the residents of your town attended church!

I'm not lying when I say I use this website on a nearly daily basis. It's an essential tool for the Hungarian researcher!

2.) Magyar Megyei Térképei, 1880 (Hungarian County Maps)
http://www.maproom.org/00/32/index.php

This is a website devoted to county maps, relating to the Kingdom of Hungary in 1880. Each map has a key of what certain symbols mean and also a guide displaying the districts within the county. It's very useful using it along with the 1877 Gazetteer of Hungary on RadixHub.

3.) A Magyar Országos Levéltár adatbázisai (The Hungarian National Archives databases)
http://www.arcanum.hu/mol/

The is the official database website of the Hungarian National Archives. They have made available eleven (11) various databases of great to use to researchers. There are two in particular that should be brought to attention.

The first is the 1715 national census. It has been indexed and it's fully searchable online. Please note that spellings are not always very accurate. You can also browse the 1715 census manually, going through the folders of counties. Images are available for these census records.

The second database of use is the Urbaria et Conscriptiones. It's census and taxation records from the the 16th to 19th centuries. No images are available for these. These records also have a website devoted entirely to them, with images available for every document. (See below)

4.) Urbaria et Conscriptiones
http://mol.arcanum.hu/urbarium/

This website has some fabulous information available! It's devoted entirely to early taxation and census records from all of Hungary ranging from the 16th to 19th centuries. There are images available!
Simply go to the website and perform your search under "Teljes szöveg" which means "full text". I've noticed that they don't have the images and records indexed by names of the people, but by towns. Click the button "keres" to perform your search. I recommend trying spelling variations of your towns. A new window will open when you perform your search and click on the numbered result you'd like to see. A second new window will open with the information pertaining to the specific document you clicked on. Clicking on the link "Képek megtekintése" will open up a program (that you will be prompted to install) with the actual images of the census and taxation documents. The program is perfectly safe to install on your computer.

5.) Királyi Könyvek (Libri Regii and also King's Book)
http://mol.arcanum.hu/digidat/opt/a100302.htm

The Királyi Könyvek is a valuable resource. It contains decrees, land & title donations, patents of nobility, rules & regulations for trade unions and also wills. Images are available for most records on this website. You must install the previously mentioned program to view the images. The program is safe to install on your computer.

6.) Magyarország Levéltárak Kiadványai (Hungarian Archival Publications
http://www.archivportal.arcanum.hu/mltk/opt/a100322.htm

This great website has made publications available that are fully searchable, with images. You can search for publications at the national level and also at the county level.

7.) HungarianReference.com
http://www.hungarianreference.com

This website is self-described as "the internet's most complete guide to the Hungarian language". I have found this website very useful during my research, especially with the grammar section. The Hungarian language is very complex and this website has helped explain every question I've had.

8.) Hadifogoly-Adatbázis (WWII POW Database)
http://www.hadifogoly.hu

This website has a searchable adatabase of Hungarian POW's (Prisoners of War) from World War II.