Steve's Genealogy Blog

Deciphering the names of villages and parishes in Polish records, especially when the records are written in Cyrillic, can be difficult. While researching Marianna Czaplicka (daughter of Józef Czaplicki and Domicela Roman) I found two marriage records for her:

Using Geneteka, finding Marianna’s two marriage records was easy. Finding her birth/baptismal record, however, proved to be more difficult, because it was not indexed on Geneteka. According to her marriage records, Marianna was born in about 1852. The indexes on Geneteka show that nine of Marianna’s siblings were born in the parish of Krzynowłoga Wielka between 1838 and 1860, but no children of Józef Czaplicki and Domicela Roman born anywhere in Masovia between 1849 and 1857 appeared in the indexes.

The marriage record for Aleksander Telesfor Dziliński and Marianna Czaplicka provides the following information about Marianna’s birth:

I had a difficult time figuring out the names of the village and parish. I could see that the phrase in Marianna’s marriage record was: въ деревни [?] прихода [?], translated as “in the village of [?], parish of [?]” which explains why I couldn’t find Marianna’s birth and baptismal record in the parish of Krzynowłoga Wielka. However, I could see that the name of the parish looked like “Weczfnia” and, indeed, there is a Roman Catholic parish in Wieczfnia Kościelna. This is where I looked next.

Unfortunately, the birth/baptismal records for Wieczfnia Kościelna from 1838 to 1854 are missing. I won’t be able to find Marianna’s birth and baptismal record, but I can at least try to figure out what the name of the village was.

The name of the village definitely starts with a “P”. I searched maps of Poland at https://mapa.szukacz.pl/, but couldn’t identify a village in the vicinity of Wieczfnia Kościelna that I thought matched the village listed in Marianna’s marriage record.

Fortunately, the Roman Catholic Parish of St. Stanislaus Bishop and Martyr in Wieczfnia Kościelna has a website at https://www.parafiawieczfnia.pl/, and there is a page entitled “About Us” where the names of the villages served by the parish are listed:

Bąki, Bonisław, Chmielewko, Grzybowo, Jabłonowo Adamy, Jabłonowo Dyby, Jabłonowo Maćkowięta, Kapuśnik, Kuklin, Kulany, Michalinowo, Pepłowo, Pepłówek, Pogorzel, Turowo, Turówek, Uniszki Gumowskie, Uniszki Zawadzkie, Wąsosze, Wieczfnia Kościelna, Wieczfnia Kolonia, Windyki, Zakrzewo, Załęże

With this information, I can now see that the village where Marianna was born was Pepłówek.

I don’t have the exact dates of Marianna’s birth and baptism, but at least I know that Marianna was born in about 1852 in Pepłówek and was baptized in Wieczfnia Kościelna.

Copyright © 2024 by Stephen J. Danko

It’s not unusual to learn that your ancestors (maybe 200 years ago) lived in a village that you can’t find on a current map. Sometimes, you can find the village on an old map or in an old gazetteer. However, the parish of Koprzywnica (now in Sandomierz Powiat, Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship) made the problem of finding a missing village a little bit easier, at least for one village.

Some parish registers include marginal notes on some of birth/baptismal records and marriage records in their parish registers. Most of these marginal notes mention the marriage or death of a person mentioned in the record.

Recently, I found an unusual marginal note on several records from the metrical books of Koprzywnica parish.

In Polish, the note states:

Zgodnie z Rozporządzeniem Rady Ministrów
z dnia 20 grudnia 2000 r.
(Dz. U. Nr 117, poz. 1231)
z dniem 1 stycznia 2001r.
miejscowość ZARCZECZE weszła w sklad
miasta KOPRZYWNICA

Translated to English, the note reads:

In accordance with the Regulation of the Council of Ministers
of 20 December 2000
(Journal of Laws No. 117, item 1231)
as of 1 January 2001
the town of ZARCZECZE became part of
the city of KORZYWNICA

If you look for the city of Koprzywnica on a current map of Poland, you’ll find streets named Zarzecze or even a section of the city tagged as Zarzecze, but you won’t find a separate village called Zarzecze in Sandomierz Powiat.

