Austria, Carinthia, Gurk Diocese, Catholic Church Records - FamilySearch Historical Records

What is in This Collection?
This collection includes records from 1527 to 1986. It is a collection of church books containing baptisms, christenings and burials. There may also be birth, marriage, and death records. All of these records are held at the Diocese of Gurk in Klagenfurt, Austria.

Event types were often compiled in separate volumes. In some parishes, however, the baptisms, marriages, and burials for one year (e.g. 1785) were all grouped together. Entries are usually recorded in chronological order, though some entries may be out of order. Entries before the mid-1700s were often in free text paragraphs; sometimes the priest created columns to record the information.

After the mid-1700s, a pre-printed form with column headings became common (though not always used). On these forms, the entries were handwritten in Gothic script; as time progressed, handwriting in these entries began to resemble more the Romanized handwriting that we use today. In Austria, a parish was an ecclesiastical jurisdiction consisting of many villages and hamlets, with one of the villages designated as the main parish town. Austrian church records are typically written in German or Latin. Regional dialect affects the spelling of some German words, for example: “Maÿ” is recorded instead of the German “Mai” for the month of May, and “Aeltern” instead of “Eltern” for the word parents.

Catholic Church records began as early as the 1500s; most church records, however, began in the late 1600s. In 1784, the Austrian Empire required that all births, marriages, and deaths be recorded in civil records. Catholic Church records in this collection start with the year 1581 through the present day, but because of privacy laws, these records are available online only through 1905.

Reading These Records
For help reading these German records see the following guides:
 * German Language and Languages
 * German Genealogical Word List
 * Germany Handwriting
 * FamilySearch Learning Center videos:
 * Reading German Handwritten Records

What Can These Records Tell Me?
The following information may be found in these records:

Birth
 * Child's given name
 * Birth date
 * Location and house number
 * Gender
 * Parents' names

Baptism
 * Child's given name
 * Baptism date
 * Location and house number
 * Gender
 * Marital status
 * Parents' names
 * Names and occupations of witnesses

Marriage
 * Date of event
 * Place of event with house number
 * Groom's name, age, marital status and religion
 * Groom's parents' names
 * Bride's name and age
 * Bride's parents' names
 * Names and occupations of witnesses

Death
 * Names of the deceased (sometimes names of deceased’s spouse and/or deceased’s parents were included)
 * Date of event
 * Place of event with house number
 * Name of deceased, gender and age
 * Cause of death
 * Religion

Sample Images
Click on images for a larger view.

How Do I Search This Collection?
When searching it is helpful to know:
 * Your ancestor's name
 * Age and or residence
 * An estimated event year
 * A parent's name

How Do I Analyze the Results?
Compare each result from your search with what you know to determine if there is a match. This may require viewing multiple records or images. Keep track of your research in a research log.

What Do I Do Next?
Whenever possible, view the original records to verify the information and to find additional information that might not be reported. These pieces of information can lead you to additional records and family members.

I Found Who I Was Looking For, What Now?

 * Use the age in the record to find an approximate birth year, which will help you find their other records.
 * Use the information to find your ancestors in civil records. There may not be census records available but these can help you find additional family members.
 * Repeat this process with additional family members found to find more generations of the family.

I Can’t Find the Person I’m Looking For, What Now?

 * Consult the Austria Record Finder to find other records
 * Try viewing the original record to see if there were errors in the transcription of the name, age, residence, etc.
 * If you cannot locate your ancestor in the locality in which you believe they lived, then try searching records of a nearby locality in an area search.
 * Standard spelling of names typically did not exist during the periods our ancestors lived in. Try variations of your ancestor’s name while searching the index or browsing through images.
 * Remember that sometimes individuals alternated between using first and middle names

Research Helps
The following articles will help you in your research for your family in Austria.
 * Research Tips and Strategies
 * Austria Record Finder

Citing This Collection
Citations help you keep track of places you have searched and sources you have found. Identifying your sources helps others find the records you used.