I was aware that the Austro-Hungarian Empire had taken a number of censuses, but those completed before the 1869 census were mostly heads of household or only those who were economically more stable than the serfs, who made up the majority of the population.

However, I have found the 1828 census for Hajtovka, Slovakia. Just the heads of household are named and I think the enumeration was done to determine tithes to the local nobility and the Church, to count farm animals and that sort of thing.

If you have family in the old Hungarian portion of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, check out the 1828 census, which is digitally available from FamilySearch. It’s called Vagyonösszeírás, 1828.

One caution – You need to know the name of your ancestral village in 1828 in order to find the correct sheets. A wikipedia search using the modern village/town name might include its previous Hungarian name, which saves time as you won’t need to check a gazetteer.

What really interested me in this census, though, is the fact that the local Greek Catholic church books begin in late 1827 for Hajtovka and Ujak, the village next door where the church is.

Therefore, having the heads of household and all the surnames in the village in 1828 is quite fascinating.

Each head of family has numbers or check marks, if appropriate, under 13 columns of questions. There is a 14th column, which the census taker (likely the parish priest) could use to add any extra observations. These items are spread over two pages.

Here’s the enumeration of the very small village of Hajtovka. I chose this village because my grandmother’s family lived there as did many of my Rusyn cousins and Nana’s friends. NOTE: I have chosen to change the spellings to modern versions since I recognize almost all the names. First names are recorded sort of in Latin and surname spellings often weren’t standardized back then:

I used an online translation program to determine what the page heading, sections and column words meant. They are written in Latin, but one or two of the words must have had a different meaning, as you will see.

Page Heading – Names of the Contributors, They are of These:, Name of Place of Enrollment [Hajtufka = Hajtovka].

Column Labels

1. Names of the contributors
2. Contributing persons, married or unmarried
3. Honorables (e.g. priest, cantor, nobility), Citizens, Colonists [transitory, maybe?], Inmates, Under the Inmates, Brothers, Sons, Daughters, Servants, Ancillaries (Others), Workers, Merchants, Buyers
4. House From Which the Tax Is Paid/ Number, ??Perhaps amount owed
5. Farm within the village/ orgies within the village [Orgies is one of those words that must have another meaning!], Customary Price
6. Procreation of the Seeds of Nature (Crops??)/which he swore to commit by contributing to the lands under colonial or civil law/they give a proft to the taxpayers, taking every penny, how many harvests will he produce, what is the ordinary value of procreation [value of total crops?]
7. Meadows/Try the colonial peer or the civil law, They give a profit to the taxpayers, taking every penny
8. Vineyards/Able to measure weight, Give a profit by assuming each meter of posonienseta[???], Require miners, Let them produce urns after one miner, Average running cost of reproduction after meeting one miner
9. Orchards & Prunes/ Scythe, They give a profit, assuming the extent of the harvester
10. Livestock/Yoke of oxen, Unborn cows or mothers, Sterile cows, Bulls & Heifers over 3 years old/Bulls & heifers over 2 years old, Yoke of Cattle, unborn cattle or mothers, Bulls & heifers over 3 years old, bulls & heifers over 2 years old
11. Livestock/Racing horses and livestock over 3 years old, racing horses and livestock over 2 years old, Sheep & rams, To be harvested at end of one year, Goats turning one year old
12. Woods/Which occupy the bare earth, They bring in, weighing each year, from the acorns and the gain of the wood
13. Little Food
14. Observations

As you’ve read, some of these headings are as clear as mud, but you can get the general idea of the types of questions being asked, all for tax purposes.

Here is the second part of Hajtovka’s census:

In 1828, Hajtovka was a very small village with only 24 households. It appears that most were renters with a few sub-renters.

It is evident that my ancestors and their neighbors were poor serfs (as were most Rusyn people at this time) who had little. They didn’t own land and paid their taxes either by giving a portion of their crops to the local noble or by working the noble’s lands for an agreed amount of time.

Notice that person in House #6 – Joseph Szova, is the only one with an “observation.” He apparently wouldn’t cooperate because all columns are unmarked for his household and the comment is “infuriating!”

Joseph is part of my Szova family, but not in my direct line. I don’t know how he fits in, but he is likely the brother or father of Andrew Szova, who is my 4X great grandfather.

This census gave me an interesting look into the villagers in1828, aside from those who started appearing in the church records at the same time.