As I did early in my URBARIUM 1767 genealogy research tips, I encourage you to imagine the census taker and his entourage on horseback - with or without carriage - making it through roads that are almost all rural (and in towns may still be muddy and rutted by the wheels of carts) and generally unmarked - surveying the landscape and even giving names to places that may not have had official names based on the way the topography looked. He will travel ruggedly over a rural country, slowly by today's standards, and finding accommodations along the way will be important to his well being.
Imagine him coming towards a huge estate, perhaps owned or used by one of the wealthiest nobles in the country who also owns estates in other places - towns - villages - counties - in the country, which is a far vaster Hungary than there exists today. Serfs and others who live on the land may warn him or his retainers that the census taker is coming and they might even be in cahoots with him to not tell the whole truth about what he owns.(Note on the URBARIUM the testimonials may also be witnessed by and sealed (with wax) by local dignitaries, if the town has one, such as a judge.)
The census taker sits down to have a conversation with the noble or his estate manager - it's an interrogation - and during this time it's not just his observations but also the testimony of the land owner that will be written down. If you are like me you scan this portion looking for important and recognizable names, maybe print it out, hoping that you will be able to pick through it, maybe some time when you wake up at three in the morning!
There is a POSSIBLE solution to this dilemma, and on this I must say Google as a search engine and Google translate are very helpful.
I get comments on this blog that I consider to be spam because they are usually someone warning against using Google or any other translation and instead hiring a Hungarian and English speaker. For the English speaker, however, I think using these is best to start. (And the translation may seem awkward but you'll get what's being communicated!)
Using the search engine, put in the words Urbarium Hungaricana and then the TOWN NAME. And up will come an opportunity to use the Google Translator. Accept it. Sure some words will translate too literally, for instance a surname that also means a profession. You can always go back to the original handwritten book, if what you read in English intrigues you.
I put in the words Urbarium Hungaricana Forro (a small town)
and here is what came up: ARCHIVES HUNGARICANA HUNGARY - FORRO TRANSLATION OF FRONT PAGE
(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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