Austria Beginners Corner Finding Your Ancestor in the Records

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Before finding your ancestor in the records, you will need to know:

 * The actual name of an ancestor
 * The date of birth, marriage, and death (can be estimated)
 * The place of origin
 * The religion of an ancestor

Find your ancestor in the records
The best sources of genealogical information in the Austria are the church records kept by the local parishes. The Family History Library has microfilms of vital records from only a few communities and a large number of military records. Use the Family History Library Catalog to determine what records are available for the locality.

To find to which parish your ancestors belonged to click here. You may use this gazetteer for free however you will have to register first.

Vital records from Niederösterreich, Oberösterreich and Vorarlberg were digitized and made available on the Internet:


 * http://matricula.findbuch.net (for Niederösterreich and Oberösterreich)
 * http://www.vla.findbuch.net (for Vorarlberg)

Research by mail
If the records you want are not available through the Family History Library or online they may be still available in the parish or the diocese of that province. Please refer to the Letter Writing Guide for detailed information. Remember to enclose photocopies of any old documents or mementos that you may have.