It seems that the village of Zarzecze didn’t mysteriously disappear after all. It simply became part of a larger city.

Copyright © 2024 by Stephen J. Danko

Yesterday, I found a word in a Polish birth record from 1814 that I didn’t understand. The entire phrase was “… i okazał nam dziecie płci niewieśący …” and the word in question was “niewieśący”. I had no idea what “niewieśący” meant. The word was not in my Polish/English dictionary, and Google Translate didn’t know what to do with it. Google Translate, did, however, define “niewieści” as “feminine”.

The Słownik języka polskiego (Dictionary of the Polish language) describes the word niewieści in this way:

women 1. outdated. today in books (in colloquial speech sometimes as a joke) «concerning a woman, relating to, belonging to her; being a characteristic of a woman; feminine, unmanly»: the dark background of women’s caftans and shawls was interwoven with haphazard embroidery by flaxen hair and grey, coarse shirts of farmhands. KRZYWOSZ. Rusał. 79. Someone’s helping hand, someone’s good – most probably a woman’s – heart surrounded him with everything that was necessary and pleasant to the sick person. GOMUL. Ciury I, 132. Of medium height, proportionate corpulence, charming face, with dark hair (…) with, by the way, a somewhat soft, feminine expression on his face – he easily won women’s hearts. PRZYB. Idealy 70. To make love in complaints is a womanly thing; it befits husbands to arm themselves in silence. ASNYK Poesje I, 250. Time, the persecutor of female beauty, dared to inflict barely any damage on her charms. MICK. Aniela 241. The most early hours of human life are entrusted to women’s efforts. CZART. Exp. II, 13. <> phrases. State, world, female race etc.; female sex “all women, women”: In distinction (…) from the backward concepts of the Middle Ages, which humiliated the state of women, scholars of the era of humanism became defenders of the fair sex and propagators of progressive feminist ideas. Pam. Lit. 1952, p. 1009. Everywhere the uhlans led the way and the entire female race was drawn to them like flies. SZTYRM. Pow. I, 77. Avenging (…) the wrongs of the entire female sex, the beautiful Clara swore to herself not to make any of her worshippers happy. FREDRO A. Vows 40. Poetry (…) and the fine arts have always attracted the female world more than philosophy and the exact sciences. Weekly Illus. 127, 1870.
2. formerly “referring to a married woman (to a wife)»: Women’s and girls’ rooms were on the sidelines, often dark, with small, high-placed windows. BYSTR. History II, 393.
in a womanly way «like a woman”: Curling in a womanly way, I ask: – And what did the master want from me? Warsz. młod. 158. Are we to suffer like this and in a womanly way, like women wailing with tears, wringing our hands? KRASZ. Fable 85. // L

All of this leads to a very simple translation of “… i okazał nam dziecie płci niewieśący …”; as “… and he showed us a female child …”.

Copyright © 2024 by Stephen J. Danko

Let’s say that you’ve found a record for one of your ancestors in the Polish parish registers, but can’t interpret the name of the village where the event occurred. Take a look at the village names below, all taken from the same page of death records from the parish of Koprzywnica.

These place names are all from the same page of death records from Koprzywnica parish in 1858. Four of these places start with the word “Wieś”, translated as “village”. One starts with “Miasto”, translated as “city”. The entry that starts with “Miasto” looks like “Koprzywnica” and, indeed, that’s what it is. But what are the others?

One way to find the correct name of the villages is to consult a map of the area around Koprzywnica and try to find a village that looks like it might be the correct village. Sometimes, however, there’s an easier way to find the names of villages that belong to a particular parish.

A Google search for “Koprzywnica parafia” (Koprzywnica parish) generates two promising links, both on the website of Diecezja Sandomierska (Sandomierz diocese): Koprzywnica – Św. Floriana and Koprzywnica – Matki Bożej Różańcowej. These are pages for the Parish of St. Florian and the Parish of Our Lady of the Rosary, respectively, both located in present-day Koprzywnica. When I click on the links to these pages using Chrome, I immediately see a drop-down that lets me choose whether I want to read the page in Polish or English.

