Hungary, Jewish Census, 1848

Historical Background:

The 1848 Hungarian Jewish Census (The Census) was known by its Latin name, Conscriptio Judaerum. 1848. It is a survey of Jews in Hungary compiled after the failed Hungarian 1848 Revolution against Austria in the spring of that year. Though most of it was completed in 1848, in some counties (megye) it spilled over into 1849. Most of the counties followed the same pattern and were supposed to collect the same data. However, as no forms were supplied the data was collected in some cases on printed forms, but in most cases on plain paper with each recorder following his own locally created hand drawn form or pattern.

The “Census” covered all the counties of Greater Hungary as we refer to the territories under the Hungarian Crown prior to 1918, which included, among others, parts of Slovakia, Croatia, Ukraine and Romania.

This is an all-Jewish Census. The only exception might be records for "non Jewish household domestic help". The Census is the best source of information on Hungarian Jewry for the 19th Century, as by then Jews had a last name, and it contains people born in the late part of the 18th century, the early part of the 19th century, and those who would still be alive in the late 19th century and early 20th century.

The question always arises as to whether it is complete, or at least complete for the counties and locations covered. Nobody can answer that question. Though some of the counties do appear not to cover all areas. All we can say is that it is the best we have for that point in time.

Sources Used:

Unfortunately, we do not have access to the entire Census. The main available source at the present time consists of data that was made available to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), and was microfilmed in 1970, on seven microfilms. Other records not included in the LDS collection are becoming available. For example, the original records of Szatmar Megye are located in Nyíregyháza County Archive.

About the Database:

Census information for all the counties that are available will be included in the database. However, not all the data for each record on the census is included, as the database is simply to be used as an index to the full original records.

The database consists of the following fields:

• Town / County — identifies the county (megye) and town in which the individual lived. These locality fields were transcribed exactly as they appear in the Census. No attempt was made to change, translate or use a more modern version of the locality’s name.



• Household # / Individual # — These numbers are useful for finding the record in the LDS microfilm. As mentioned above, each census recorder followed a locally created hand-drawn form.
  
  
Some recorders chose to record families by a single number assigned to the head of the household, and others assigned numbers to each individual. If there is only a Household Number assigned to a record, then it is this number that should be used to look up a record in the LDS microfilm.

If there is both an Individual Number and a Household Number assigned to a record, then the Individual Number represents the number assigned by the recorder and should be used to look up a record in the LDS microfilm.

Sometimes there is only an Individual Number assigned, then that number for the Head of Household is the Household Number for all members of the household, though the Individual Number is used to find the record.

Sometimes there is no number, then a sequential number starting with 9901 is assigned for each household in a given town. Of course NO NUMBER appears in the record.

Sometimes the recorder assigned an individual number starting with “1” for each household in the same town, but no Household Number in this case a sequential number for each town starting with 9901 is assigned. Of course that number does not appear in the record.


• Name — contains the surname and given name of the individual. When the surname appears only for the head of household, it is repeated for each member of the household. When no surname appears, sometime for domestic help, a dash or a blank is entered, indicating there was no name.
  
  
Where due to the handwriting multiple possibilities exist as to interpretations, each possibility, up to three, is entered with a question mark and a slash (Example: "Stein?/Stern?"). The search engine will recognize each entry. A single question mark indicates that the name in the Census could not be deciphered. A dash indicates that there was no name. If some letter could be deciphered, and some not, they are entered with a dash for each letter that could not be deciphered (Ex: "S---n").


• Age — the Age is entered as it appears in the Census.
  
  
• Relationship to Head of Household — the relationship is shown in English, according to a set translation (neje = spouse, fia = son, etc.).
  
  
• Birth Town — the town/locality of birth, if any, is shown as it appears in the Census.
  
  
• Birth Country — the country of birth, if any, is shown in English, as per standard translation (Magyar = Hungary, Lengyel = Poland, Orosz = Russia, Erdely = Transylvania, etc.).
  
  
• Film # — the LDS Family History Library microfilm number, or Reference of other source of the original data.
  
  
• Comments — Remarks, as they appear in the Census.