Zichydorf Church Records PDF Print E-mail
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Sunday, 22 February 2009 20:40

For many years, the only church records available to researchers in North America were microfilms from the Family History Library of the Mormon Church. Films #1190365 and #1190366 contain church records from 1789 to 1842 for baptisms, 1828 for marriages, and 1851 for deaths. These records were filmed by the Nazis before World War II for the purpose of determining who was and who was not German. The original films are kept in Stuttgart and the FHL was able to obtain copies.

The original church books from 1789 to approximately 1900 are available at the archives in Bela Crkva, Serbia. Records from approximately 1900 to the 1950s were stored at the Roman Catholic Church in Jermenovci, but were moved to the main regional church in Vrsac after the death of the Jermenovci priest in 2008. Georghausen records are normally found in the Zichydorf church books, as Georgshausen was part of the Zichydorf parish. Some records from other nearby villages are also often found in the Zichydorf church books. Also, extended family of many Zichydorfers are found in the records of nearby churches such as Deutsch Stamora, Gross Gaj, nad Morawitza.

After many years spent locating the records and trying to have them copied, ZVA was finally able to obtain digital copies of all Zichydorf church records. These are available on CD from ZVA for $30. A useful finding aid is the Familienbuch compiled by Peter Noll and Helmut Kaiser. This work compiles the church records into families. It is available on CD from ZVA in North America or directly from Helmut in Europe for $40. Ideally, you should have both offerings. The Familienbuch is easily the simplest to use, however, it is a compilation and subject to errors and omissions in transcribing and interpretation. Although it is extremely well done, there are a few known errors. The actual church records are much more difficult to use, but they are the original source records.

Last Updated on Monday, 01 March 2010 22:51