Slovakia Church and Synagogue Records Aid


 * This aid will help you to locate indexed and browsable records in these FamilySearch Historical Records:
 * 1592-1935 at FamilySearch — partial index and images.  This collection is incomplete.


 * It will also show you how to use these related tools:
 * Genealogy Slovakia Gazetteer
 * Slovakia Church and Synagogue Books Coverage Table
 * The Sortable Place Name List

Finding the Name of the Town Where Your Ancestors Worshipped
The town where your ancestor lived might not have had a local church for every religion. For example, if the town only had a Catholic church, your ancestors may have attended the Lutheran church in a neighboring town. You will need to look for the records under this neighboring town's name.

1. Records were kept on the local level. If you do not know the name of a town where your ancestors lived, go back to Slovakia Finding Town of Origin and follow the advice and record links there to see if you can find evidence of the town name. Watch carefully for any information on their religion.

2. The town name you find in United States records might be the historical Hungarian version of the name, the name used when the region was part of Czechoslovakia, or the modern Slovakian version of the name.
 * Consult Genealogy Slovakia Gazetteer to find all three names.
 * In the list of all villages, all three names are given in one master index.
 * When you find your town in that index, the link will take you to a page for the town. Under "Old Names", there will be  a history of all the name changes of that town.
 * The version of the name used until 1918 is the Hungarian (or Russian for the region that was Ruthenian).
 * The name used from 1918-1993 is the Czechoslovakian name.
 * The name used after 1993 is the Slovakian name.

3. Next, find all the location of all the churches serving that town.
 * In the left sidebar of the town's page in Genealogy Slovakia Gazetteer, you will find notes on where that village would have attended church for each denomination.
 * If the denomination is given in capital letters, such as "LUTH", then the town had its own local church for that religion.
 * Be sure to look at the top section of the left sidebar on "Top Sightseeings", where it will list the local churches and the year they were built. Sometimes this is the only indication of churches in that town.
 * Towns along the border may have attended a church in Hungary to find the religion of their choice.

Using the Coverage Table to See Whether Your Birth Records Are Indexed
The Slovakia Church and Synagogue Books Coverage Table will show which parishes are included in the index for this record collection, and the time periods that have been indexed. Indexing the records is an on-going project.

Finding the Slovakian Town and County in the Sortable Place Name List

 * '''The Coverage Table is alphabetized by "Slovakian County".
 * If you know the Hungarian name of your town, find it in the first column of The Sortable Place Name List below. Then read across the chart to obtain the Slovakian town and county name.
 * If you only know the Slovakian name of the town, click on the down arrow in the title "Slovakian Town" column of The Sortable Place Name List. The entire chart will then re-sort, now alphabetized by Slovakian town. Find your town and its county.
 * Now, go back to the Slovakia Church and Synagogue Books Coverage Table and determine whether any records are indexed.

Finding Browsable Records
These are digitized images of the pages of the church records. You will have to search them page by page to find your family. Use Slovakia Church Records Reading Aids to help translate them. To find the images for your town parish for any religion:


 * 1) Find the Slovakian name of your town and its Slovakian county, using the above instructions.
 * 2) Click on.
 * 3) Click on the religion you wish to search. If you do not know the religion, work your way through each available religion until you find the records you need. Start with Roman Catholic and Evangelical (Lutheran) records.
 * 4) Under that religion, click on the county you need.
 * 5) Click on your town, if available.
 * 6) A list of baptism, marriage, and burial records with their respective available time periods will appear. Click on a record, and the images will now appear.
 * "Krsty" means baptisms
 * "Manželstvá" means marriages
 * "Úmrtia" means deaths
 * "Birmovaní" means confirmations

Additional Online Records Listed in the FamlySearch Catalog
Slovakian church and synagogue records are still being added all the time. Many church records were microfilmed. Currently, these microfilms are being digitized, and plans are to complete that project by 2020. Some records will go directly to digitized form, skipping the microfilming step. Check back occasionally to see if your records have become available. Records may be added to the Catalog that are not added to the Family Historical Records Collection yet. To find all the digitized records for your locality:
 * a. Use the Slovakian or Hungarian version of the name of the parish town for your ancestors' religion.
 * b. Go to the FamilySearch Catalog. Enter either the Slovakian or Hungarian name of the town in the "Place" search field. Select the full place name from the drop down list of choices.
 * c. A list of record groups will appear for the town. Click on the "Church Records" topic.
 * d. Click on the links to specific record titles. The titles will list different religions and available time coverage.
 * e. In the film notes on the left, choose the correct event and time period for your ancestor.
 * f. Some combination of these icons will appear at the far right of the listing: FHL icons.png. The magnifying glass indicates that the records are indexed (but possibly only partially). Clicking on the magnifying glass will take you to the index. Clicking on the camera will take you to an online, digital, browsable copy of the records.
 * The microfilm icon appearing alone means the record is not digitized or indexed. It can be studied at the FamilySearch Library in Salt Lake City, Utah. You could also hire a professional researcher. Finally, check back frequently to see if it has been digitized.