More Ukrainian Records Go Online: #Covidscansharing Project

While archives are closed to public due to the current quarantine, there are some positive developments in Ukrainian genealogy. I would like to highlight one of them, #CovidScansharing project, launched by Ukrainian genealogist Serhiy Fazulianov (СергійФазульянов). Its scope is to share digital copies of genealogy-related documents from researchers' private collections. Most of these records are not available online elsewhere.

The website is in Ukrainian language, but it is fairly simple and can be used with an online translator or basic knowledge of Cyrillic script.

The website features links to useful social network accounts and archive-related projects.  But there are three most useful folders, which can be found just below the blue #CovidScansharing button:

ДРАЦС (Abbreviation of “Державна реєстрація актів цивільного стану”, Ukrainian for “Public civil registry”). This folder contains correspondence with civil registry offices concerning their holding of vital records, that are older than 75 years. The reason this is important is that many records that have exceeded their privacy restriction period are still held by civil registry offices of Western Ukraine (Ternopil, Ivano-Frankivsk, Lviv, Rivne, Volyn oblasts/provinces). Some of them have responded with a list of such records, clarifying the situation for researchers.

Описи (Ukrainian for “Inventory”) folder contains various catalogs/inventories of Ukrainian archives. This is an important resource, especially in Ukraine, where historically there have been many administrative changes, and thus, it is sometimes a non-trivial task to locate the needed documents. Unfortunately, not all archives have their inventories online on the websites, so having them available save a lot of time and energy.

Фонди (Ukrainian for “Archival collections”) contains scans of records, primarily vital records, as well as other types of documents. For example, from Vinnytsia regional archive it includes so-called “filtration cases” of the forced laborers in Nazi Germany and victims of 1930s Soviet repressions (I wrote about this type of records in this post). Also, I am particularly excited about the 1921 Census for Transcarpathia (Ukrainian: Закарпаття). This collection is not complete, but it covers a large part of this area. Inside this folder, the scans are organized by repositories, where they have been made. Among those, Central Sate archives of Ukraine in Kyiv and in Lviv, various state regional archives and others.

Although the collection is not large at the moment, I think this is a good start and I hope the project will continue to grow. Anyone can contribute to the project with their scans, by filling out a form here.

1869 Hungarian Census at Transcarpathia Regional Archive, Ukraine

In 1869 an all-country population census was conducted in the Kingdom of Hungary. It included representatives of all religions and social status, making it a valuable source for family history. This census can be used to bridge a gap in the vital records, or to add depth to the known facts about your ancestors' life in the second half of 19th century.

Like most censuses, the 1869 census lists members of the household, their relationship to the head of the household, years and places of birth, as well as some details about their possessions. The questions with translations are provided on this FamilySerach Wiki page. 
 

Cover page of the questionnaire

For most of the present-day Hungary, however, only statistical data from the 1869 census has been preserved, with the exception of several towns (Győr, Hajduszoboszló, Nyiregyháza, Szentes). Personal data of this census is only available for those counties that are now completely or partly in Slovakia, and several towns in Hungary. They can be researched online on FamilySearch, as well as in a JewishGen database.

Here I would like to highlight a collection containing records of the 1869 census, available at the State Archive of Transcarpathia Oblast in Ukraine. More specifically, it is located at the local branch of this archive in Berehove (historically known as Beregszász).

The name of the archive in Ukrainian and Hungarian languages

According to the archival catalog of the Berehove branch, this census, listed as "Анкети та відомості перепису населення і худоби в селах жупи" (Census questionnaires and data on population and cattle in the villages of the county), covers the former Ung county.

Soviet-era cover page

These records are not available online, and can be accessed in person at the research room of the archive. One should sign up in advance and obtain permission from the director of the archive in Uzhhorod. If travel is not an option for you, you can use a local researcher.

Research room at the Berehove branch of Transcarpathia archive

Here are some examples of the census data from Korláthelmec, a.k.a. Putka Helmec, now Khomlets, Uzhhorod district (rayon) of Transcarpathia region (oblast).

So, from this documents we can infer the following.

The family lived in house nr. 166, with one room, one ante-room and one stable.

