Ottoman censues as sources of genealogic research on an exemple of Donji Ljenobud and Gornji Ljenobud villages census of 1850/51

Abstract

The paper deals with the Ottoman censuses (nüfus defteri) conducted in 19th century as part of comprehensive reforms implemented in the Ottoman Empire at the time. Since the censuses related to the Bosnian eyalet also included first and last names of inhabitants, they serve as valuable sources of genealogical research. With that in mind, we investigated the censuses of two villages, Donji and Gornji Ljenobud in the kadiluk of Donja Tuzla in 1850/51. First and last names entered into the census were compared to the ones that still exist in those villages. The research shows that the censuses provide a high probability of identifying some of the current patronymic names in Donji and Gornji Ljenobud, thus opening a possibility of reconstruction of genealogy of individual families from 19th century to the present day.