Croatia, Delnice Deanery Catholic Church Books - FamilySearch Historical Records

Croatia

What is in This Collection?
This collection consists of church records from Delnice Deanery located in Western Croatia for the years 1725-1926.

Church registers were created to record important events in the lives of parishioners, such as baptism, marriage, and death. This documentation would later officially prove the validity of such events. Church records are some of the most reliable sources of information available in Croatia for genealogical research before the civil registration implementation. Records were written in Latin, Hungarian, and Croatian.

This collection of church records from Delnice dates to a period when Croatia was not yet an independent country, so it includes records created under different governments, such as Hungary and the former Yugoslavia.

A patent, ruled by Emperor Joseph II in 1784, mandated the inclusion of certain sections in all parish record books maintained by the clergy. These register records were later used also as civil vital records. The contents were as follows:

As of 1868, the Ministry of Internal Affairs took over the right to supervise the maintenance of these records.

Reading these Records
These records are written in Croatian. For help reading these records see the following:
 * Croatian Glagolitic Script
 * Serbo-Croatian Genealogical Word List
 * Croatia Language and Languages
 * Croatian Roots

What Can These Records Tell Me?
The following information may be found in these records:

Baptism
 * Date and place of baptism
 * Infant’s name
 * Sometimes the birth date
 * Names of the father and mother
 * Names of the godparents
 * Names of the grandparents
 * Residence

Marriage
 * Date and place of marriage
 * Names of bride and groom
 * Names of bride and groom's parents
 * Groom's age and birth date
 * Bride's age and birth date
 * Witnesses' names

Death
 * Name of deceased
 * Date and place of death
 * Cause of death
 * Burial location &amp; date
 * Parent or spouse's name

Baptism records had to contain separate sections for the date and place of birth. Some pastors, however, frequently recorded only the following in this section: date of baptism, name, religion, gender, legitimacy of child, first and last names of the parents (including mother's maiden name), parents' occupations, as well as the first and last names of the godparents and their occupations. In 1812, a special decree ordered that the date of birth be recorded separately and always before the date of baptism. In reality, both of these dates, birth and baptism, were listed in the same section until the emergence of new templates for vital records, which contained predetermined places for each separate fact.

Marital records had to contain information about the year, month and day of marriage, place of residency with the street number of the groom, first and last names of the groom, religion, age and marital status (single or widower), first and last names of the bride, her religion, age, and marital status (single or widow), the first and last names of the best man and bridesmaid, as well as their occupations.

Death records had to contain the following sections: the year, month, and day of death, residence place and street number, first and last names, religion, gender, and age of the deceased. Later, through a decree from the Imperial office in 1788, the cause of death was added if it was known.

How Do I Search This Collection?
Begin your search by finding your ancestors in the index. Name indexes to baptisms, marriages, and deaths or burials make it possible to access a specific record quickly.

Before searching this collection, it is helpful to know:
 * The place where the event occurred
 * The name of the person
 * The approximate date of the event
 * The names of the parents or spouse

How Do I Analyze the Results?
Compare each result from your search with what you know to determine if there is a match. This may require viewing multiple records or images. Keep track of your research in a research log.

I Found the Person I Was Looking For, What Now?

 * Use the marriage date and place as the basis for compiling a new family group or for verifying existing information
 * Use the parents’ birthplaces to find former residences and to establish a migration pattern for the family
 * Compile the marriage entries for every person who has the same surname as the bride or groom; this is especially helpful in rural areas or if the surname is unusual
 * Continue to search the marriage records to identify children, siblings, parents, and other relatives of the bride and groom who may have married in the same county or nearby. This can help you identify other generations of your family or even the second marriage of a parent. Repeat this process for each new generation you identify
 * Use the birth date or age along with the place of birth of each partner to find a couple’s birth records and parents’ names
 * Use the birth date or age along with the place of birth to find the family in census records
 * Use the residence and names of the parents to locate church and land records
 * Occupations listed can lead you to other types of records such as employment or military records
 * The name of the officiator is a clue to the family’s religion or area of residence in the county. You may be able to find other church or local records. However, ministers may have reported marriages performed in other counties
 * Use the marriage number to identify previous marriages

I Can't Find Who I'm Looking For, Now What?

 * Consult the Croatia Record Finder to find other records
 * Remember that these indexes may contain inaccuracies, such as altered spellings or misinterpretations. If the information was scanned, there may also be optical character recognition errors
 * The information in church records is usually reliable, but depends upon the reliability of the informant
 * Check for variant spellings of the surnames
 * Check for a different index. There are often indexes at the beginning of each volume
 * Search the indexes and records of nearby places

Research Helps
The following articles will help you in your research for your family in Croatia.
 * Record Finder
 * Research Tips and Strategies

Citing This Collection
Citations help you keep track of places you have searched and sources you have found. Identifying your sources helps others find the records you used.