Historical background:

A number of major censuses were conducted by the Kingdom of Hungary and the Austrian Empire, including the "Vagyonösszeirás - 1828" (1828 Landowner census), the "Conscriptio Judaerum 1848" (1848 Census of the Jews), and the 1869 Hungarian census.

Other local census, tax lists and household lists were created in the Kingdom of Hungary. Most of these “Conscriptio Judaerum” lists provided the data for calculating the notorious “Tolerance Tax” that was levied against the Jewish communities throughout Hungary. Beginning in 1747, during the reign of Empress Maria Theresa (1740-1780), the Jews were heavily taxed for the privilege of remaining in the empire, and were threatened with expulsion if they did not pay. While the formula for calculating the taxes seems to have varied over time and location, it appears that size of household, occupation, and income-producing assets were taken into consideration.

About the Records:

Because these records were created in different parts of the Austrian Empire over many decades, the information varies by year and location. At a minimum the records include the given names and surname of the head of household. They often also indicate whether the household included a father, mother, widow, the number of sons and/or daughters, and also sometimes the presence of other blood relatives and servants.

Sometimes additional information was included, such as occupation, birthplace, and income producing assets such as livestock, farm land, gardens, and vineyards. For tax lists, the tax assessment of each household was shown, oftentimes with an indication of the status and condition of the household (whether poor, vagrants, or servants), and sometimes with further comments. Column headings for the different types of lists varied depending on the purpose, time and place of the list.

About the Database:

This database contains an index to these "other" censuses covering various years and counties. See the bottom of this description for a list of censuses currently included in the database.

It is important to note that this database is intended to be an index of available records, and therefore only some of the data in the original record may be included. Searchers should also be aware that the data is transcribed as written, and thus unexpected or erroneous spelling of names and towns may be due to the spelling in the original records. Researchers are encouraged to verify entries by reviewing the original data themselves. If transcription errors are found, please notify the coordinator so corrections can be made to the index database.

The database includes the following fields:

• Page Number: These are handwritten numbers that appear to have been added to the record books many years after the original data was recorded


• Record Number: This is the entry number recorded with each name listed on the original census. If the field is blank, it is an indication that there was no record/entry number in the original census. This record number should not be confused with house number


• Name: First Name (Given Name) and Last Name (Surname)


• Relationship: The relationship between the head of the household and the individual listed. This field is generally left blank in head-of-household-only census records


• Town: This town is the town of residence listed on the census


• District: The járás (district) of the town


• County: The megye (county) of the town


• Year: The year the census took place


• Comments: This field is used to list other available information that the transcriber chose to transcribe, for example the presence of other family members, occupation, birth date or birthplace.


• Reference: The reference to the source of the data such as the specific reference at the Hungarian National Archives or the LDS microfilm number.

As a general rule, the transcribers did not include diacritical marks for place names, surnames and given names.

Records in the Database:

The database currently contains 39,000 records, as follows: