Analyzing the Burgenland Church Records/ Can I trace my lines farther back?

I've been pondering how I could use the newly available online Burgenland church books to trace my family lines farther back. My initial research in these books didn't produce any new ancestors. My research has involved going through the church books for the Ronok parish, which date back to 1789. Before the founding of the Ronok parish,the parish most of my family belonged to, their parish was in Heiligenkruz. Before their records were kept in Heilgenkruz their sacramental records were kept in the parish books for Gussing.

The earliest church to be founded in my ancestral area was Jakobikirche. A Franciscan Monastery and larger church was built in the 17th century in Güssing. This parish was founded before 1200. I found these statistics for both churches online: The parishes, which are among the oldest in the country (before 1200), have been published in eight books: from 1690 to 1970 over 7,000 bridal couples, from 1725 to 1970 almost 20,000 funerals, from 1668 to 1970 almost 34,000 baptisms.

I would love to connect my family with the families listed in the earliest books going back to the latter half of the 17th Century as recorded in the Güssing books. Sadly the information provided in the earliest Rönök Parish books is very scant. No parents are listed in the marriage records for couples. In the mid 19th century the parish did begin recording parents of couples who were married. This information and the addition of house numbers allows us to confidently trace our lines back to around the late 17th Century.

How can we get our lines back beyond that without the necessary information from the church records? We do have ages from baptismal records of some of our ancestors born before 1789 as recorded in the Rönök parish books. Using these ages, however I have been unsuccessful in tracing my lines farther back. Ages didn't match up with any of the records I've found?

I decided to collect all of the information I could find on every family carrying our surnames in the Heiligenkreuz and Rönök parish books for the first half of the 19th Century, and back before 1789 in Heiligenkreuz.

My first project when collecting all the information I could find was to collect the names of marriage witnesses and godparents in hopes of making some kind of link between my families in Rönök Parish and those in the Heiligenkreuz books.

I have collected Adam Kurta Jr.and Catharina Josts children's godparents names. Several of the children shared the same godparents. A Joanne Jost shows up several times as a godfather but that information hasn't helped me to make any connections. 

Georgius Jost and Margaret Hammerl's children's godparents produced some interesting results with a Georg Jost and Joseph Jost serving as godparents. Unfortunately I have not been able to create a linkage with earlier families with this information.



There are two good couple candidates that could be Georg Jost's parents if our Georg indeed died in 1842 and was born about 1790. There was a Georg Jost born 1790 and another born in 1788, either one could possibly be my Georg Jost. I decided to list two of the best candidate couples as parents of Georg. I can still be wrong because Georg was a popular name among the Josts.

Going through the death records for Rönök Parish I believe I found the death entries for my ancestors Adam Kurta and Catharina Jost. The age at death for Catharina matches up well with the marriage entry age for her. According to the marriage entry below Catharina would have been born about 1764.



A Catharina Kurta died in 1819 and was a widow (an Adam Kurta died a little earlier that same year). She was 55 years old which would put her birth at about 1764 also. I believe I have found the correct death entry for her; and the Adam who died a few months previously was likely her husband. Spouses for women were sometimes included in these records, but unfortunately not always as in this case.



Taking the marriage and death information the closest birth entry for a Catharina Kurta is 1766. Either both of these entries are incorrect or Catharina Jost was born in a different parish?

It is also interesting that Catharina had a daughter-in-law by the same name of Catharina Jost. They both shared the same first name and maiden names, so also shared the same married surname. This must have created some confusion when referring to these women by name. This fact means I'm related to the Jost family on at least 3 different lines.

Moving on to Adam Kurta he appears to have died the same year as his wife since I have not found another death record for an Adam. Since Catharina, his wife, died in the parish of Rönök as a widow it is more than likely her husband would have died there also. I believe the 1819 death record is his. 

The above death record for Adam Kurta states he was an innkeeper (that tradition seems to continue in Inzenhof where a Kurta Gasthaus still exists). According to this entry Adam was 65 in 1819. That would put his birth at around 1754 which doesn't match up as well with his age recorded in his marriage entry. He was said to have been 24 in 1819 putting his birth around 1758.



Looking at birth records for the 1750's we do find an Adam Kurta born in 1753 in Inzenhof. His godmother was from what is today Kleinmurbisch.



His father was also an Adam and his mother Veronica. Unfortunately the pages that covered the year 1758 are missing which makes it impossible to confirm whether there was another Adam Kurta born in 1758 (baptismal records for 1758 and 1759 are missing. I did find part of 1760 at the end of the death records for 1769 to 1791. It's possible 1758 still exists but was missed during the filming or it's mixed in with another book online?}.

I decided I needed to go through the death entries to see if an Adam Kurta died as a child or young adult? I had not found another Adam Kurta in the death records for Rönök Parish. After searching the Rönök death records I began my search in the Heiligenkreuz books beginning my search after the 1753 birth of Adam Kurta. 

Unfortunately the early death records contain scant information. Often these records have no place of residence listed. Kurta being a name that is generally only found around Inzenhof this task wouldn't have been impossible as it would have been for more common surnames like Jost, which is found in many other areas.

I wasn't even sure I was looking at the correct records when I first began searching these records. In the 1750's the death entries included a circle with a cross inside it. Once I figured out that I knew I was in the right place in the book for the years I was searching.



Sadly deaths don't seem to have been recorded for Inzenhof in the 1750's? I found only one death of Hans Wolf of Inzenhof dying in 1756. It wasn't until around 1760 that deaths seem to begin to be recorded for Inzenhof in larger numbers. When deaths began to be recorded for Inzenhof a decade later only a much older Adam Kurta is listed. The older Adam died in 1778 at the age of 60.

Adam Kurta died 1778 age 60 page 130 

Another problem with the deaths of children and babies in the 1750's is sometimes the names of the children who died were listed as infants without a name. These children were probably never baptized



As time went on more information and full names were provided for infants and children who died, which included parents names.

Combing through the records I did find my Adam Kurta and Catharina Jost lived at house #102.

Adam not being as commonly used as Joanne or Georg, for instance, I think it's very possible that Adam son of Adam Kurta and Veronica is the same man that married Catharina Jost in 1782, and therefore would be my ancestor. I'm adding Adam senior and Veronica to my tree even though I'm not able to verify these relationships. 

There is an Adam Kurta born 1726 who might be Adam Kurta senior? He was the son of a Georg Kurta and Eva. 

Collecting up the names of Adam Kurta Sr. and Veronica's children's godparents they have some Kepl or Kopl godparents which is another one of my lines. Like Adam Kurta the younger these children also have Jost godparents. The name Rottenstrumer indicates a connection with Kleinmurbisch. 

A fun fact I discovered researching these books is a potential ancestor Catharina Kluim had illegitimate children with at least two different men. There may be more if I look more carefully? 

In conclusion 

The details I've found useful in attempting to extend lines back are ages at marriage and death which have been helpful. Place names are helpful when included. Briefly in the latter half of the 17th Century house numbers were included with book entries for Heiligenkreuz. Marital status can also be helpful when it comes to death records. Someone listed as a widow or widower can be a helpful clue. I did find one occupation which can be useful sometimes. Witnesses and godparents can provide clues to relationships also. 

I believe the Parish books for Kleinmurisch will be very helpful in furthering my research. A distant cousin living in Austria said the books for Heiligenbrunn may also contain some entries for our ancestors? I might find some of my new conclusions are wrong if I find ancestors such as Catharina Jost in the Kleinmurisch book in the year 1764 when her marriage and death records indicate she was born. Additional Gussing books would also be helpful too. I'm looking forward to seeing more books online.