A Guide for Researching Ethnic Serbian Ancestors from Banat, Bačka and Baranja

9. април 2022.

коментара: 2

On November 25th, 1918 the Great People’s Assembly of Serbs, Bunjevci, and other Slavs in Banat, Bačka, and Baranja proclaimed the unification of Banat, Bačka, and Baranja with the Kingdom of Serbia. At that moment, at the very end of the First World War, the Serbian army controlled all five counties of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire in this region: Baranya, Bacs-Bodrog, Torontal, Temes, and Krasso-Szoreny.

Detailed political map of Kingdom of Hungary with Baranja, Bacs-Bodrog, Torontal, Temes, and Krasso-Szoreny county (Hungaricana.hu)

However, after two years of peace negotiations, this territory was divided between the newly formed Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, Hungary and Romania (dashed black line on the map). The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes kept about a half of earlier held territory, which was a small part of Baranja, the most of Bačka and about one third of Banat. This region retained its name Banat, Bačka and Baranja and entered the new state with its special political and civil-legal heritage dating from the 18th century or earlier.

In larger numbers, Serbs settled these areas in the period of 15-18th century. In one moment there were so many of them that some sources called these areas as Rascia, Ráczság, Ráczország, Ratzenland, Rezenland (together with Slavonia and Srem), meaning Serbia or Land of Serbs, from the name of medieval Serbian state of Raška (lat. Rascia) and in the way that Germans and Hungarians called Serbs of that time Rascian, Ratzen, Racz.

From the 15th century, there were several large-scale migrations in this region. The first of them is recorded in the time after the fall of the Serbian Despotate in 1449 and the Bosnian Kingdom in 1463, when king Matthias Corvinus mentions that in the period 1479-1483 more than 200.000 Serbs escaped to Hungary. The second wave came at the beginning of Ottoman rule in Hungary in the 16th century.

The third came after the expulsion of the Turks from Hungary at the end of 17th century, when more than 37.000 Serbian families from Old Serbia and Macedonia migrated to Hungary under the leadership of Serbian patriarch Arsenije III Čarnojević (1690). Soon after came the fourth under the patriarch Arsenije IV Jovanović-Šakabenta in 1739. These two are known as the Great Migrations of the Serbs from the Ottoman Empire to the Habsburg Empire.

At the end of the 18th century, there was also a large migration from the Military Frontier to the Russian Empire where Serbs formed two Serbian administrative units: the New Serbia and the Slavenoserbia. Many of the names, like Beška, Čanad, Feldvar, Pančevo, Sentomaš, Senta, Slankamen, Subotica, Vršac, suggest the places from where those Serbs came (all of them are from the region of Banat, Bačka, and Baranja).

In 1848 Serbs proclaimed Serbian Voivodship or Serbian Vojvodina on the teritorry of Banat, Bačka, Baranja and Srem, and that political entity was recognised in 1849 by the Habsburg court, but in modified borders (excluding Baranja) and with modified name Voivodship of Serbia and Banat of Temišvar.

In the time that came after, there were dozens of other migrations related to the Military Frontier changes in the 18th and 19th century, as well as the migrations from the 20th century related to consequences of the wars or agrarian reforms.

Routes of Serbian migrations from 15th to the beginning of 20th century (Gallica.bnf.fr)

In the text that follows, we will present the main resources for researching the origins of Serbian families from Banat, Bačka, and Baranja.

Before starting large-scale research, begin with family and home sources. Search for names, dates, and places on certificates, family Bibles, obituaries, diaries, and similar sources. Ask your relatives for any additional information they may have. It’s likely that your second cousin, great-aunt, or another relative already has some family information.

Organize the information you find, and record it on pedigree charts and family group records.

Many of the resources that follow can be used for researching German, Hungarian, or Romanian origins in Banat, Bačka, and Baranja as well. Much like Serbs, Romanians are Orthodox, and in one period they were under the jurisdiction of the Serbian Orthodox Metropolitan archdiocese of Karlovci.

1. Church Records

Serbian Orthodox Church Records in Banat, Bačka and Baranja date mainly from the 18th century, while from 1777 all parishes were obligated to record different events. They were written in Church-Slavonic Cyrillic (link) earlier, and in modern Serbian Cyrillic script (link) in the later period. The main church records are the records of baptisms, marriages and deaths. These records contain all important genealogical information that you need for some person (their name, closest relatives, dates, and places for each event).