The household members:

1. Őri Pál, male, year of birth: 1814, Greek Catholic, married, day laborer*, place of birth: Hungary, P. Helmec, illiterate;
2. Homas Éva, female, year of birth: 1814, Greek Catholic, married, day laborer, place of birth: Hungary, Hosszumező, illiterate;
3. Őri Pál, male, year of birth: 1843, Greek Catholic, single, at military service, now on leave, place of birth: Hungary, P. Helmec, can read and write;
4. Őri Mária, female, year of birth: 1849, Greek Catholic, single, day laborer, place of birth: Hungary, P. Helmec, can read and write;
5. Őri Erzsébet, female, year of birth: 1853, Greek Catholic, married, day laborer, place of birth: Hungary, P. Helmec, illiterate;
6. Őri Jozsef, male, year of birth: 1854, Greek Catholic, married, day laborer, place of birth: Hungary, P. Helmec, can read and write.
*Day laborer means that they were landless and hired to work on somebody else's land, paid by day of work.

As you can see, quite a valuable information for a genealogy researcher. If you have ancestors from Transcarpathia, I highly recommend you benefit from this collection, if it has records from your particular town.

Unusually Informative Church Record From Galicia

While doing research for one of my clients, I stumbled upon a birth record that is a true treasure for any genealogist. It was a Greek Catholic baptism record from 1840 from the village of Stara Sól, Galicia (now Stara Sil, Ukraine), held at the Central State Historical Archives of Ukraine in Lviv.

Just this one record provided names for four (!) generations of the family I was researching. Such document alone can be the basis of a decent family tree. Let's have a look at it.

Baptism record of Baptism of Anna Solska

Translation from Latin

Date of birth: 9 (th of December, 1840)
Date of baptism: 9 (th of December, 1840)
Name: Anna
Religion: Catholic
Sex: female
Legitimate/Illegitimate: legitimate
House No. 139



Father: Joannes Solski, farmer, son of Elias Solski and Anna Plytycz, daughter of Peter Plytycz and Catharina Miklasiewicz











 



Mother: Catharina Zatwarska, daughter of Michael Zatwarski and Tatiana Hrycaj, daughter of Stephanus Hrycaj and Anna Łycan

















Godparents: farmers of Stara Sol Ioannes Zatwarski, Helena, daughter of Peter Gurkas, potter Adalbertus Mariansky(?), Catharina, daughter of carpenter Georgius Turczyn.

So, not only do we have the child's parents' and all four grandparents' names, but also the names of maternal great-grandparents. Pretty good, isn't it?

Note, by the way, how the first names are Latinized (Joannes for Ivan, Elias for Illya etc.), while the last names are spelled in Polish. Also, it is interesting that denomination is not specified - Greek or Roman Catholic. It seems that the differences between the two were not accentuated. Unsurprisingly, intermarriages between Greek and Roman Catholics in Galicia were very common.

Now, as much as I would like all records from Galicia to be this informative, I must admit that this is rather an exception, than a rule. As you can see from this FamilySearch Wiki page on Austrian Poland Church Records, records from this region used to contain more limited information. I am guessing, it was up to the particular priest how much detail he was willing to record.

I just love finding such little gems! 

Top Online Genealogy Resources for Carpathian Ruthenia

In this post I share my selection of online resources for ancestor research in Carpathian Ruthenia. The region also has names in various languages: Kárpátalja in Hungarian, Закарпаття (Zakarpattya, literally Transcarpathia) in Ukrainian, Podkarpatská Rus in Czech and Slovak.

This is no surprise, given that this land has been part of multiple countries throughout its turbulent history. Here is just a brief chronology of the jurisdiction changes:

1526 – 1867 Habsburg monarchy or Austrian monarchy
1867 – 1918 Austro-Hungary
1772 – 1918 Hungarian Kingdom (Austro-Hungary)
1919 – 1939 Czechoslovakia
1939 – 1944 Hungary
1945 – 1991 Soviet Union, small areas in Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, Romania
1991 – now  Ukraine, small areas in Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, Romania

A popular joke about the border changes within a single human life

All this creates certain challenges for those with ancestors from this area.

