Monday, November 9, 2015

Handler Birth Record Transcriptions at JewishGen

I subscribe to the H-SIG (Hungarian Special Interest Group) email list because of my father-in-law's Hungarian roots. (Click here to see the various JewishGen mailing lists you can subscribe to.) I was excited early last week to see that there was a new upload to the JewishGen Hungary Database: an individual has transcribed all the births, marriages and deaths from registers from a couple of small communities that are now in present day Serbia: Erdevik and Sid, and has provided these transcriptions to JewishGen.


Erdevik is a familiar place name because Sam Handler reported it to be his birth place on his 1919 naturalization papers, so I was very excited to take a look.

At the JewishGen search page for the Hungary Databases, I searched for Surname: Handler, Town: Erdevik, and GivenName: Sali. (Note that, although JewishGen is free, I make an annual donation to JewishGen, which provides me with this searching flexibility.)



The results I got include birth records for Rosi Händler, Josef Händler and Salomon Händler, to parents Aron / Adolf Händler and Sali Händler. (Yes, that is Sali's surname: see Surname Saturday ~ Handler for an explanation of their relationship.)



They were all born in the (very small) town of Ljuba. Erdevik is the town that the birth was registered in, and it is located in the District (Járás) of Ilok and the County (Megye) of Szerém.

I don't know why I don't see a record for the birth of the youngest child, Regina, but I will keep looking to see if her birth was transcribed incorrectly.

Below is a current map of the area, with Ilok, a larger town at the top, in the present-day country of Croatia; Ljuba, a very small town, shaded in pink, primarily in the present-day country of Serbia, and Erdevik, a larger town at the bottom, located in present-day Serbia. Look closely and you'll see a dark grey line which is the boundary between Croatia and Serbia.

From Google Maps

I have previously shared maps of the area, showing how far away Josef Handler lived from his bride, Lena Hollander. At Google Maps, searching on Ljuba, Serbia, and selecting Google Earth view, you will see user-uploaded photos of the area across the bottom of the screen. This is where the Handlers were from!

6 comments:

  1. Fantastic....I´m on the same path and will check this database right away!

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    1. Best of luck - I hope you find a family member!

      Thanks for reading and commenting.

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  2. Congratulations!

    Depending on when Regina was born, her record still may not be public for privacy reasons. Most places have a specific number of years which must have passed for records to be released.

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    1. Regina was born about 1891, but there are other birth records in this transcription from well after that date. I don't know why her birth isn't appearing, though I do keep in mind that this is a transcription, not the original record. Perhaps the page her birth was on was damaged or faded...

      Thanks for the comment!

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  3. Maybe Regina's record is recorded in the next nearest village, especially if she is the youngest (they may have moved?). Congrats on this Handler find! Does the indexer give you a copy of the actual record if you request?

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    1. Yes, perhaps Regina's birth is recorded in a nearby village, though I'm not sure if the family would have moved. Family legend is that the father, Aron, owned a farm. (Of course, it's just the story - I have no proof.)

      Great idea to explore if I can request a copy of the actual record - I will find out!

      Thanks for your comment!

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