Source Information
About Salzburg, Austria, Catholic Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials, 1600-1930
About the Salzburg, Austria, Catholic Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials, 1600-1930
General collection information
This collection contains registers from Catholic parishes in the city of Salzburg, Austria, and numerous communities that today are part of the Austrian state of Salzburg. These parish records contain information about births, baptisms, marriages, deaths, and burials. The time periods covered by individual record sets vary. Selected records may also fall outside the general date range given. Depending on their age, the register entries may be written in Latin or German.
Using this collection
The following information may be found in the registers:
Most baptisms occur shortly after birth, but some parishioners may have been baptized as adults if they converted to Catholicism.
If you don't speak German, knowing a few common words can aid in your search:
Knowing some common Latin phrases will help you to explore these records:
Church registers offer the possibility of tracing milestones in an ancestor's life from birth to death, especially if they attended the same church for a long time. Church documents can also provide insights into the movement of an ancestor who was born in one place and then married or died somewhere else.
Collection in context
These registers were created by officials of various Catholic churches in Salzburg and its surrounding area. The collection contains images of the registers in their original form, making them high quality primary sources. The original books are housed at the Archive of the Archdiocese of Salzburg.
The Catholic church began recording marriages in 1564 by decree of the Council of Trent. Baptisms and deaths were recorded starting in 1614.
Salzburg is located about 80 miles southeast of Munich, Germany, on the Salzach River. The city developed into a significant trading center at the junction of important trade routes that thrived during the 17th and 18th centuries.
Bibliography
Morton, Sunny Jane. "The Genealogist's Guide to Church Records." Family Tree. Accessed March 22, 2022. https://www.familytreemagazine.com/records/church/church-records-genealogy-workbook/.
University of Southern California. "Research Guides: Evaluating Primary Sources." Accessed March 22, 2022. https://libguides.usc.edu/primarysources/evaluate.
VisitSalzburg.net. "Salzburg's History: Coming a Long Way." Accessed March 22, 2022. http://www.visit-salzburg.net/history.htm.