Lower Austria (Niederösterreich), Austria Genealogy

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Guide to Lower Austria, Austria ancestry, family history, and genealogy: birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, parish registers, and military records.

Lower Austria (in German, Niederösterreich) is a federal province or state of the Rupublic of Austria. It is the most northeastern and second most populous state of Austria with its state capital at St Pölten (since 1986; previously, Vienna).



Jurisdictions
Lower Austria is divided four regions, known as Viertel (quarters):


 * Weinviertel (lit. wine quarter) the lowlands below the Manhartsberg ridge;
 * Waldviertel (lit. forest quarter) the Bohemian plateau above the Manhartsberg ridge;
 * Mostviertel (lit. must quarter) which lies above the Vienna Woods; and
 * Industrieviertel (lit. industrial quarter) which lies below the Vienna Woods.

For Austria Research, You Must Know Your Ancestors' Town

 * To begin using the records of Austria, 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 GenTeam Gazetteer
GenTeam is an online gazetteer that covers the current countries of Austria, Czech Republic, and Slovenia (most of the area belonging to the Austro-Hungarian Empire). 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.
 * Tutorial: GenTeam Gazetteer Online - [[Media:1-Genteam_Gazetteer-Instruction.pdf|Instruction]], [[Media:2-Genteam_Gazetteer-Activity.pdf|Activity]], [[Media:3-Genteam_Gazetteer-Answer_Key.pdf|Answer Key]]

This is an example of a typical parish record entry that you will see:'''

Research Help
For help with genealogy in this region, see also Austria Genealogy.
 * Matricula, online church records
 * St. Poelten parish address list
 * Holdings of the Diocese St. Poelten
 * Landesarchiv Bestaende

Online Records

 * 1848-1900 -, browsable images.

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. These microfilms may be ordered for viewing at Family History Centers around the world. To find a microfilm:
 * a. Click on "Places within Austria, Niederösterreich"
 * 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.
 * 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. Clicking on the microfilm reel will lead to information on how to rent the film. Family History Center staff will assist you in ordering the film.

Websites

 * Lower Austria Government Portal (in German) with some topics in English.
 * LowerAustriaGenWeb a collection of links to various Lower Austrian family history related sites. Includes a list of Catholic Parishes with links to the official websites.
 * Southern Waldviertel Family History Project