These pages provide a lot of information about the parishes, including parish histories and the names of the villages that the parish serves!

The Parish of St. Florian serves part of Koprywnica and the villages of Błonie (part), Beszyce (part), Ciszyca (part), Gnieszowice, Koprzywnica (part), Krzcin (part), Łukowiec (part), Niedźwice, Postronna, Skrzypaczowice, Sośniczany, Świężyce (part), Trzykosy, Zbigniewice Kolonia, and Zbigniewice Wieś.

The Parish of Our Lady of the Rosary serve part of Koprzywnica and the villages of Błonie (part), Ciszyca (part), Koprzywnica (part), Krzcin (part), Łukowiec (part), Świężyce (part).

Looking back at the village names in the parish death register, it’s now easy to identify the places where the deaths occurred. From top to bottom, the names of the places are Gnieszowice, Koprywnica, Niedźwice, Skrzypaczowice, and Świężyce.

Problem solved!

Copyright © 2024 by Stephen J. Danko

The followng parishes were part of the Sandomierz Powiat at the beginning of the 20th Century: Bogoria, Chobrzany, Jankowice, Kleczanów, Klimontów, Koprzywnica, Łoniów, Łukawa, Niekrasów, Obrazów, Olbierzowice, Osiek, Połaniec, Samborzec, Sandomierz, Skotniki, Staszów, Strzegom, Sulisławice, Szczeglice, Wiązownica, Wiśniowa, Włostów, and Zawichost.

The administrative structure of the parishes of Chobrzany, Jankowice, Kleczanów, Klimontów, Koprzywnica, Łoniów, Łukawa, Obrazów, Olbierzowice, Samborzec, Sandomierz, Skotniki, Sulisławice, and Zawichost can be described as follows:

The administrative structure of the parishes of Bogoria, Niekrasów, Osiek, Połaniec, Staszów, Strzegom, Szczeglice, Wiązownica, and Wiśniowa can be described as follows:

• 01 Jul 1569-03 Oct 1795: Village, Sandomierz Powiat, Sandomierz Voivodeship, Province of Lesser Poland, Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
• 04 Oct 1795-1797: Village, Kreis Sandomierz, Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, Habsburg Monarchy
• 1798-11 Aug 1804: Village, Kreis Opatów, Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, Habsburg Monarchy
• 12 Aug 1804-23 Feb 1810: Village, Kreis Opatów, Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, Austrian Empire
• 24 Feb 1810-09 Jun 1815: Village, Sandomierz Powiat, Radom Department, Duchy of Warsaw
• 09 Jun 1815-15 Jan 1816: Village, Sandomierz Powiat, Radom Department, Congress Kingdom of Poland
• 16 Jan 1816-10 Oct 1842: Village, Sandomierz Obwód, Sandomierz Voivodeship, Congress Kingdom of Poland
• 11 Oct 1842-31 Dec 1844: Village, Sandomierz Powiat, Sandomierz Gubernia, Congress Kingdom of Poland
• 01 Jan 1845-17 Oct 1915: Village, Sandomierz Powiat, Radom Gubernia, Congress Kingdom of Poland
• 18 Oct 1915-10 Nov 1918: Village, Sandomierz Powiat, General Government of Lublin, German Empire
• 11 Nov 1918-31 Aug 1939: Village, Sandomierz Powiat, Kielce Voivodeship, Second Polish Republic
• 01 Sep 1939-27 Jun 1945: Village, Kreishauptmannschaft Opatau, Distrikt Radom, General Government, German Reich
• 28 Jun 1945-21 Jul 1952: Village, Sandomierz Powiat, Kielce Voivodeship, Republic of Poland
• 22 Jul 1952-31 May 1975: Village, Sandomierz Powiat, Kielce Voivodeship, Polish People’s Republic
• 01 Jun 1975-30 Dec 1989: Village, Tarnobrzeg Voivodeship, Polish People’s Republic
• 31 Dec 1989-30 Dec 1998: Village, Tarnobrzeg Voivodeship, Third Polish Republic
• 31 Dec 1998-Present: Village, Staszów Powiat, Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, Third Polish Republic

