Austrian Poland (Galicia), Austro-Hungarian Empire Genealogy

Guide to Austrian Poland (Galicia) ancestry, family history, and genealogy: birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, and military records.

Historical Background
The Austrian Crownland of Galizien (Galicia) is called Halychyna in Ukrainian and Halicz in Polish. The area of Galicia refers to the region that came to Poland during the first partition in 1772. Two years later, Empress Maria Theresa issued a settlement patent to encourage immigration to the sparsely settled region. Her successor Emperor Joseph II issued a second patent in 1781 and added a Toleranzpatent promising religious toleration for Protestants. Germans from the Palatinate (Pfalz), Wurttemberg, and Bohemia responded, as did Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, and others. Galicia was annexed to Poland in 1918. In 1939, it was divided between the Provisional Government of Warsaw and Ukraine, a division drawn with the modern geographical boundaries of Poland and Ukraine.

Galicia reaches north from the Carpathian Mountains across the Sarmatian Plain. It stretches from the Biala River, a tributary of the Weichsel, in the west to the Zbrucz, a tributary of the Dniester, in the east.

This area had a large Ukrainian population in the eastern section and a Polish population on the western side which was often refered to as Little Poland. Some of the localities in Austrian Poland are Tarnow, Rzezow and Nowy Sącz.

German Colonies in Galicia


 * Evangelical Pfälzer
 * Evangelicals from Württemberg
 * Mennonite Pfälzer
 * Bohemian Catholics

Subsequent Migrations


 * within Austro-Hungarian Empire
 * to Russia and Romania
 * to the Western Hemisphere
 * war dislocations

Geography
The territory of Galicia (within the borders of the Crown of 1914) now covers: In Poland: In Ukraine:
 * Silesian Voivodeship (only Zywiec, Biala)
 * Little Poland Province (except Miechów, Olkusz):
 * Subcarpathian Voivodeship
 * Lviv Oblast (Lviv)
 * The Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast (Stanislau)
 * Tarnopil (Tarnopol)

Research Help
Before jumping into records for this province, you MUST know the name of the village in which your ancestor lived. Once you have the name of a village you believe was located in this province, take the following steps: 1. Use a gazetteer (see the list for Austrian Poland) to identify the standard spelling of the town as well as civil and religious jurisdictions. 2. Search the Catalog and Images sections on FamilySearch.org for the town where the church or synagogue was located to identify available records. 3. If you don't find records in the FS Catalog or Images, look for the town where the church or synagogue was located via the the Polish State Archive website Szukaj w Archiwach.

If you have specific questions about research in Galicia, sign up for an Online Genealogy Consultation (choose "Ancestors in Poland" or "Ancestors in Ukraine") or post your questions to the FamilySearch Community - Poland Genealogy Research group.

Online Records

 * Szukaj w Archiwach; [[Media:1-Polish State Archives-Instruction.pdf|Tutorial]] - The Polish Archives
 * Geneteka; Instructions
 * Central State Historical Archives of Lviv - Roman Catholic Church Records for areas that were formerly Galicia. Use in conjunction with the Roman Catholic Metrical Book inventory to locate the item number. You'll need to know how the town is spelled in Ukrainian in order to use this source.
 * Poland digital records at FamilySearch Historical Records
 * Ukraine digital records at FamilySearch Historical Records, particularly:
 * Indexes of baptisms through 1900 and images of baptisms, marriages, and deaths for Catholics living in the parishes of Eastern Galicia (Galizien), a province of the Austrian Empire, now located in western Ukraine. The records are duplicates created by priests for the civil authorities. Austrian place names are used in the browse because the records pre-date the period when the area belonged to Ukraine.


 * For links to many other online records, go to Poland Online Genealogy Records and/or Ukraine Online Genealogy Records.

For Austria-Hungary Research, You Must Know Your Ancestors' Town

 * To begin using the records of the countries formerly in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, just knowing that your family came from the country will not be enough. Records are kept on the local level, so you will have to know the town they lived in.
 * Details about the town will also help:
 * the county of that town,
 * where the closest Evangelical Lutheran, Catholic, Greek Orthodox, etc. parish church was (depending on their religion),
 * where the civil registration office was, and
 * if you have only a village name, you will need the name of the larger town it was part of.

Research to Find the Town
If you do not yet know the name of the town of your ancestor's birth, there are well-known strategies for a thorough hunt for it.
 * Use Gathering Information to Locate Place of Origin as a guide in exhausting every possible record to find what you need. It was written for Germany, but the same methods apply.

If You Know the Town, Next Use the Gesher Galicia Town Locator
The Gesher Galicia Town Locator is a website containing jurisdiction information for villages found in the Austrian province of Galicia. It will list the Roman Catholic parish, Greek Catholic parish, and any other applicable religious jurisdiction, including Evangelical and Jewish congregations.

Microfilm Copies of Records at a Family History Center
If the locality and time period you need are not included in the online records, the next step is to check for them in the microfilm collection of the Family History Library. To find a microfilm:
 * a. Click on "Places within Austria, Galizien".
 * Records might also be found under their current Polish or Ukrainian jurisdictions:
 * "Places within Poland, Śląsk" (Silesian Voivodeship--only Zywiec, Biala)
 * "Places within Poland, Kraków" (Little Poland)
 * "Places within Poland, Podkarpackie" (Subcarpathian Voivodeship)
 * within Poland, Tarnopol"''' (now in Ukraine)
 * "Places within Poland, Stanisławów" (now in Ukraine)
 * "Places within Ukraine, L′viv"
 * b. Select your record type: Church records and civil registration are the most important.
 * b. Click on the blue links to specific record titles.
 * c. Choose the correct record type and time period for your ancestor. For records in German: "Geburten" are births. "Getaufen" are baptisms. "Heiraten" are marriages. "Verstorbene" or "Toten" are deaths. For records in Polish: "Akta urodzeń" are birth records. "Akta małżeństw" are marriage records. "Akta zgonów" are death records.
 * d. Some combination of these icons will appear at the far right of the microfilm listed for the record. FHL icons.png. The magnifying glass indicates that the microfilm is indexed. Clicking on the magnifying glass will take you to the index. Clicking on the camera will take you to an online digital copy of the microfilm.

Research Tools

 * Galicia Genealogy Resources by FEEFHS
 * Galizien German Descendants
 * Galizien-Online
 * Genealogy of Halychyna and Eastern Galicia
 * Austrian Poland Church Records
 * Austrian Poland Jewish Records
 * [[Media:Catholic Vital Records of Galicia-Halychyna by Matthew R. Bielawa.pdf|Catholic Vital Records of Galicia/Halychyna]] - Galician Catholic records
 * Genealogy of Halychyna and Eastern Galicia
 * Galizien German Descendants website. Click Researching our Galizien Germans link on the left to learn about research. Then click Records and Archives dealing with Galizien Germans link for information about available records including Family History Library microfilm numbers.