Austro-Hungarian Empire Gazetteers

When Austria and Hungary merged together in 1867 to create the Austro-Hungarian Empire, each side retained much of its autonomy. They shared some powers, but most of the administration of the two countries was separate. For this reason, it is necessary to know which side of the empire your ancestors came from—the record types, languages encountered, and the jurisdictions will vary depending on which half they lived in.

Austrian Crown lands
Prior to 1918, the Austrian Empire was divided into Crown Lands. This designation is important when using the GenTeam gazetteer. The Crown Land designation is also used in the organization of the Family History Library catalog.

GenTeam for Austria, Czech Republic, Slovak Republic and Slovenia
GenTeam is an online gazetteer that covers the current countries of Austria, Czech Republic, Slovak Republic and Slovenia. It gives former (German) and current names of locations, the name of the parish, the beginning year of the records, and the archive that holds the records. It will also give details on earlier parishes the locality belonged to. It then links to the website of that archive. "How to" Guide: [[Media:1-Genteam Gazetteer-Instruction.pdf|Instruction]], [[Media:2-Genteam Gazetteer-Activity.pdf|Activity]], [[Media:3-Genteam Gazetteer-Answer Key.pdf|Answer Key]]

Gemeindelexikon (1900)
Once you have found out the name of the place where your ancestor came from, you are ready to look for records that may have been kept for that town. All towns didn't keep their own records. The residents of each town were assigned to a particular Catholic or Protestant parish in the area. Depending on the religion of your ancestor, the events of baptism, marriage, or burial for his family members should have been recorded in the town where the appropriate parish was located.

The Gemeindelexikon gazetteer of the Austrian Empire will show the Catholic church jurisdictions for every place in the Austrian portion of the Austro-Hungarian Empire as of 1900. The volume for each province is arranged by political district, each divided into court districts, with an index to both German and local place names at the end of the book. To use, find the village in the index, which gives the page number in the gazetteer. If you do not find the village on the page listed in the index, check the footnotes. The names of the political and court district are given at the top of the page. The parish or synagogue is not listed in the main index but is given in an appendix, located between the main text and the index of each volume. The appendix is arranged alphabetically by political district and court district. In the appendix section, using the name of the districts and the village, determine the parish town where the church records were kept for your village. The parish and synagogue is given in the last column.

Church jurisdictions are shown in the following:

''Gemeindelexikon der im Reichsrate vertretenen Konigreiche und Lander, bearbeitet auf Grund der Ergebnisse der Volkszahlung vom 31. Dezember 1900''. 14 volumes. (Gazetteer of the states of the Austrian Empire. Each state has its own volume with index and appendix showing Catholic parish jurisdictions for each town). This set is online using the following links:
 * Allgemeines Verzeichnis (Overall index to all 14 volumes)
 * Volume 1: Niederösterreich
 * Volume 2: Oberösterreich
 * Volume 3: Salzburg
 * Volume 4: Steiermark
 * Volume 5: Kärnten
 * Volume 6: Krain
 * Volume 7: Österreichish-Illyrisches Küstenland
 * Volume 8: Tirol und Vorarlberg
 * Volume 9: Böhmen
 * Volume 10: Mähren, Moravia (Czech version of the volume)
 * Volume 11: Schlesien
 * Volume 12: Galizien
 * Volume 13: Bukowina (appendix, index)
 * Volume 14: Dalmatien (appendix, index)

(1913) A Magyar Szent Korona Országainak Helységnévtára
Volumes 1 and 2 cover the Kingdom of Hungary (dark green area #16). Volume 3 covers the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia (maroon area #17) which now includes parts of modern Croatia and Slovenia.
 * Volume 1
 * Volume 2
 * Volume 3

"How to" Guide: [[Media:1-Kingdom of Hungary Gazetteer - 1913 - Instruction.pdf|Instruction]], [[Media:2-Kingdom of Hungary Gazetteer - 1913 - Activity.pdf|Activity]], [[Media:3-Kingdom of Hungary Gazetteer - 1913 - Answer Key.pdf|Answer Key]]

Advantages: Available online; provides religious jurisdictions as of 1910 and location of civil registration offices (volumes 1 and 2 only). Disadvantages: Browsable images only.

(1877 Dvorzsák) Magyarország helységnévtára tekintettel a közigazgatási, népességi és hitfelekezeti viszonyokra
Magyarország helységnévtára tekintettel a közigazgatási, népességi és hitfelekezeti viszonyokra. (Gazetteer of Hungary with Administrative, Populational, and Ecclesiastical Circumstances). János Dvorzsák, Budapest: Havi Füzetek Kiadóhivatala, 1877. (FHL INTL book 943.9 E5d vol.1-2)

Volume 2 is also available on-line here.
 * Volume 1
 * Volume 2

"How to" Guide: [[Media:1-Kingdom of Hungary Gazetteer - 1877 Dvorzsák - Instruction.pdf|Instruction]], [[Media:2-Kingdom of Hungary Gazetteer - 1877 Dvorzsák - Activity.pdf|Activity]], [[Media:3-Kingdom of Hungary Gazetteer - 1877 Dvorzsák - Answer Key.pdf|Answer Key]]

Advantages: Available online; provides religious jurisdictions. Disadvantages: Browsable images only.