1857 Hungarian Census

18,450 Records

Census · Hungary · 1857

Background

The 1857 Census is a population census, enumerating individuals of all religions, regardless of property ownership. The census was mainly recorded in the German language. It is distinguished from other censuses because it was conducted for the purpose of counting men for military service. For this reason, it includes an exact birthdate for men between the ages of 14 and 20, while others in the household were asked only for their year of birth. Prescribed categories were used for classification by profession. Representatives of both sexes were placed into age categories, but females had fewer and broader age groups than males.

FamilySearch has filmed portions of the 1857 Census for nine counties, but none of these have been indexed to date. The amount of surviving material is considerable. The material of many towns survived, though some are incomplete: Buda, Győr, Székesfehérvár, Szentes, Türkeve, Baja, Kecskemét, Cegléd and Magyaróvár in Hungary; Târgu Mureş, Satu Mare and Baia Mare in Transylvania (Romania); and Kosice (Kassa) in Slovakia.

The surviving rural archive material is also significant, including census sheets for the counties of Sáros (379 villages in Slovakia) and Abaúj-Torna (134 villages in Hungary, 123 villages in Slovakia). Very important surviving materials remain in county Máramaros (Transylvania, 165 villages), Zemplén (17 villages, mostly in Slovakia), Nógrád (54 villages in Slovakia), Sopron (16 villages in Hungary, 51 in Austria), Tolna (8 villages in Hungary), Csanád (32 settlements, most in Hungary, some in Romania) and Esztergom (3 villages in Hungary, 2 in Slovakia).

Important: Before searching, please read the Research Notes below. Transcription conventions and the way names, occupations, and localities were recorded affect how you should interpret your search results.
Fields Recorded

The fields displayed in this database are:

Town — Hungarian shtetl name (town/village), spelled as listed in the original census.
District — Hungarian járás (district), spelled per the record, or if not listed, per the 1877 Hungarian Gazetteer.
County — Hungarian megye in which the shtetl is located.
House # / Family # — A number assigned by the census taker to the household.
Reference — Either the local archive name and volume identification, or the LDS microfilm reel where this record can be found.
Name — Surname and given name of the individual.
Relationship — Relationship to head of household.
Birth Date — Birth date of the individual.
Comments — Miscellaneous notes.
Research Notes
Information in the Original Data

The original Census includes 9 main columns of information:

  • a) Family number
  • b) Surname, given name, relationship
  • c) Date of birth
  • d) Religion
  • e) Occupation, profession or source of income
  • f) Age group (separately for males and females)
  • g) Marital status (separately for males and females)
  • h) Presence during the census (separately for males and females)
  • i) Notes
Occupation Categories

The occupations are grouped into 16 categories:

  • Priests
  • Clerks
  • Soldiers / Military personnel
  • Scholars and Artists
  • Lawyers
  • Medical personnel
  • Land owners
  • House owners
  • Tradesmen
  • Merchants
  • Boat owners and Fishermen
  • Farm workers
  • Factory workers
  • Commerce helpers
  • Other servants / helpers
  • Day laborers
Transcription Rules

Names from the original Census were entered exactly as they appeared on the original list. If a name was abbreviated, it was transcribed exactly as abbreviated, and no changes were made to spellings.

  • If a surname was omitted (for family members), the assumed surname was entered in square brackets.
  • Following obvious misspellings of people or town names, the probable correct spelling was added in brackets.
  • All diacritical marks were ignored, with the exception of umlauts, which were included. Diacritics only guide pronunciation, which was not necessary for the database.
Creation of the Database & Progress

Peter Absolon and Eric M. Bloch, members of the JewishGen Hungarian Special Interest Group (H-SIG), have been the main force behind the 1857 acquisition and transcription effort. The available records from Abaúj-Torna county have been photographed and transcribed, together with 6 towns from Zemplén county that were found available online. Efforts are now focused on Sáros county, the county with the second-highest amount of surviving material.

Counties included to date:

County (megye)StatusNumber of Entries
Abaúj-TornaCompleted9,472
Kassa (city)Completed1,321
ZemplénIn progress463
SárosIn progress99
Searching This Database

The 1857 Census is searchable via the JewishGen Hungary Database or the JewishGen Unified Search. In addition to the usual search of surnames and towns, you can use the “Global Text Search” of all fields to find all entries for a particular county (megye) or given name.

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. At this time, the search engine is not capable of handling hyphenated names.

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.

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Last updated March 2019.
Introduction by Peter Absolon. Acquisition and transcription by the JewishGen Hungarian Special Interest Group.