Valuable records for researching genealogy are also the home protocols or church censuses. They contain the names of all house members with their genealogical relations, dates of birth, marriages, and deaths. These kinds of records also contain information about Family Saint Patron, which is important for researching Serbian origins.

Besides these books, it is recommended to check old financial books of the Parish, they can contain information about the parish founders, creditors, debtors, etc. Some parishes have books of confessed. For genealogy, they usually just have the names of confessed parishioners (confessed parishioners are church members who have participated in confession and fasting to prepare for the sacrament of communion).

Also, there are Parish chronicles that can provide you with information about the history of the parish and in some cases information about some prominent parishioners.

Serbian Orthodox Church eparchies in Banat, Bačka and Baranja
Serbian Orthodox Church eparchies in Banat, Bačka and Baranja: Eparchy of Osečko polje and Baranja, Eparchy of Bačka, Eparchy of Banat (by Ljubisa Gvojic, 2005)

In the narrow sense, the Serbian Orthodox Church has three eparchies in Banat, Bačka and Baranja, or in the broader sense five eparchies. These are Eparchy of Banat which counts 221 parishes (link), Eparchy of Bačka which counts 144 parishes (link), and Eparchy of Osečko polje and Baranja which counts 8 parishes (link). These three eparchies are located on the borders of former SFR Yugoslavia, while the parts located in Hungary and Romania are under the jurisdiction of Eparchy of Budim which counts 20 (link), and Eparchy of Temišvar which counts 55 parishes.

Thanks to the site FamilySearch.org, online records are available for most of the parishes in today’s Croatia and Hungary. Below, you can find direct links to the church records for each of the parishes.

BANAT: In Hungarian part parishes of Deszk, Szeged Újtemplom, Szeged Régitemplom, Szőreg, Újszentiván.

BAČKA: In Hungarian part parish of Baja.

BARANJA: In Croatian part parishes of Beli Manastir, Branjina, Darda, Jagodnjak, Kneževi Vinogradi, Popovac; in Hungarian part parishes of BeremendBorjádDunaszekcsőHidasdIllócskaIvándárda, LancsukLipovaLiptód, MagyarbolyMaiss, Mohács, Nagybudmér, Ráczkozár, Ráczmecske, Rácztöttös, Sárok, Siklós, Somberek, Szigetvár, Véménd, Villány.

All other church records are usually kept in the regional archives like the Archive of Vojvodina in Novi Sad, National Archives of Romania in Temesvar, National Archives of Hungary in Pecs, State Archives in Osijek, but also some in the Archives of Eparchy of Budim in Szentendre and in the State Archives in Belgrade.

It should also be borne in mind that some of the church records have disappeared or been burned in the Hungarian Revolution (1848-1849) and in the Second World War (1941-1945).

Useful links:

1. Poreklo’s Archival Catalogue – contains 659 matriculate units of the Eparchy of Temišvar and 743 matriculate units of the Eparchy of Budim.
2. Digital Collection of Church registers of Eparchy of Budim
3. Archives of Vojvodina – Presentation of Church registers – contains digitized church records, mostly from the 19th century, for 249 parishes in Banat and Bačka (with few parishes in Central Serbia) for all confessions (Serbian Orthodox, Romanian Orthodox, Catholic, Protestant, Evangelical, Nazarene, Jewish).

2. Censuses and Taxation

Unlike the regions on the south of the Sava and the Danube, the regions on the north have a larger number of published and preserved censuses. Starting from the 16th century and Ottoman defters, published usually by Hungarian scientific circles, there are also many digitized or published censuses from the 17th, 18th, and 19th century.

