Romania GenWeb

A Guide to Finding your Town

MainPage

It is important when researching in Romania to know the location(s) of the town(s) that your ancestors came from, as well as the surrounding towns and villages. This process of identifying your towns of interest can be complicated by the fact that many towns and villages have changed their names, some several times over the years!

With the Family History Center (FHC) breaking their microfilms down by County/town, it is very important to know the County your town is in. The knowledge of the County of your interest will pay off for you in many ways. Families in Romania tended to stick to certain areas - so once you know the County, you can search the close-by towns for more clues.

WHERE CAN I START?

This depends on the information you already know. Follow the step-by-step instructions in each section, listed below.

I am not sure about the town name or County. Follow these instructions to find the current town name and location.

I know the town name, but not the County. Follow these instructions to find the County your town is in.

I know the town and County and want to see nearby towns. Follow these instructions to find out the names of nearby towns and villages.

STEP ONE: IDENTFYING THE TOWN NAME

Use Mapquest first:

Click on this link to the Mapquest Romania Main Map.

Click on this link to the Mapquest Romania Main Map in a new browser window. (This way you can switch between these instructions and the mapquest page.)

Below the map, you will see a box to type in the town name you are seeking. Type in the town name and click on the search button. If you are lucky, the town you are looking for exists today (the same way you are spelling it) and mapquest will return a map for you with a red star that shows the location of the town. Print out the map (use the "print map" button), or leave the browser window open; and proceed to step two, identifying the County.

Use ROM-SIG's Townfinder Database next:

Mapquest said "town not found", so now what?

Click on this link to the Jewish-GEN Townfinder Database.

Click on this link to the Jewish-GEN Townfinder Database in a new browser window. (This way you can switch between these instructions and the ROM-SIG page.)

This is a database of over 350,000 towns and villages in Europe including Romania, Moldavia and Ukraine. Near the bottom of the page is the search window. Now this part is a little tricky, so pay atttention! You may be doing your search several times to get results.

First search - Enter your full town name in the search box, place a check mark in the Romania category only, and then click search. This will take a little while, but don't get impatient. This database will key on the "old names" for towns - so you might get a result on the first search. If successful, the search program brings up a list of towns in a table format. Click on the "map" button to get a computer generated map. Be patient, it will take a while!

When complete, check out the page. Scroll down the page until you find the underlined town - that's the town you're looking for! Look to the right to see the name variations and write them down. Now, near the top - near the right side of the page - there will be a link to another map - click on it to see a Mapquest map with the red star that shows your location. Print out the map (use the "print map" button), or leave the browser window open; and proceed to step two, identifying the County.

Second search - Enter your full town name in the search box, place a check mark in the Romania category only, and then select the "dm soundsearch" option in the search type drop-down box, then click search. This will take a little while, but don't get impatient. This search will return a bunch of town listings - some that make sense and some that don't! Browse through the list until you see a town name that sounds a lot like the one you searched for, but is spelled differently - this may be your town! Click on the "map" button to get a computer generated map. Be patient, it will take a while! See, when complete, above for the next step.

Third search, option 1 - Enter only the first few characters of your full town name in the search box, place a check mark in the Romania category only, and then select the "plain text" option in the search type drop-down box, then click search. This search will return a bunch of town listings. Browse through the list until you see a town name that sounds a lot like the one you searched for, this may be your town! Click on the "map" button to get a computer generated map. See, when complete, above for the next step.

Third search, option 2 - Enter only the first few characters of your full town name in the search box, place a check mark in the Romania category only, and then select the "dm soundex" option in the search type drop-down box, then click search. There will be even more listings than before. Try to identify your town from the list. You may have to go back and forth several times to narrow it down. Once you do, see, when complete, above for the next step.

If everything fails and you still can't locate your town, ask me for help and post a query for help about your town to the Romania Query - Unknown County.

STEP TWO: IDENTIFYING THE County

This is the easy part. Click on this link to our Romania County Map. By comparing the map you printed, or the map in the open browser window; with the County map, you will see which County your town is in. Clicking on your County will then bring up a more detailed map of your County! Congratulations! You now know the County!

STEP THREE: IDENTIFYING NEARBY TOWNS

If you've come this far, you know that we now have two methods to identify nearby towns in your County.

Method 1- Bring up the detailed County map by clicking on your County on the Romania County Map. Some nearby towns will be listed on the map.

Method 2 - Go to the Jewish-GEN Townfinder Database and perform a search for your town. Generate their map and browse the town listings for all the towns that have similar latitude/longitude co-ordinates. This method is by far the most complete.