Hungary, Reformed Church Christenings - FamilySearch Historical Records

Title in the Language of the Record
A Magyar Református Egyház keresztelési anyakönyvei, 1624-1895

Record Description
This collection is an index to the Reformed Church baptism records of Hungary. Original records are written in Latin and Hungarian, with some in German.

Calvinist Protestantism became the dominant religion of Hungarians in the late 1500s. The keeping of Reformed church registers began in the early 1700s after the Turks were replaced by the Christian Austrian government.

Registers were created to record the church sacraments of baptism, marriage, and other ordinances pertaining to each Church’s jurisdiction.

Citation for This Collection
The following citation refers to the original source of the information published in FamilySearch.org Historical Records collections. Sources include the author, custodian, publisher, and archive for the original records.

We welcome your assistance in adding source citations for individual archives when collection data was collected from various sources or archives.

Suggested citation format for a record in this collection.

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


 * Name of child
 * Date of birth
 * Date of baptism
 * Father and mother’s names and sometimes their address
 * Complete witness’s names and sometimes their address
 * Registration place

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 other types of records such as employment or military 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 their 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.

Related Wiki Articles

 * Hungary
 * Hungary Church Records
 * Hungary History

Citing FamilySearch Historical Collections
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A suggested format for keeping track of records that you have searched is found in the wiki article Help:How to Cite FamilySearch Collections.

Citation Example for a Record Found in This Collection
"Hungary Reformed Church Christenings, 1624-1895,” database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org: accessed 24 April 2012), Ferentz Balog, baptized 15 December 1795; citing Church Records, FHL digital folder number 004,705,018; Hungary Nationwide Archive, Magyar Refomatus Egyhaz, Hungary. FHL microfilm. Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.