Dear Brian!
When you look at the church records, please note the godparents too.
Often they give a clue to the social standing of the person.
The best thing you can do, is to take pictures of the relevant pages of the microfilm. They are often difficult to read. It would take a long time to examen them at the LDS center, where you have to hurry. But at home you have enough of it.
If something looks like beeing relevant, just click.
Or do not even look at the pages thoroughly, just take a picture.
But perhaps at your place the have already gone over to PC-s and CD. Than you just have to copy the monitor.
Whether the fact, that someone was noble or not, was recorded if the people requested it, or if the priest considered it appropriate.
As for your ancestor being a blacksmith, think back a few thousand of years: there were times, when being a blacksmith meant automaticaly to be noble, even to be the king!
In the old church register the word "nemes" did not often occur as such. There were alternative words to signify it.
I think it came into use after 1848, when the privileges were abolished. Someone could achieve a position formerly reserved for noblemen, and be titled "úr" = esquire, so it was important for some people of humbler occupation, to show that they were noble.
Before 1848 it was relevant if someone were noble, so i suppose someone kept a register of them. Probably not officially, because I have not heard of any such thing. But as only noblemen could vote, someone must have known who was and who was not noble.
Actually if the noble community accepted someone as being noble, although he was not, he was treated as such, including the privileges. At least until someone protested against it. But by that time he may have got a patent of nobility.
I have written on my families homepage (
www.rakovszky.eu) about the poor relations who were noble artizans or peasents. (Text is in English too.)
Some time later someone sent me information about a member of my family - connection is not known yet - a noble shuemaker!
Greetings
Stephan