Žilina Region (Žilinský kraj), Slovakia Genealogy

Europe Slovakia   Guide to Žilina Region (Žilinský kraj),Slovakia ancestry, family history, and genealogy: birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, and military records.

History
The Žilina Region (Slovak: Žilinský kraj; Polish: Kraj żyliński) is one of the eight Slovak administrative regions and consists of 11 districts (okresy) and 315 municipalities, from which 18 have a town status. The region was established in 1923, however, in its present borders exists from 1996. It is a more industrial region with several large towns. Žilina is the region administrative center and there is a strong cultural environment in Martin. Wikipedia

Districts



 * List of towns and municipalities (Click on "Show".) Clicking on your town will take you to a Wikipedia page. Under the section, "Genealogical resources", you will find a listing of church records held in the archives.

Church Records
Church records are the prime source for information about the vital events in an individual's life. This information can be used to compile pedigrees and family groups. They identify children, spouses, parents, and often grandparents as well as dates and places of vital events. They establish individual identity and are excellent sources for linking generations and identifying relationships. Contents:
 * Christening registers – infant's name, name and surname of father and mother, christening date (most also give the birth date); sometimes names of grandparents; names of godparents.
 * Marriage registers – names of groom and bride, date of marriage, often include ages, residences, occupations, previous marital status, names of parents, sometimes the birthplace; names of witnesses.
 * Burial registers – name of the deceased, parents' names if a child, spouse's name if married, date and place of death and burial, residence; sometimes cause of death, occasionally the date and place of birth.

In December of 1949, all church vital records were declared state property. In 1952 the state began centralizing all these records into state archives (štátné archívy). In many cases records as late as the 1940s have been placed in state regional archives. Registers more recent than those in the state archives are still at local city or subdistrict registration offices (matričné úrady). The Family History Library has copies of almost all birth, marriage, and death registers for the following religions: Catholic (the majority religion), Evangelical Lutheran, Reformed, Jewish, Greek Catholic, and Orthodox.

1. First search the indexed and/or online digitized copies of the church records.
Several localities and religions are represented in the record collections given below. However, the collection is incomplete. It requires a few steps to see if there are records of your ancestors' religion and locality.
 * 1) If you do not have the name of a town where your ancestors lived, go back to Slovakia Finding Town of Origin and follow the advice and record links there to see if you can find evidence of the name of the town.
 * 2) The town name you find might be the historical Hungarian version of the name or the modern Slovakian version of the name. Next, consult Genealogy Slovakia Gazetteer. In the list of all villages, the Hungarian and Slovakian names are all given in one index. When you find your town in that index, the link will take you to a page giving a history of all the name changes of that town, both Hungarian and Slovakian, usually with several spelling variations.
 * 3) There may not have been a local church for your ancestors' religion right in their town. In the left sidebar of the town's page in Genealogy Slovakia Gazetteer, you will find notes on where that village would have attended church for each denomination. If the denomination is given in capital letters, such as "LUTH", then the town had its own local church for that religion.  Also, look at the top section of the left sidebar on "Top Sightseeings", where it will list the local churches and the year they were built. The notes might give either the Hungarian or Slovakian name of the parish where they refer you. You can look these new places up in the same gazetteer to see their naming history.
 * 4) Use the instructions in the Slovakia Church and Synagogue Records Aid to learn how to navigate the following collections:


 * 1592-1935 - at FamilySearch — index and images. The Slovakia Church and Synagogue Books Coverage Table will show which parishes are included in the index.  Other parishes will need to be searched in browseable images, microfilms, or by writing to the local parish.
 * 1592-1910 - - at FamilySearch Historical Records — free, browseable images only, not complete for all localities.
 * Slovakia, Church and Synagogue Books, 1592-1910, at Ancestry.com, index and images ($), not complete for all localities.