PUBLISHED CENSUSES

1. Ivan Jakšić, Iz popisa stanovništva Ugarske početkom 18. veka = From the Population Censuses of Hungary on the beginning of 18th Century, vol. I, Novi Sad, 1966
2.Ivan Jakšić, Iz popisa stanovništva Ugarske početkom 18. veka = From the Population Censuses of Hungary on the beginning of 18th Century, vol. II, Novi Sad, 1966

BANAT

1. Pál Engel, A temesvári és moldovai szandzsák törökkori települései (1554-1579), Szeged, 1996
2. Gyula Káldy Nagy, A szegedi Szandzsák települései, lakosai és török birtokosai 1570-ben, Szeged, 2008
3. Gyula Káldy Nagy, A csanádi szandzsák 1567. és 1579. évi összeírása = The Censuses of sanjak of Csanad of 1567 and 1579, Szeged, 2000
4. Dušan J. Popović, Srbi u Banatu do kraja 18. veka = Serbs in Banat until the 18th Century, Beograd, 1955
5. Martha Remer Connor, 1828 Land Census : Bekes, Csanad & Csongrad, Hungary, Las Vegas, 1999
6. Martha Remer Connor, 1828 Land Census : Krasso County, Hungary, Las Vegas, 1998
7. Martha Remer Connor, 1828 Land Census : Temes County, Hungary (Now in Romania), Las Vegas, 1994
8. Martha Remer Connor, 1828 Land Census : Torontal County, Hungary (Now in Romania), Las Vegas, 1992

BAČKA

1. Živan Sečanski, Popisi stanovništva Bačke tokom 18. veka = Population Censuses of Bačka in 18th Century, Beograd, 1952
2. Martha Remer Connor, 1828 Land Census : Bacs Bodrog, Hungary, Las Vegas, 1991

BARANJA

1. Gyula Káldy Nagy, Baranya megye XVI. századi török adóösszeírásai = Baranya county in the 16th century Turkish tax censuses, Budapes, 1960
2. Claus Heinrich Gattermann, Die Baranya in den Jahren 1686 bis 1713 = The Baranja in the years 1686 to 1713, Göttingen, 2005
3. Stjepan Sršan, Stanovništvo i gospodarstvo Baranje 1766. i 1824. godine = Population and Economy of Baranja in 1766 and 1824, Osijek, 2002
4. Martha Remer Connor, 1828 Land Census : Baranya, Hungary, Las Vegas, 1991

 

All these publications are available for researchers in the Poreklo’s Library. Some of these censuses are freely available on the internet and you can research them by the following links:

1. Feudal taxation 1711-1749
2. Hungarian Census of 1715
3. Hungarian Census of 1720
4. Feudal taxation 1729-1864
5. Maria Theresa’s Urbarium of 1767
6. Land Census of 1828

3. Cadastral censuses

The First Cadastral survey was made by Austro-Hungary in the second half of the 19th century. In this survey, there are detailed cadastral maps. Some of the maps are available online (like those for Baranja, and parts of Bačka and Banat in Hungary), while the others are available in the local cadastral offices.

Village of Racz Görcsony in Baranja county, with the names of owners on each of the plots of land (Habsburg Empire Cadastral map, 19th century)

Second Cadastral Survey was made by SFR Yugoslavia in 1968. Both maps and books with the names of all landowners are available for the researchers and can be viewed in the local cadastral offices (in Serbia and Croatia).

Useful links:

1. Habsburg Empire Cadastral maps from 19th Century (maps.arcanum.com)
2. Geoportal Serbia (geosrbija.rs)
3. Republic of Serbia Geodetic Authority’s e-Cadastre (katastar.rgz.gov.rs)
4. Geoportal Hungary (inspire.gov.hu)
5. Földhivatali Portál (foldhivatal.hu)
6. Geoportal Croatia (geoportal.dgu.hr)
7. Republic of Croatia Geodetic Authority e-Cadastre (katastar.hr)
8. Geoportal Romania (geoportal.ancpi.ro)
9. National Agency for Cadastre and Land Registration of Romania (elra.eu)

4. Lists of victims of First World War

At the beginning of the First World War Banat, Bačka and Baranja were part of Austria-Hungary and the Orthodox Serbs were one of the largest populations in that region. Although they participated in the Austro-Hungarian Army, like all others, some of Serbs escaped mobilization and volunteered for the army of the Kingdom of Serbia. Because of this and of rebelling, Austro-Hungarian authorities imprisoned many Serbs in concentration camps such as those in Nežider, Nađmeđer, Šarvar, etc.