The administrative structure of the parishes of Włostów can be described as follows:

• 01 Jul 1569-03 Oct 1795: Village, Sandomierz Powiat, Sandomierz Voivodeship, Province of Lesser Poland, Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
• 04 Oct 1795-1797: Village, Kreis Sandomierz, Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, Habsburg Monarchy
• 1798-11 Aug 1804: Village, Kreis Opatów, Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, Habsburg Monarchy
• 12 Aug 1804-23 Feb 1810: Village, Kreis Opatów, Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, Austrian Empire
• 24 Feb 1810-09 Jun 1815: Village, Sandomierz Powiat, Radom Department, Duchy of Warsaw
• 09 Jun 1815-15 Jan 1816: Village, Sandomierz Powiat, Radom Department, Congress Kingdom of Poland
• 16 Jan 1816-10 Oct 1842: Village, Sandomierz Obwód, Sandomierz Voivodeship, Congress Kingdom of Poland
• 11 Oct 1842-31 Dec 1844: Village, Sandomierz Powiat, Sandomierz Gubernia, Congress Kingdom of Poland
• 01 Jan 1845-17 Oct 1915: Village, Sandomierz Powiat, Radom Gubernia, Congress Kingdom of Poland
• 18 Oct 1915-10 Nov 1918: Village, Sandomierz Powiat, General Government of Lublin, German Empire
• 11 Nov 1918-31 Aug 1939: Village, Sandomierz Powiat, Kielce Voivodeship, Second Polish Republic
• 01 Sep 1939-27 Jun 1945: Village, Kreishauptmannschaft Opatau, Distrikt Radom, General Government, German Reich
• 28 Jun 1945-21 Jul 1952: Village, Sandomierz Powiat, Kielce Voivodeship, Republic of Poland
• 22 Jul 1952-31 May 1975: Village, Sandomierz Powiat, Kielce Voivodeship, Polish People’s Republic
• 01 Jun 1975-30 Dec 1989: Village, Tarnobrzeg Voivodeship, Polish People’s Republic
• 31 Dec 1989-30 Dec 1998: Village, Tarnobrzeg Voivodeship, Third Polish Republic
• 31 Dec 1998-Present: Village, Opatów Powiat, Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, Third Polish Republic

Copyright © 2024 by Stephen J. Danko

In a previous post, the meaning of the word zawczoraj was defined as “the day before yesterday”. Two related words are also difficult to find in current dictionaries: onegdaj and zaonegdaj.

The Słownik języka polskiego (Dictionary of the Polish language) describes the word onegdaj in this way:

onegdaj «on the day two days preceding today; the day before yesterday»: I was in church with Joasia and her brother Bronek the other day. PIET. Młod. 169. The plague is spreading with lightning speed: the other day 30 people died, yesterday 50, and apparently even more today. ŚWIĘT A. Obraz. II, 165. Our card-collectors (…) having caught me the other day, did not let me go until I was deprived of my last penny. ZABŁ. Firc. 26.
onegdaj in noun usage “the day before yesterday”: We are renters of time, so today is not ours, as they usually say, but yesterday, the day before yesterday, and today are very much conditional. NORWID Słow. 284. // L

The Słownik języka polskiego (Dictionary of the Polish language) describes the word zaonegdaj in this way:

zaonegdaj obsolete «three days ago»: I received your letter dated the 9th of this month three days ago. CHOPIN Wyb. 113. // SWil

Copyright © 2024 by Stephen J. Danko

The following is a compilation of the posts about the administrative divisions of Poland published on Steve’s Genealogy Blog.

