1828 Hungarian Property Tax Census

29,969 Records

Census · Hungary · 1828

Background
Sample of name entries from the 1828 Hungarian Property Tax Census
A sample of the name entries — click the image for a larger view.

The 1828 Hungarian Property Tax Census (the “Census”), known in Hungarian as Vagyonösszeírás - 1828, is a census of individuals owning taxable property. The Census listed the individuals and their taxable holdings. Entries were handwritten in the Latin language and the column headings on the Census forms were pre-printed in Latin. The entire country of Hungary was included. Records are arranged by counties, and within the counties by localities in alphabetical order. County and town names are the Hungarian names in use in 1828.

The Census was created by the Hungarian Government and the original records reside in the National Archives of Hungary. The entire Census has been microfilmed by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) and comprises 319 microfilms. These microfilms are listed in the Family History Library Catalog (FHLC) of the LDS. They may be found as Place (Hungary); Topic (Hungary-Census); Title (Vagyonösszeírás, 1828), or via this FamilySearch catalog page.

The Census included both Jews and non-Jews. Jews were specifically identified with the term “Jud” or “Judaus” before or after their name. In some instances, other terms such as Jude, Judens, Hebr, Izr, Zsido, or Mos may have been used. Sometimes the Jews were listed with only their first name, or only their last name. It is believed some of the individuals listed were Jews but not identified as such; some of these may be recognizable by the combination of their surname and given name, though they are thought to represent a very small percentage of the total.

The database includes all those names in the Census marked as Jewish, and other names deemed by the transcribers to be “Jewish-sounding” based on a combination of the surname and given name. As researchers, we would rather include possible Jewish families than risk ignoring them and letting them fall through the cracks of history. To facilitate transcription, not all of the Census information has been included; researchers who find a person of interest will need to obtain the relevant microfilm to view the detailed information available in the Census.

Important: The Census included ONLY those people with taxable property. Just because your ancestor may not be listed does NOT mean they did not live in the area you are searching. Also, where Jews were not identified by the Census-taker as being Jewish, our transcribers would have omitted them unless the individual had a recognizable Jewish name. If you are certain your ancestor lived in a certain county but cannot find them, examine the microfilm yourself, and please notify us if you find someone who should be included.
Fields Recorded

Data from the Census was transcribed into a spreadsheet, with diacritical marks for place names, surnames and given names ignored. The database is displayed in six columns:

Surname, Given Name — The surname and given name of the individual. Where multiple readings exist, possibilities are separated by a question mark and slash (e.g. “Stein?/Stern?”); the search engine accepts any of them. A single question mark means the name could not be deciphered; a single dash means no name was shown.
County / Town — The county and town in which the individual lived, transcribed exactly as they appear in the Census, without modernizing or translating the locality name.
Entry Number — The handwritten entry number appearing to the left of each name in the Census.
LDS Microfilm # — The microfilm number at the LDS Family History Library, used to locate the individual in the original Census.
Comments — Various notations, including widows/widowers (Latin vidua/relicta, viduus/relictus), entries not identified as Jewish (marked “J?” where no Latin term such as “Jud” appeared), and the uncertainty of single-name entries as to surname or given name.
Research Notes
Information in the Original Data

The original Census includes 14 columns of information:

  • Col. 1: Entry number and name of head of household
  • Col. 2: Number of people in each household (including servants) between ages 18 and 60, of either sex and whether married or not, contributing to the household
  • Col. 3: Category of contributing individuals
  • Col. 4: Number of houses and value
  • Col. 5: Homestead land and value
  • Col. 6: Grain production
  • Col. 7: Meadows, amount and profit of harvests
  • Col. 8: Vineyards, amount of harvest, profit, pickers required, etc.
  • Col. 9: Orchards, amount and profit
  • Col. 10: Large domestic animals (oxen, cows, horses)
  • Col. 11: Small domestic animals (sheep, swine, goats)
  • Col. 12: Forests, size and annual nut and timber production
  • Col. 13: Miscellaneous value and profit
  • Col. 14: Observations (Comments)

Based on various sources, including page 26 of Robert Perlman’s Bridging Three Worlds, there were 185,000 Jews in Hungary in 1825. However, since the Census was limited to taxpayers only, far fewer than this actually appeared in it.

Transcription Rules

Names from the original Census were entered exactly as they appeared. If a name was abbreviated, it was transcribed exactly as abbreviated (we could not be certain whether “Abr.” is Abram or Abraham, or “Mich.” is Michel or Michael). No changes were made to spellings. All diacritical marks were ignored, as their only function is to guide pronunciation.

  • For partially legible names, as many letters as could be read were entered, with a dash for each unreadable letter (the number of dashes may not exactly match the missing letters).
  • A totally illegible name is shown as a single question mark; a single dash denotes that no name was provided.
  • Where a single name could be either surname or given name, two entries were made — one treating it as a surname, one as a given name — with a notation in Comments.
  • Where two surnames appeared (e.g. a maiden and married name), both were entered separated by a slash “/”; the search engine accepts either.

We recognize that some names are incomplete or incorrectly deciphered from the microfilm. If you are viewing a microfilm and are familiar with a name entered partially or incorrectly, we welcome your recommended corrections.

Hungarian Counties in the Database

The number of entries below is not exactly equivalent to the number of Jewish names in the Census: some names have been entered multiple times in different forms (for example a single name like “Israel” that could be either a surname or a given name was entered twice), so the total number of database entries is higher than the number of Census entries.

County# of entriesCounty# of entries
Abauj-Torna670Somogy477
Arad254Sopron927
Arva160Szabolcs627
Bacs-Bodrog670Szatmar581
Baranya177Szepes115
Bars3Szerem85
Bekes40Temes272
Belovar-Koros7Tolna528
Bereg560Torna54
Bihar871Torontal275
Borsod318Trencsen1,148
Csanad164Turocz15
Csongrad180Ugocsa192
Esztergom76Ung642
Fejer421Varasd42
Gomor-Kishont6Vas603
Gyor1,473Veroce67
Heves & Kulso-Szolnok360Veszprem1,723
Hont0Varosok Zagrab9
Komarom362Zagreb71
Krasso38Zala694
Lipto574Zemplen1,035
Maramaros1,348Zolyom0
Moson331Hajdusag69
Nograd733Jaszsag85
Nyitra3,120Kiskunsag17
Pest-Pilis-Solt2,875Nagykunsag29
Pozsega51Szeben6
Pozsony2,132Szepesseg636
Saros556Varosakin country totals
Searching This Database

This database is searchable via the JewishGen Hungary Database or the JewishGen Unified Search. The database can be searched by community or surname using Exact spelling, D-M Soundex, or Global Text search.

Beyond the usual surname and town search, the Global Text search of all fields can find every entry for a particular county (megye), given name, or LDS film number. If you are searching for a hyphenated town name or county, enter only the name before the hyphen or after the hyphen, but not both. Because roughly two or three percent of the surnames contain unknown letters and are incomplete, a global search of the entire county or town may help find them.

Please send feedback and corrections directly to the Coordinator, Eric M. Bloch (bloch@wi.rr.com).

Databases like this one are made possible entirely through volunteer effort and generous donors. Your contribution helps fund transcription, research, and preservation of Hungarian Jewish records.

Support the JewishGen Hungarian Research Division

Last updated September 2005.
Data extraction and donation by the JewishGen Hungarian Special Interest Group; introduction by Eric M. Bloch.