Useful links:

1. Victims of Austro-Hungarian army in First World War (digi.landesbibliothek.at)

5. Lists of victims of Second World War

These lists were made by Yugoslavian authorities after the war. They contain information about the killed persons in the war with their main info (Name, Father’s Name, Surname, Year of Birth, Nationality, Year of death, Way of death, Place of death, Register number). However, the Federal Commission assessed that the census was incomplete, that it covered only 56-59% of the estimated number of casualties (1.016.000 to 1.066.000), noting that it did not cover at least 50.000 quislings (who were not intended for the census).

Useful links:

1. Victims of the Second World War in Yugoslavia (muzejgenocida.rs)

6. Nobility

From the 15th century to the 19th century many Serbian families received Hungarian or Austrian nobility. Most of them gained nobility by serving in the Military Frontier on the borders of the Habsburg Empire with the Ottoman Empire. Many publications on this topic are available online, while others are available for Poreklo’s Members in the Poreklo’s Digital Library.

Coat of Arms of Jacob Bosnyak, 1526 (one of earliest examples of coat-of-arms with the motive of Turkish head, a popular symbol of fighting against Ottomans in next centuries)

Literature:

1. Géza Csergheo, József Csoma, Der Adel von Ungarn = The Nobility of Hungary, vol 1, Nürnberg, 1893 (gdz.sub.uni-goettingen.de)
2. Géza Csergheo, József Csoma, Der Adel von Ungarn = The Nobility of Hungary, vol 2, Nürnberg, 1894 (gdz.sub.uni-goettingen.de)
3. Viktor Duišin, Zbornik plemstva u Hrvatskoj, Slavoniji, Dalmaciji, Bosni-Hercegovini, Dubrovniku, Kotoru i Vojvodini = Register of Nobility of Croatia, Slavonia, Dalmatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Dubrovnik, Kotor and Vojvodina, vol. 1, Zagreb, 1938 (biblioteka.poreklo.rs)
4. Viktor Duišin, Zbornik plemstva u Hrvatskoj, Slavoniji, Dalmaciji, Bosni-Hercegovini, Dubrovniku, Kotoru i Vojvodini = Register of Nobility of Croatia, Slavonia, Dalmatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Dubrovnik, Kotor and Vojvodina, vol. 2, Zagreb, 1938 (biblioteka.poreklo.rs)
5. Milan Stepanović, Plemićke porodice u Somboru do kraja 18. veka = Noble Families in Sombor until the end of 18th Century, Sombor, 2018 (biblioteka.poreklo.rs)
6. Dejan Jakšić, Matica plemstva Bačko-bodroške županije 1798-1838 = The Register of Nobility of Bács-Bodrog County 1798-1838, Novi Sad, 2020 (arhivvojvodine.org.rs)

Useful links:

1. Libri Regii (hungaricana.hu)
2. Coat of Arms of the National Archives of Hungary (adatbazisokonline.hu)

7. Main Literature

For the researching your Serbian ancestry in Banat, Bačka and Baranja we’re suggesting you to use the next main literature (most of them available in Poreklo’s Digital Library):

1. Dušan J. Popović – Građa za istoriju naselja u Vojvodini od 1695. do 1796.
2. Gojko Malović – Seoba u maticu 1920-1931 II
3. Predrag M. Vajagić, Vladimir Pavlov – Dobrovoljci vojske Kraljevine Srbije kolonizovani u Bačkoj i Baranji, A-Lj, vol. I
4. Predrag M. Vajagić, Vladimir Pavlov – Dobrovoljci vojske Kraljevine Srbije kolonizovani u Bačkoj i Baranji, M-Š, vol. II

BANAT

1. Dobrivoj Nikolić – Srbi u Banatu u prošlosti i sadašnjosti
2. Grupa autora – Banat kroz vekove
3. Jovan Đokić – Kroz naselja S. I. Srbije, Banata i susednih krajeva : istoriska etnografska opažanja
4. Jovan Erdeljanović – Srbi u Banatu : istorija naselja i stanovništva

BAČKA

1. Dušan J. Popović – Srbi u Bačkoj do kraja 18. veka
2. Grupa autora – Bačka kroz vekove

BARANJA

1. Stevan Mihaldžić – Baranja od najstarijih vremena do danas
2. Vladislav Pandurović – Iz prošlosti baranjskih Srba

Historical map of Baranya (D. J. Derocco, Paris, 1919)

Unlike other Serbian regions, Banat, Bačka and Baranja are not covered in the edition Naselja i poreklo stanovništva = Settlements and origin of population issued by Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, although several of recommended books are written in this manner.