Hopefully, this post will help you get started and succeed in your family research. I will keep updating this post with new links, so it is worth re-visiting later. 

Primers

FamilySearch Wiki page on Carpathian Ruthenia
FEEFHS Carpatho-Rus' Resources
Researching the People from No Mans Land, The Carpatho Rusyns of Austria-Hungary, Thomas Peters, 1996
Tom Peters: Researching Carpatho-Rusyns
Genealogical Primer on Lemko.org


Online Maps

Hungarian Kingdom (1782–1785) - First Military Survey
Hungary (1819–1869) - Second military survey of the Habsburg Empire
Habsburg Empire (1869-1887) - Third Military Survey (1:25000)Habsburg Empire (1869-1887) - Third Military Survey (1:75000)
Military Survey of Hungary (1941)Habsburg Empire - Cadastral maps (XIX. century)

Gazetteers, Town Locators

Magyarország helységnévtára tekintettel a közigazgatási. Dvorzsák, János, 1877. Downloadable from FamilySearch here.
A Magyar Szent Korona Országainak Helységnévtára, 1913. Downloadable from FamilySearch here.
Carpatho-Rusyn Villages on The Carpathian Connection
Root Seekers Guide To The Homeland on Carpatho-Rusyn JewishGen Gazetteer

Databases Online 

Databases on Carpathian Reflections (registration required)
Vital Records Surname Index (4818 Individuals with 844 Surnames)
Rusyn Genealogy Index (various resources for Rusyn and Lemko genealogy)
A Dictionary of Lemko Surnames (with references to the native towns) 
Hungaricana (Hungarian electronic archives unified search)
Hungarian online databases (includes early censuses from 18th century)

Records Online

FamilySearch catalog for "Kárpátalja"
FamilySearch catalog for "Podkarpatska Rus"
FamilySearch catalog for "Zakarpattya"

Hungarian feudal tax lists: Urbéri tabellák, 1767-1773


Archival Catalogs

Catalog of metric records of Transcarpathian region (in Ukrainian)
Archival Guide of the Beregovo Branch of the State Archives of Transcarpathian Region, 1918-1945 (in Ukrainian)
A guide on Church and State Registries at Transcarpathian State Archives (In Hungarian)
Some records can also be found at State Archive in Prešov, Slovakia, Satu Mare Regional Archive, Romania, and National Archives of Hungary.


Dedicated Websites

Carpathian Reflections (record transcriptions for members only)

Lemko Genealogy (primers, indexes, links, focus on Poland)

Carpatho-Rusyn Knowledge Base (research tips, indexes)

The Carpathian Connection (focus on Slovakia)

Carpatho-Rusyn Genealogy Web Site (immigration, name patterns)

Various Resources

Causes of deaths in Transcarpathian records  (based on Munkács Greek Catholic records)
Jewish Memoir Bibliography on Transcarpathia
Rusyn Language Resources for English SpeakersThe Carpatho-Rusyn Heritage 
Lemkotran - Carpatho-Rusyn to English translation engine  
DNA Project on FamilyTreeDNA

Blogs   

Carpatho-Rusyn Research Center Blog
Carpatho-Rusyn Cultural Center
The Carpatho-Rusyns of Pennsylvania
Maybe you’re Rusyn? blog post on Kerry's Genealogy Research Blog
 
Societies, Facebook groups

Carpatho-Rusyn Society (members only), their Facebook page
MACSE, Hungarian Society for Family History Research
Carpatho-Rusyns Everywhere FB group
The Carpatho-Rusyns of Pennsylvania Facebook page

A New Ukrainian Memories Archive

An interesting new Ukrainian online platform on oral history and memory has been launched recently, available at https://memory.org.ua/.

The project aims at collecting personal stories of Ukrainians in various historical contexts, like Second World War, deportations, repressions, the Holodomor, emigration etc.

You can search the stories by chronology, or by key words.  You can also upload your or a relative's memories on the website.

The website and the search is in Ukrainian only, but can be used with a translating tool.

For now the archive does not have a large collection, but if the project succeeds, it could become a useful tool for Ukrainian family research.