Families of German origin

Researchers interested in German settlements of the 18th century (mainly to Baranya, Tolna, the Bakony, Bácska and the Banat) may have luck, in case the settlers got to the southern part of Hungary between 1781 and 1790 as a result of Chamber settlements. Several publications have appeared concerning German settlements; the works of Werner Hacker are highly recommended.

 

Literature on settlements

  • Franz Wilhelm–Josef Kallbrunner: Quellen zur deutschen Siedlungsgeschichte in Südosteuropa. Munich, 1936.
  • Anton Tafferner: Quellenbuch zur donauschwäbischen Geschichte Bd. 1. 1974., Bd. 2, 1977., Bd. 3. 1978., Bd. 4. 1982., Bd. 1–4. Stuttgart, Bd. 5. Munich, 1995.
  • A few of Werner Hacker’s publications deal with the German settlements and their removal. Each volume publishes detailed lists about the settlers:
  • Werner Hacker: Auswanderer vom Oberen Neckar nach Südosteuropa im XVIII Jahrhundert. Munich, 1970.
  • Werner Hacker: Auswanderungen aus dem früheren Hochshift Speyer nach Südosteuropa und Übersee im XVIII Jahrhundert. Eine dokumentation in Regestenform nach Unterlagen des Badischen Generallandesarchivs Karlsruhe. Kaiserslautern, 1969.
  • Werner Hacker: Auswanderungen aus dem Südostlichen Schwarzwald zwischen Hochrhein, Baar und Kinzig insbesondere nach Südosteuropa im XVII. und XVIII. Jahrhundert. Munich, 1975.
  • Werner Hacker: Auswanderungen aus Oberschwaben im XVII. und XVIII. Jahrhundert, archivalisch dokumentiert. Stuttgart-Aalen, 1977.
  • Werner Hacker: Auswanderungen aus Baden und dem Breisgau, Obere und mittlere rechtsseitige Oberrheinlande im XVIII. Jahrhundert, archivalisch dokumentiert. Stuttgart-Aalen, 1980.
  • Werner Hacker: Kurpfälzische Auswanderer von Unteren Neckar, Rechtsrheinische Gebiete der Kurpfalz. Stuttgart-Aalen, 1983.
  • Werner Hacker: Auswanderungern aus Rheinpfalz und Saarland im 18. Jahrhundert. Stuttgart, 1987.
  • Isabella Regényi und Scherer Anton: Donauschwőbisches Ortsnamenbuch Herausgegben von Arbeitkreis donauschwäbischer Familienforscher (Akd FF) Darmstadt, 1980. (Gazetteer of Danube–Swabian settlements)
  • Ferdinand Hengl: Deutschen Kolonisten im Komitat Baranya (Ungarn) 1688–1752 I–III. Band. Darmstadt, 1983. Schriesheim, 1985.
  • Johann Eimann: Der deutsche Kolonist oder die deutsche Ansiedlung 1783 bis 1787 besonders im Königreich Ungarn in dem Batscher Komitat. Munich, 1965.
  • Friedrich Lotz: Die frühtheresianische Kolonisation des Banats (1740 und 1762). Munich, 1966.
  • Stefan Stader: Sammelwerk donauschwöbischer Kolonisten. Teil I A-D. Sindelfingen, 1997. (Approximately 9500 names of family heads are indicated, but date and place of birth, marriage and death, names of the wives, locations of colonizations and resettlements are frequently arranged too.)
  • János Schmidt: Német telepesek bevándorlása Hessenből Tolna-Baranya-Somogyba a 18. sz. első felében. [German settlers immigrating from Hessen to Tolna-Baranya-Somogy counties in the first half of the 18th century.] Győr, 1939.
  • Roger Schilling: Deutsche Ansiedlung im Komitat Neutra unter Josef II. DUHBI. Vol. III. 1.
  • Roger Schilling: Ansiedlung der Deutschen in Rumpfungarn. (Das Deutschentum in Rumpfungarn.) Budapest, 1928.

The Wilhelm–Kallbrunner publication includes complete lists of the settlers: its excellent register contains the names in alphabetical order, but the page numbers and the serial numbers of the names are arranged as well. In case the related document is not stored in the Haus-, Hof- und Staatsarchiv of Vienna, but in the National Archives of Hungary, then it can be found within the sub-fond Acta Generalia of the Archives of the Hungarian Chancellery (Reference number: A 39). The Microfilm collection holds only the indices:

boxes 17217–
17414., 17674–17873. The Microfilm collection contains the list of German settlers of Banat, which was created in 1743. (Microfilm collection: W 635/7, the original: Finanz- und Hofkammerarchiv – Vienna, 64 Banater Akten. Kolonisten-Verzeichnisse.)

Those researchers, who are interested in German settlers immigrating to the USA, are recommended to study the following publication:

Edward Relmer Brandt: Contents and addresses of Hungarian archives with supplementary material for research on German ancestors from Hungary. Second, annotated edition. Minneapolis, USA, 1993. (An auxiliary material with the addresses of Hungarian archives.)

Sources

However, if the settlers in point did not get to Hungary in the course of the settlements of 1781–1790, it is almost sure that the relevant list of settlers should be searched for in Vienna.

Neither will the name of the settlers appear in the list, if they got to Hungary otherwise than in the framework of Chamber settlements. The names of German settlers brought to Hungary by private landlords (e.g. the Germans in the Bakony, Baranya or the Swabians of Tolna) can only be found in the family archives of the relevant private landlord in very fortunate cases.

Otherwise, in the case of German settlers the same sources must be looked over as in the case of civic or peasant families. The census returns of 1828 must be studied, as at the time of its preparation the settlers already lived in Hungary.

Unfortunately, following World War II German settlers were expatriated in large numbers from the countries of the Carpathian Basin. Nevertheless, hundred thousands of the displaced Germans are still enduringly searching for the history of their place of birth. As a result of their researches, the so called Heimatbuch serial was released including significant data on local history, demography and genealogy of almost every former German settlement.

More about the other family history sources in the National Archives