With my precious dog at my side, I've picked back up with my EXTREME GENEALOGY practice of reading the front pages by settlement in each county - yes the ENTIRE 1767 Census that Maria Theresa ordered be done, so she could access the economic condition of the country she ruled as part of the Austrian Empire! Now I will eventually focus on what is personal to me, but I think I have lots to share with those of you who are just now also facing this census.
It's wonderful that the HUNGARIAN NATIONAL ARCHIVES have put up a searchable text database with the basics under each landholder's surname. I could easily use the search feature to look for just specific surnames, but I really want to get the lay of the land. It's one thing to notice that the Eszerhazys or Andrassys are the 1% at the time, another to see how their holdings compare with the few farmers who are not land barons or of nobility: Yes there are a few!
I've been reading around Queen Maria Theresa, ruler of the Hapsburg's Empire of which Hungary was a part. She wanted to tax the nobles and land barons. They had not been paying taxes and didn't want to, so it's said that they lied about the vastness of their holdings and that up to 2/3rds of the country was not actually represented in this census. They may have even had the cooperation of those serfs, servants, retainers, and employees who lived on their land to keep quiet about how much they owned.
But first of all, I know the date of 1767 is on it, but that's actually when the census began. In actuality it took about 6 or 7 years to cover the country by census takers who were traveling on horses and carriages or on foot. I've found my first notes taken in 1848, a pivotal year in Hungarian History, as well. So you know that in 1848 there were more notes taken in certain places, that census takers or other officials were sent back to those places.
I've printed out a map of the countries so that I can keep track of where I am in this quest, and yes, I'm finding that rare surname I've been searching for, which I believe is in Hungarian documents at least back to the 1300's.
Those of you who are following along with me are probably wishing I would hurry up already and post everything I know to share with you. And those of you who live in Hungary and these counties and know the language fluently are probably thinking "I already know that! What I could tell her!" (There's always Comments!)
Others of you who read MAGYAR AMERICAN BLOGSPOT and don't do genealogy are probably wishing I would post on the here and now of my life as an American Citizen of Hungarian heritage! I will try to please all of you a bit but this is going to be a URBARIUM KIND OF SUMMER.
(To get to all the posts/genealogy tips regarding the NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF HUNGARY/ Hungaricana's URBARIUM 1767 you can search this BLOG by looking through my archives, through searching for the word
URBARIUM using the Google Search Feature embedded in the blog, or by clicking on the link at the bottom of the post.
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This post is part of a series. To print up all posts, click on the tag Pro tips: 1767 Hungaricana Urbarium
