Locating Hungary Civil Registration original indexes?

Question

I am looking for the 24 February 1911 marriage entry between Marie Emma Kafka-Somfai (Mária Kafka-Somfai) and Dr. Karl Ritter von Taussig (Károly Taussig). (The only thing I have found was his death entry where she is mentioned as his spouse: https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-DT7S-H8X)

I know that the catalog search for the for the Hungary Civil Registration collection exists but from what I understand it is not complete so I tried finding the original indexes but I haven't been able to locate them. They are not part of the scanned film rolls with the entries themselves and I don't see specific rolls for them either: https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/1452460

What am I missing? The Hungarian Civil Registration surely had indexes, where are they?

Answer 1

If you're willing to put in a little time and effort, it's possible you don't need the indexes.

You linked to the Hungary Civil Registration collection here: https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/1452460

That page contains a very long list of document collections, organized by town or location of origin. As Budapest is large relative to the other towns and cities, its records are spread across multiple collections, one for each district, of which there appear to be at least 25.

Each collection contains multiple rolls, for births (Születtek), marriages (Házasultak), and deaths (Halottak), with each roll covering one or more years. I examined a few of the Budapest rolls, and while they do not contain any index pages at the beginning of the roll, they do appear to be in chronological order.

My suggestion for a plan of attack is to locate all of the Budapest collections that cover the time period in question, and then with each, do this:

1. Find the Házasultak roll that covers 1911.
2. Jump or scroll to 24 February 1911.
3. Search several pages before and after for your people.
4. If not found, move to the next Budapest collection.

Of course, if you know which district of Budapest they were married in, it will be much easier.

Using that technique, you can find the marriage of Taussig, Német Károly, to Kafka-Samfai, Mária Emma (elvált = divorced) in the 6th district of Budapest on image 742 of Film #004430102 at https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HY-DRN9-46B?i=741&cc=1452460&cat=826283

Citation: "Hungary Civil Registration, 1895-1980," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HY-DRN9-46B?cc=1452460&wc=92QL-RMS%3A40678301%2C51865101%2C1077288901 : 16 June 2014), Pest-Pilis-Solt-Kis-Kun > Budapest (VI. Kerület) > Marriages (Házasultak) 1911 (jan) > image 82 of 394; Archiv der Stadt Budapest (Archive of the City), Hungary.

As it happens, this volume was filmed twice. A clearer copy is on image 199 of Film # 004430655 at https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-6LJC-T7V?i=198&cc=1452460&cat=826283

Citation: "Hungary Civil Registration, 1895-1980," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-6LJC-T7V?cc=1452460&wc=92QL-RMS%3A40678301%2C51865101%2C1077288901 : 16 June 2014), Pest-Pilis-Solt-Kis-Kun > Budapest (VI. Kerület) > Marriages (Házasultak) 1911 (jan) > image 257 of 394; Archiv der Stadt Budapest (Archive of the City), Hungary.

The rest of the 6th district records are here: https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/826283 If the family stayed in this location and had children, there may be more records to find.

I don't speak or read Hungarian, but for simple things like phrases on vital records documents, Google Translate isn't too bad. I noticed that the death certificate contains the word "elvált," which means "divorced," so it appears that your Dr. Taussig was divorced before he died.

@JPmiaou, a native Hungarian speaker, offers the following translated transcription:

Number 216. Budapest, 24 February 1911.
Groom: Sir Károly Taussig Német, stockholder, Jewish, born 16 February 1878, res. Budapest VI. Podmaniczky street 8.
Parents: the late Sir Tódor Taussig, Szidonia Schiff.
Bride: Mária Emma Kafka-Somfai (divorced), R.Cath., born 15 Sept. 1879, res. Budapest VI. Podmaniczky street 8.
Parents: Ede Kafka, the late Mária Konstantin.
Witnesses: Dr. Gyula Gömöry, Budapest II. Lánchíd street 5; Béla Kovács, Budapest IV. Váci street 20.
Pre-signature remarks: the groom is János Német's, the bride Ferenc Somfai's adopted child.
Corrections and amendments: it is additionally hereby entered that the groom is a "Dr.", and the bride's religion is not "R.Cath." but is outside the recognized religious denominations (Capital city mayor's [decree] number 18967 1912-XI) -- 19 Feb. 1912.
The adoption contract between Sir Károly Taussig and János Német having been dissolved, the herein-entered groom is obliged and entitled to use the family name Taussig alone in the future. (?? number 1912 ? 452.) 28 Feb. 1912.

Lessons:

• Not everything has been digitized.
• Not everything that has been digitized has been scanned by an Optical Character Reader (OCR) or manually transcribed.
• Not everything that has been digitized and scanned (or transcribed) has been indexed.