Romania Beginning Research: Difference between revisions

Before you can begin genealogical research in Romania, you must find out who your immigrant ancestor was and his exact place of origin. Since most emigration from Romania took place in the late nineteenth or early twentieth century, you will probably find that you will need access to birth, death, and marriage records from Romania within a few generations. To do this, you must determine which town or village in Romania your emigrant ancestors came from, because records in Romania were kept on a local level. You may be able to find out this information from family sources or from old family documents. It may be necessary to look for this information in death records, obituaries, passenger lists, naturalization records, or similar sources where your Romanian ancestor settled.  

Once you have identified your family's place of origin in Romania you will need to determine its correct spelling and county. Maps can be very helpful, but gazetteers are of even greater value. A gazetteer is a geographic dictionary, a book that lists all localities and gives sufficient information to uniquely identify a specific locality. The gazetteer of modern Romania is Indicatorul Localitatilor din Romania [Index of Localities of Romania], written in Romanian; Bucuresti: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste Romania, 1974. (FHL book Ref 949.8 E5i; also on microfilm 1181561 item 1). The western area of Romania, called Transylvania, was formerly under Hungarian rule. For these areas you may need to use the old gazetter of Hungary to determine the former Hungarian spelling as well as the nearest parish or synagogue. Use Magyar Helsegnevtara [Hungarian gazetter] by Janos Dvorzak, Budapest: "Havi Fuzetek," 1877 (FHL book Ref 943.9 E5d; also on microfilm vol. 1 on film 599564, vol.2 on film 973041).