2. If the records for either the parish or the time period you need are not in the online collections, try to find them in digitized records of the Family History Library.
Many church records were microfilmed. Currently, these microfilms are being digitized, and plans are to complete that project by 2020. Some records will go directly to digitized form, skipping the microfilming step. Check back occasionally to see if your records have become available. Records may be added to the Catalog that are not added to the Family Historical Records Collection. To find digitized records:
 * a. Use the instructions in steps #2 and #3 to find either the Slovakian or Hungarian version of the name of the parish town for your ancestors' religion.
 * b. Go to the FamilySearch Catalog. Enter either the Slovakian or Hungarian name of the town in the "Place" search field. Select the full place name from the drop down list of choices.
 * c. A list of record groups will appear for the town. Click on the "Church Records" topic.
 * d. Click on the blue links to specific record titles. The titles will list different religions and available time coverage.
 * e. In the film notes on the left, choose the correct event and time period for your ancestor.
 * f. Some combination of these icons will appear at the far right of the listing: FHL icons.png. The magnifying glass indicates that the records are indexed (but possibly only partially). Clicking on the magnifying glass will take you to the index. Clicking on the camera will take you to an online, digital, browseable copy of the records.

3. Try contacting the regional archives that should have collected the records for Žilina.
In some cases, parish records were collected by archives after the major filming effort by FamilySearch. If records for your parish of interest are not in the FamilySearch collections, next contact the archives. Štátny archív v Žiline so sídlom v Bytči Kastiel, S.Sakalovej 106/3 014 01 Bytča Slovakia
 * Using the Slovakian version of your town's name (see steps #2 and #3 in section #1 above), click on the Wikipedia page for that town from the Wikipedia list of municipalities and towns in Slovakia. Study the "Genealogical resources" section for a description on records available in the district archives.
 * The Slovak Letter Writing Guide will help with wording requests in Slovakian, including a PDF form you can use for your request. Do not use the general archive address shown on the form. That is for use when you don't know which archives has the records. Use this address:

Telephone: 041/5533311 Fax: 041/5533622 E-mail: archiv@saby.vs.sk Website: http://www.minv.sk/?statny-archiv-v-bytci

The Slovak Letter Writing Guide will help with wording requests in Slovakian, including PDF form you can use for your request.

4. For more recent information, not yet transferred to the archives, contact the local civil registrar.
Registers more recent than those in the state archives are still at local city or subdistrict registration offices matričné úrady.
 * Study MATRIČNÝ ÚRAD - Slov-Lex, a directory of municipality civil registrars (here listed as matrimonial offices, but they handle births and deaths also.) Use your computer's "Find" function to navigate the list. The list shows which municipal office covers smaller villages.
 * Send requests to:
 * Matričné Úrad
 * (Zipcode) (Town)
 * Slovakia


 * A form for requesting records, information on payment, and other details can be found in the Slovakia Letter Writing Guide. Use the address above, not the archive address shown on the form.
 * You can arrange an international bank order or electronic transfer through Western Union  or MoneyGram. Do not send money until the office notifies you of their fees and preferred payment method.

Word Lists - Language Aids

 * You do not have to be fluent in any foreign language to read your documents. Genealogical records usually contain a limited vocabulary: born, married, buried, mother, father, husband, names of the month, etc. Names of people and numbers in dates don't have to be translated.
 * Before 1918 the Slovak lands were part of the Kingdom of Hungary which, together with Austria, constituted the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Records written before 1918 may be in Hungarian, Latin, German, or Slovak. Slovak records often contain Hungarian, Latin, or German words.
 * To help you read genealogical records see the following:
 * Hungarian Genealogical Word List
 * Latin Genealogical Word List
 * Slovak Genealogical Word List
 * Polish Genealogical Word List
 * German Genealogical Word List
 * The Slovakia Reading Aids article provides English translations of headings in Slovakian, Hungarian, and Latin church forms used for baptisms, marriages, and burials. Knowing which column of the form gives the pertinent names and dates allows you to efficiently and successfully search these records.

Search Strategy

 * Search for the relative or ancestor you selected. When you find his birth record, search for the births of his brothers and sisters.
 * Next, search for the marriage of his parents. The marriage record will have information that will often help you find the birth records of the parents.
 * You can estimate the ages of the parents and determine a birth year to search for their birth records.
 * Search the death registers for all known family members.
 * Repeat this process for both the father and the mother, starting with their birth records, then their siblings' births, then their parents' marriages, and so on.
 * If earlier generations (parents, grandparents, etc.) do not appear in the records, search neighboring parishes.