HUNGARY-L Archives

From:
Subject: Re: [HUNGARY-L] advise/advice
Date: Wed, 7 Apr 2004 03:45:46 EDT

In a message dated 4/6/2004 11:26:54 AM US Eastern Standard Time,
writes:

Hi Cris

The list has given sound advice, but also maybe consider . . .

<< I just found a church in the village that MIGHT be the place of my
grandfather's birth.>>>

Why not tell us what the village is? The LDS has microfilms for varying
years of many former Hungary villages NOW in Romania, mostly from an area formally
known as the Banat which were mostly populated by Germans. Many German
villages in Romania were microfilmed in the 1940s by a German individual -- these
too are accessible. Secondly, there are numerous "family books" that have been
written -- for German Hungarian villages now in Romania -- the actual church
books having been researched and transcribed by the authors. Lists of these
books are online, and how to access them -- so if you can tell us the village --
there is at least a small possibility that the information you seek could be
available directly. There are many web sites that can help determine this, but
it's too confusing without knowing the name of the village.

A good explanation of the various places that Romanian village records may be
deposited today is at
http://www.genealogy.ro/gap.htm

It's worth reading over as the situation is not all that straightforward, and
church records/civil records could be in various places. (I won't copy the
info here as it violates copyright law to do so) Secondly, there are three (3)
branch locations for the Romanian National Archives, and you'll need to write
to the one that has the records you seek if you go this route.

>>>I have a name of the priest and plan to send him a letter by regular
mail. What do you suggest I send for payment? I would like to send International
Postal Coupons>>>

The IPCs are not likely to be of any use -- although USPS directions may list
a country as accepting these, I've never found a "local" post office in
Hungary/Croatia that will accept them - so it's doubtful that Romania will. They
are usually more hassle then help.

>>>some type of donation for his time but I'm at a loss how to do it. Should
I just stuff some cash in the envelope?. >>

While it may seem on this end that providing a donation will help ensure a
reply, this is usually not the case. As others have pointed out, IF a local
priest/pastor has the time, and the records, and is inclined to do so, they will
reply regardless. On the other hand, many of them simply ignore these crazy
American requests for historical documentation -- money or not. It is a matter
of individual choice on their part -- and it is really not part of their
jobs/vocation to answer such requests (although some will). IF you do end up
corresponding with someone from the local church, a *donation for the parish* (not
the Priest's time) would be appropriate. Even a small donation (a few
dollars) would buy candles for a year, or allow replacement of a broken window for
example.

If you find that no LDS microfilmed records or family history books are
available, it is still most likely that hiring a local Romanian researcher (or
Hungarian who travels to Romania) is your best bet. Even if the correct Romanian
National Archives branch responds, it is at least a year before they will write
to tell you they have the record, and at the same time tell you the cost for
providing it. They will expect payment *deposited directly to their Romanian
bank*, (which is an expensive hassle) before they will send you the record.
They will not accept US$ payment, so the other option is to have them agree to
accept a check in Romanian currency, which is also time consuming and costly
to obtain. It has been the experience of many, many people researching modern
Romanian villages to hire an onsite genealogist -- and I've only heard very
positive things about their experience for having done so. They are much more
motivated to provide good service than gov't bureaucrats as well. At least one
of these has an excellent web site (www.genealogy.ro I think) -- which you can
find along with others with any search engine (like www.google.com), and they
will be able to communicate with you in English.

here is a web site with text of Romanian Law about access to records (in
English)
http://www.genealogy.ro/cont/law_e.htm

Just another 1 cent worth . . good luck.
Regards
Linda

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