Summaries of the Administrative Divisions of Poland

• Administrative Structure of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland 1569-1795
• Administrative Structure of the Prussian Partition of Poland 1772-1807
• Administrative Structure of the Duchy of Warsaw 1807-1815
• Administrative Structure of the Congress Kingdom of Poland 1815-1844
• Administrative Structure of the Congress Kingdom of Poland 1845-1918
• Administrative Structure of Poland 1918-1939

Administrative Structure of the Parishes
(sorted according to location in 1907)

Kalisz Gubernia

• Turek Powiat
• Kalisz Powiat
• Sieradz Powiat
• Łęczyca Powiat
• Wieluń Powiat
• Konin Powiat
• Koło Powiat
• Słupca Powiat

Kielce Gubernia

• Kielce Powiat
• Jędrzejów Powiat
• Olkusz Powiat
• Włoszczowa Powiat
• Stopnica Powiat
• Miechów Powiat
• Pińczów Powiat

Łomza Gubernia

• Kolno Powiat
• Łomża Powiat
• Maków Mazowiecki Powiat
• Ostrołęka Powiat
• Ostrów Mazowiecka Powiat
• Szczuczyn Powiat
• Wysokie Mazowiecki Powiat

Lublin Gubernia

• Lublin Powiat
• Puławy Powiat
• Lubartów Powiat
• Chełm Powiat
• Krasnystaw Powiat
• Hrubieszów Powiat
• Zamość Powiat
• Tomaszów Lubelski Powiat
• Janów Lubelski Powiat
• Biłgoraj Powiat

Piotrków Gubernia

• Piotrków Trybunalski Powiat
• Częstochowa Powiat
• Będzin Powiat
• Łódź Powiat
• Brzeziny Powiat
• Łask Powiat
• Radomsko Powiat
• Rawa Mazowiecka Powiat

Płock Gubernia

• Ciechanów Powiat
• Lipno Powiat
• Mława Powiat
• Płock Powiat
• Przasnysz Powiat
• Rypin Powiat
• Sierpc Powiat

Radom Gubernia

• Radom Powiat
• Iłża Powiat
• Końskie Powiat
• Kozienice Powiat
• Opatów Powiat
• Opoczno Powiat
• Sandomierz Powiat

Siedlce Gubernia

• Siedlce Powiat
• Garwolin Powiat
• Biała Podlaska Powiat
• Konstantynów Powiat
• Radzyń Podlaski Powiat
• Sokołów Podlaski Powiat
• Węgrów Powiat
• Łuków Powiat
• Włodawa Powiat

Suwalki Gubernia

• Augustów Powiat
• Kalvarija Powiat
• Kudirkos Naumiestis Powiat
• Marijampolė Powiat
• Sejny Powiat
• Suwalki Powiat
• Vilkaviškis Powiat

Warsaw Gubernia

• Błonie Powiat
• Gostyń Powiat
• Grójec Powiat
• KutnoPowiat
• Łowicz Powiat
• Mińsk Mazowiecki Powiat
• Nieszawa Powiat
• Płońsk Powiat
• Pułtusk Powiat
• Radzymin Powiat
• Skierniewice Powiat
• Sochaczew Powiat
• Warsaw Powiat
• Wrocławek Powiat

Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria

• Przemyśl Powiat

Copyright © 2023 by Stephen J. Danko

The followng parishes were part of the Ostrołęka Powiat at the beginning of the 20th Century: Czerwin, Goworowo, Kadzidło, Kleczkowo, Myszyniec, Ostrołęka, Piski, Rzekuń, and Troszyn.

The administrative structure of the parishes of Czerwin, Goworowo, Kadzidło, Myszyniec, Ostrołęka, Troszyn can be described as follows:

• 01 Jul 1569-03 Oct 1795:  Village, Łomża Ziemia, Masovian Voivodeship, Province of Greater Poland, Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
• 04 Oct 1795-13 Oct 1809:  Village, Kammerdepartement Płock, Province of New East Prussia, Kingdom of Prussia
• 14 Oct 1809-09 Jun 1815:  Village, