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NOTES referenced by
The Romanian GAP

© copyright 2001-2002 by GenealogyRO Group and FEEFHS, all rights reserved
Latest Update: 11 April 2002

[1] In this comment, we make reference only to the actual Romanian Banat [Timis and Caras-Severin Counties and a little part in southern Arad County]. The historical Banat was divided [after World War I] between the western part of Romania [18,966 square kilometers or 66,5%], northern Yugoslavia [the eastern part of Vojvodina, which is part of Serbia; 32,5%], and eastern Hungary [a very small part of the north Banat; 1%].

[2] In 1889 the remainder of the Banat Imperial Administration Archive [1716-1735] was transferred to the National Archive in Budapest. Few archive funds for the 18th -19th centuries were taken to Yugoslavia during the Serbian domination [1918-1919] of Banat.

[3] I am referring to the Roman Catholic parish church books [KBs]. The Schwaben's religion was mainly Roman Catholic. As a matter of fact, until Josephs II's Edict of Tolerance issued in 1781, the Protestants were not allowed to immigrate to the Banat. But at FHL [4] you will find also some parish registers for the Evangelische Kirche [for the villages Ferdinandsberg / Nandorhegy / Otelu Rosu, Liebling, etc. It is interesting to note that initially the Ferdinandsberg records were filmed in 1944 at Kronstadt / Brasov-Romania].

[4] Available also through the Family History Library [FHL] of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints [LDS]. For all the existing FHL microfilms for the Banat area please check the FHL Catalog at Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints Web Site: http://www.familysearch.org/Search/searchcatalog.asp or on this website

[5] This information derives from Josef Schmidt's book: Die Banater Kirchenbucher, eine Bestandsaufnahme der verfilmten Banater Kirchenbucher in der Bibliothek des Instituts für Auslandsbeziehungen Stuttgart (Filmed Banat church registers owned by the Institut fur Auslandsbeziehungen) 1979, AkdFF, Sindelfingen. 86 pages, Stuttgart-Germany.

[6] The manuscript was printed in 1988 under the title: Die Auswanderung aus dem kurkolnischen Sauerland im Zuge der theresianischen Banatbesiedlung 1763-1772, 270 pages [ISSN 0177-8153] and was published, with a short presentation made by Erhard Treude [Friedhelm Treude's son] by Kreis Olpe-Kreisarchiv Kurfurst-Heinrich - Str. 34, D-57462 Olpe, Biggesse [now, it seems, out of print].

[7] According to Dave Dreyer: "Apparently the camera was set up in Timisoara and the KBs [church records] were brought in from the country churches for the filming. Treude's main goal was to document the origin from Germany of as many of the original German colonists as possible; therefore he only filmed the KBs up until the last settler died. While they would finish that book they did not then film any subsequent books for a given locality".

[8] In the historical Banat Region existed approximately 800 villages. Not all the parishes existing in the Banat during the time were covered by Friedhelm Treude's enterprise.

The historical Banat Region was almost a perfect square of 28.526 square kilometers and had the following boundaries: at the North the Mures / Maros / Mieresch River; at the East the foothills of the Transylvanian Alps / Carpati Mountains; at the South the Danube / Donau River; and at the West the Tisa / Tisza / Theiss / Theiß River.

[9] The information on the microfilms existing at the IfA / Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen in Stuttgart-Germany are taken from Die banater Kirchenucher. Eine Bestandsafnahme der verifilmten Banater Kirchenbucher in der Bibliothek des Instituts für Auslandsbeziehungen written by Josef Schmidt in 1979.

FHL copied microfilms are also from other German sources: in 1959 from the Staatsarchiv in Speyer, in 1971 from the Staatsarchiv in Ludwigsburg, or from the Deutsche Zentralstelle für Genealogie in Leipzig.

[10] Sometimes it is difficult to locate quickly the right records as they were spread out in different locations during the time.

A good example is the case of Mãureni [Moritzfeld, Moriczfold, Moritfeld]. The village is located in Caras Severin County, Romania, at 40 km south-southeast of Timisoara. Măureni was founded in 1783-1784, under King Joseph II, in the III period of colonization of the Banat. The Roman Catholic parish was raised in 1785 / 1786 and endowed by the Exc. Cameram Reg. Hung. The Roman Catholic Church was raised in 1819 in honor of Saint Martinum Martyr Bishop. In 1875 the church burned and was rebuilt. The existing church was blessed in 1928. The Roman Catholic Church books started to be kept in 1786; this is a fortunate situation because the village had its own parish from the start. In most cases, until the establishment of the
parish, the village was a filial parish of another surrounding village and the records must be searched there.

Genealogical Records for Mãureni [Moritzfeld, Moriczfold, Moritfeld]: (1) Church records available at FHL [microfilm no. 1190317, 1190395] IfA: - Births 24.02.1787-11.04.1854; - Marriages: 24.04.1787-18.02.1857; - Deaths 9.06.1786-31.01.1858.
(2) Church records available at National Archives in Caransebes: - Births for the period 1854-1907; - Marriages for the period 1.08.1852-17.07.1913; - Deaths for the period 5.01.1852-6.04.1856 and 1.01.1858-15.03.1889. In June 2000, GenealogyRO Group members discovered these M (Marriage) and D (Death) records, as well as a church register covering the B (Births) 1883-1907, at Măureni Mayoralty, where nobody knew about them. Now the records are deposited at the National Archives in Caransebes. (3) Records available at Gãtaia's Roman Catholic Parish [today, Măureni is a filial of Gãtaia parish] - Births starting 1907 [and up to date]; - Marriages starting 2.04.1919 [and up to date]; - Deaths starting 1917 [and up to date]. (4) At Mãureni Mayoralty: - civil registration for the period after 1895 [and up to the present]; - the church book covering the Deaths in the period 15.03.1889-1917 is still here. (5) In this case we have also some good secondary sources; the school registers, found at the National Archives in Caransebes, the graveyard (tombstones) or some books [unfortunately only in the German language] already written for this village: - Dr. Anton Peter Petri's Heimatbuch der deutschen Gemeinde Moritzfeld im Banat; 1986 [with the list of the first settlers with their place of origin]; - Wilhelm Kremmer and Ernst Friedrich's Geschichte der Gemeinde Moritfeld 1786-1936; Timisoara - 1936.

In general, you must check every possibility - FHL or IfA, the Romanian National County's Archives, village Mayoralty, today's Parish, etc. - in order to identify the exact location of all the records as a premise to success in your family research.

3] The Civil Registration Service in Romania was established as follows:
* May 1st, 183l in Walachia / Valahia, Tara Romaneasca;
* January 1832 in Moldavia / Moldova;
* October 1st, 1895 in Banat and Transylvania / Ardeal, Transylvanien, Siebenbürgen, Erdély.

[11] This is the official explanation found in the book: Guide to the Banat State Archives, vol. I, Department of State Archives, Bucharest, 1965. The church books were used in the 1950's by the village's mayoralties at the release of the new identity cards and ten years later were gathered by the National Archives of Romania. The registers are now deposited at the Romanian National Archive branches existing in each Romanian county.

[12] Please note that we are not analyzing today's situation from Serbia / Yugoslavia.

[13] Theoretically, since 1829 in all the Habsburg Empire, all religions have been pledged to keep two sets of these registers and to forward periodically [each year] the duplicate register copy to the municipal archive authorities or to the superior church authorities.

We were able to see some of these second copies of Catholic records [for example, some years - the second copy is archived by years, separately for the B, M, D - for the village of Jam or Caransebes] at National Archives in Caransebes.

Question: where are the second copies of these registers? Nobody has [yet] a good answer to this question. We suspect that the second copies [for the Roman Catholic Church parishes] are deposited at the Archives of Bishopric-Bishop's Office in Timisoara. But, the Archives of Bishopric-Bishop's Office in Timisoara are closed for public access. Here is only one archivist [a lady working 2 hours each week] for responding to very precise requests. In order to obtain an extract you must give her the exact name/date/place and you are not allowed to see the records with your "one". This lady declares that in this archive are only church records for the period generally after 1895 [when the civil registration started and there exists good records at mayoralty].

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