Hungary Funeral Notices - FamilySearch Historical Records

= Hungary (Budapest) Funeral Notices =

Hungary (Budapest) Funeral Notices--This wiki article describes a collection that is avaible for free online at FamilySearch Record Search--Pilot Site. To access the collection see,

Collection Time Period:
There are notices from about 1840 to 1995.

Collection History:
Notices were printed and distributed to family members and friends. Over time they were either collected by someone and donated to the National Szechenyi Library in Budapest or were collected by the Library itself.

Notices represent only a fraction of Hungarians who died during the inclusive years, primarily those from well-to-do middle-class families and lesser nobility. Some of these notices are from Budapest (certainly less than half, possibly about 30%) others are from other parts of Hungary and from areas no longer in Hungary (Slovakia, Croatia, Romania). There are approximately 459,000 people represented in these cards.

Why This Collection Was Created:
Notices were used to notify family and friends of a death and served also as an invitation to attend the funeral sermon.

Collection Reliability:
Generally these were composed from information provided by close family members and the information is fairly reliable.

Collection Description:
Includes approximately 459,000 individual cards printed in a variety of styles sometimes on colored paper and generally with a black border. A small percentage are handwritten on printed forms. The cards are arranged alphabetically by family name and then by given name.

How to Use the Collection:
Notices vary somewhat in the information provided. At a minimum use notices to obtain the name of the deceased, the date and time of death. Sometimes you will learn the age of the deceased, permitting you to approximate the date of birth. Most notices include the names of several surviving family members such as spouses, siblings, and children. Use these details to extend research in those directions. If major accomplishments of the deceased are included, you can use this information to find occupational or school records. Most are written in Hungarian; some are in German; a few are in French.

Collection Content:

 * Key genealogical facts found in Hungarian memorial cards:
 * Name of deceased
 * Date and place of death
 * Age
 * Religion of the deceased
 * Major accomplishments, occupation, and the like
 * Names of family members announcing the death (this might be parents, spouse, siblings, or surviving children or some combination of these).
 * Names of mourners (living family members)
 * Place and date of the funeral