Magazines: Baranjske sveske, Temišvarski zbornik.

8. Genetic Genealogy

Genetic Genealogy is of value in researching ethnic Serbian origins in Banat, Bačka, and Baranja. Thanks to the Serbian DNA project, more than 300 Serbian families from Banat, Bačka, and Baranja completed Y-chromosome DNA testing. Many of them found connection of their origins in Old Serbia, Macedonia, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Dalmatia and Krajina.

Y-DNA tested persons from Banat, Bačka, and Baranja on the interactive map of Serbian DNA project

9. Language and Calendar

Serbs in Banat, Bačka and Baranja use both Cyrillic and Latin script. For research in English it is useful to know for Latin-Cyrillic or Cyrillic-Latin convertors, as well as for some good online translator fo Serbian, German, Hungarian and Romanian.

Useful links:

1. Latin-Cyrillic Convertor (convertor.co.rs)
2. Official transcription of Serbian, Romanian, and Hungarian personal names (poreklo.rs)
2. GoogleTranslate (translate.google.com)

Also, it is important to know that Serbian Orthodox Church uses Old/Julian Calendar instead of New/Gregorian Calendar. Until the 1919, almost all records of Serbian Orthodox Church were dated by the Old Calendar. From 1919 most of the records of Serbian Orthodox Church are dated by both the Old and New Calendar.

Useful links:

1. Calendar convertor (aulis.org)

10. Maps

Topographic maps are also valuable source for researching origins. Those more detailed contain tens of thousands toponyms that are speaking about families that lived on some place in the past or are still living there today.

Useful links:

1. Banat on the Map of First Military Survey (1769–1772), 1:25,000 (maps.arcanum.com)
2. Bačka and Baranja on the Map of First Military Survey (1782–1785), 1:25,000 (maps.arcanum.com)
3. Banat, Bačka and Baranja on the Map of Second Military Survey (1819-1896), 1:25,000 scale (maps.arcanum.com)
4. Banat, Bačka and Baranja on the Map of Third Military Survey, 1:25,000 scale (maps.arcanum.com)
5. Banat, Bačka and Baranja on the Map of Kingdom of Yugoslavia, 1:100,000 scale (library.mcmaster.ca)
6. Banat, Bačka and Baranja on the Topographic map of SFR Yugoslavia, 1:25,000 scale (topografskakarta.com)

Very valuable are the segments of the Map of Yugoslav Lands (available only in Cyrillic), issued in 1916 by the Topographic sector of Serbian Supreme Headquarters: Mohač-Pečuj, Subotica, Beograd, VršacTemišvar.

Banat, Bačka and Baranja on historical, political, ethnographical maps:

11. Recommended Web-sites:

It has been shown that in addition to all the above sources, domestic genealogical and other related sites can be of great help.

Useful links:

1. Researchable Digitized Newspapers of University Library “Svetozar Markovic”, Belgrade
2. Hungaricana – Hungarian Cultural Heritage Portal (hungaricana.hu), Budapest
3. Digital Library of National Library of Serbia (digitalna.nb.rs), Belgrade
4. Digital Library of Matica Srpska Library (digital.bms.rs), Novi Sad
5. Towns and settlements in Croatia (Poreklo.rs), Belgrade
6. Towns and settlements in Serbia (Poreklo.rs), Belgrade
7. Publications of Arhchive of Vojvodina (issuu.com), Novi Sad
8. Serbian Orthodox Church Records of Eparchy of Osečko polje and Baranja (crkvenematice.hr), Osijek
9. Google Books (books.google.com), Mountain View
10. Internet Archive (archive.org), San Francisco
11. Gallica (gallica.bnf.fr), Paris
12. Researchable Digital Library (pretraziva.rs), Belgrade
13. Church records of Osječko-baranjska Eparchy (crkvenematice.com.hr), Belgrade

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  1. Michelle Batalo Mills

    What a wonderful and comprehensive guide.