1850. ÉVI ERDÉLYI NÉPSZÁMLÁLÁS (1994)

HELYNÉVMUTATÓ

INTRODUCTION It is not by chanca that from the three population censuses before the start of the official statistical service the first took place under the reign of Joseph II, while the other two were conducted in the Bach-era. In 1784, the nobility could be surveyed only in violation of constitutionality while to carry out the 1850 and 1857 population censuses openly pursuing military airas the despotism established after the suppression of the war of liberation had to have unlimited power. Actually, the consription of the population never ceased after the first population census but the data of the long document series of the"Conscriptio animarum ignobilium" covering the period from 1804 to 1848 did not relate to the noble. In other aspects, the collected data were more detailed than those of the first population census. Thus, the breakdown by religions was published, the data of age-distribution were more detailed and vitai events were alsó monitored.

1 Elek Fényes, Head of the National Statistical Office established in 1848, was certainly intending to crown his data collection activities of a decade by the preparation of a population census covering every resident of the whole country. However, during the short period and under the turbulent circumstances of the functioning of his poorly staffed Office this large-scale task could not be carried out."* After the collapse of the war of liberation one of the first actions of the Autrian government was ordeí and carry out a population census alsó in Transylvania as an organic part of similar measures ordered in the other crown lands. Though in different words, the aim of the measure was outlined three times in the preambulum of the order No 26 of April 2, 1850 signed by lieutant generál Lajos Wohlgemuth and published in the Országos Törvény- és Kormánylap (National Law and Government Gazette) on May 12, 1850,

3in the decree enclosed with it and in the respective official instruction. The most concise formulation was that of Paragraph 1 of the official instruction according to which "The aim of the official population census is the actual completion of the army, the interest of the community and the laying of a solid foundation of domestic state administration and of obtaining generál information about the country.""' The necessity of an accurate counting of the population was explained in more detail by the first passage of the Decree proclaiming its ordering in three languages: "In order that a solid foundation of domestic administration be laid down and, from now on a just division of burdens, including all classes of the country's population on the basis of equal rights of all nationalities and estates.be put into practice both with regard to the paying of taxes and to military service it is absolutely necessary to carry out tne registration of the country's totál population, i. e. the population census. No less important and necesarry is the population census from the point of view of obtaining generál information about the country and alsó for the purpose of the localities themselves." The decree stressed the importance of the measure and was directed at the proper organization of the data collection. It said: "The officials of the political administration and the aldermen of the localities are instructed to regard the official instruction as one concerning them personally, to participate in this important measure with all their fervour but, at the same time, to demonstrate, with regard to the population, a behaviour which is both far-sighted and inspiring confidence, since not only the swift completion but alsó the success of the population census depend on that." The things to be done were summed up in the 20 paragraphs of the official instruction containing the details of the conducting of the population census. Of them, here, we single out the most important prescriptions, indispensable from the point of view of the evaluation of the data. After Paragraph 1 with the reasons adduced described above, Paragraph 2 made known that the population census regards every inhabitant of Transylvania. Paragparh 3 included provisions with regard to the executive organization stipulating that the work should be performed by the military and civil authorities jointly. The members of the census committee were: an officer well versed in similar works with a scrivener from the military and the locality alderman with two jurors as well as a member or the police and the parish-priest on the part of the civil authorities. In order to lay down the basis for and to prepare the work a separate order addressed to the c'nurch authorities was issued in which all parish-priests, were instructed to take the accurate census of all the members of their respective parish. The lists to be prepared by them were to be checked by them against the respective registers of births, marriages and deaths and, on top of that, the parish-priest had to participate in the work of the census committee with the baptismal register. 186.