Settlers from Germany to Galicia and Bukovina – Vienna Records

by David Gorz

 

During their travels, the immigrants from Germany to Galicia and Bukovina passed through Vienna (German: Wein) to register, be assigned to a village, and to collect travel money (about one florin per person in the group). In more current times those records were indexed by the archive in Vienna and images of those index cards and the original records from which they were extracted are on Family History Library microfilms, called Ansiedlerakten. Search for:

https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/189909

These microfilms have been digitized and can be viewed at home following instructions in Tip 2. The digitized films are noted with a camera icon rather than a microfilm roll icon. 

The index cards are arranged alphabetically by your ancestor's surname, then given name. It appears that umlaut vowels are treated the same as the non-accented version. On the index cards are references to the original records, such as Fasz 8 Nr 37 ex März 1786 (found on the card of Mathias Gerhard Görz; further information below), and you'll see keywords like that in the listing of the films following the surname film listings. The original records are difficult to search through.

The index card will typically list the name of the immigrant, where he came from (top left side, Herkunftsort, etc.), the village and district where he will be settled (top right side, Ansiedlungsort, etc), when he passed through Vienna (Zeit des Nachweises), where he was born (geboren), his religion (Bekenntnis), his occupation (Beruf), the number of people in his group (Kopfzahl), as well as additional information. On the back of the card it is often noted that with him was his wife (Gattin) and the number of their children (Kindern), though names are typically not given for the spouse and children. Many of the index cards also note where in Schneider's book the person is listed in the form "Schneider 130/27" meaning page 130, line 27.

The information is as given by the settler and is not always accurate. For my four-greats-grandfather, Mathias Gerhard Görz, his place of origin and birth is given as Roxheim, which is incorrect, and notes that he was traveling with his wife and six children, which is correct, based on my own research. Interestingly, there is a second, later card for him that lists Badenheim as where he was born and where he was from, which is correct. This second card has dates after his pass-through in Vienna and notes his wife but only four children, two sons and two daughters. The second card also notes that they spent the winter of 1784/85 in Krosno, now in southern Poland between Jaslo and Sanok.

2 Vienna cards for Mathias Görz

It's always a good idea to jot down the film and image number when you find something of interest, as it makes it easy to find the record if you decide to go back and look again. The images can be downloaded.