Croatia, Church Books - FamilySearch Historical Records

Title in the Language of the Records
This section of the article is incomplete. You can help FamilySearch wiki by supplying a translation of the title in Croatian here.

Collection Time Period
This collection of church records for Croatia covers the years 1516-1946.

Record Description
This collection of church records includes baptisms, marriages, and burials from diferent churches in Croatia, such as Roman Catholic, Serbian Orthodox, Jewish, and Military congregations. It also includes vital records of Jews and some early civil registration of the Napoleonic period. Indexing for some of these records is also available. The text was handwritten in Croatian and Latin.

Record Content
The key genealogical facts found in most birth records include:


 * Date and place of the event
 * Name of infant
 * Gender and date of birth
 * Legitimacy
 * Parents' names, residence, and/or place of origin
 * Names of witnesses or godparents

The key genealogical facts found in most marriage records include:


 * Date and place of the event
 * Names of the bride and groom
 * Their civil statuses (widowed, single, divorced) at the time of the event
 * Places of origin and residence of the bride and groom
 * Names of parents
 * Name of witnesses

The key genealogical facts found in most burial records include:


 * Place and date of the event
 * Place and date of death
 * Name of the principal (deceased)
 * Civil status of principal at time of death
 * Civil status and name of spouse, if married at time of death
 * Parents' names
 * Sometimes, place of burial

How to Use the Record
Begin your search by finding your ancestors in the index. Name indexes to baptisms, marriages, and death or burials make it possible to access a specific record quickly. Remember that these indexes may contain inaccuracies, such as altered spellings, misinterpretations, and optical character recognition errors if the information was scanned.

When searching the index it is helpful to know the following:


 * The place where the event occurred
 * The name and surname of the person
 * The approximate date of the event
 * The name of the parents or spouse

Use the locator information found in the index (such as page, entry, or certificate number) to locate your ancestors in the records. Compare the information in the record to what you already know about your ancestors to determine if this is the correct person. You may need to compare the information of more than one person to make this determination.

When you have located your ancestor’s record, carefully evaluate each piece of information given. These pieces of information may give you new biographical details that can lead you to other records about your ancestors. Add this new information to your records of each family.

For example:


 * Use the marriage date and place as the basis for compiling a new family group or for verifying existing information.
 * Use the birth date or age along with the place of birth of each partner to find a couple's birth records and parents' names.
 * Use the birth date or age along with the place of birth to find the family in census records.
 * Use the residence and names of the parents to locate church and land records.
 * Occupations listed can lead you to employment records, military records, or other types of records.
 * Use the parents' birth places to find former residences and to establish a migration pattern for the family.
 * The name of the officiator is a clue to a couple’s religion or area of residence in the county. However, ministers may have reported marriages performed in other counties.
 * Compile the marriage entries for every person who has the same surname as the bride or groom; this is especially helpful in rural areas or if the surname is unusual.
 * Continue to search the marriage records to identify children, siblings, parents, and other relatives of the bride and groom who may have married in the same county or nearby. This can help you identify other generations of your family or even the second marriage of a parent. Repeat this process for each new generation you identify.
 * Use the marriage number to identify previous marriages.
 * When looking for a person who had a common name, look at all the entries for the name before deciding which is correct.

Keep in mind:


 * The information in church records is usually reliable, but depends upon the reliability of the informant.
 * Earlier records may not contain as much information as the records created after the late 1800.
 * There is also some variation in the information given from one record to another.

If you are unable to find the ancestors you are looking for, try the following:


 * Check for variant spellings of the surnames.
 * Check for a different index. There are often indexes at the beginning of each volume.
 * Search the indexes and records of nearby localities.

Record History
This collection of church records from Delnice dates to a period when Croatia was not yet an independent country, so it includes records created under different governments, such as Hungary and the former Yugoslavia. A patent, ruled by Emperor Joseph II in 1784, mandated the inclusion of certain sections in all parish record books maintained by the clergy. These register records were later used also as civil vital records. As of 1868, the Ministry of Internal Affairs took over the right to supervise the maintenance of these records.

Why the Record Was Created
The church records were created by authorized priests to record the events of baptisms, marriages, and burials/death. These records were also used later to determine and prove the civil status and existence of citizens by civil authorities.

Record Reliability
The church records are some of the most reliable sources of information available for doing genealogical research.

Related Websites
You can help FamilySearch Wiki by supplying other links to related websites here.


 * U.S. Department of State - Croatia
 * Countries and their Cultures – Croatia
 * The History and Present of Croatia
 * Religion in Croatia

Related Wiki Articles

 * Croatia Church Records
 * Croatia Church Directories
 * Croatia

Citing FamilySearch Historical Collections
When you copy information from a record, you should list where you found the information. This will help you or others to find the record again. It is also good to keep track of records where you did not find information, including the names of the people you looked for in the records.

A suggested format for keeping track of records that you have searched is found in the Wiki Article: How to Cite FamilySearch Collections.

Examples of Source Citations for a Record in This Collection
Please help FamilySearch Wiki by supplying source citations for this collection here.


 * "Delaware Marriage Records," index and images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org): accessed 4 March 2011, entry for William Anderson and Elizabeth Baynard Henry, married 23 November 1913; citing marriage certificate no. 859; FHL microfilm 2,025,063; Delaware Bureau of Archives and Records Management, Dover.
 * “El Salvador Civil Registration,” index and images, FamilySearch ([https://www.familysearch.org): accessed 21 March 2011, entry for Jose Maria Antonio del Carmen, born 9 April 1880; citing La Libertad, San Juan Opico, Nacimientos 1879-1893, image 50; Ministerio Archivo Civil de la Alcaldia Municipal de San Salvador.

Sources of Information for This Collection
Croatia. Various churches. Parish records, 1516-1946. Croatian State Archive, Zagreb, Croatia.

Detailed instructions for adding citations are also listed in the wiki article: How to Create Source Citations For FamilySearch Historical Records Collections.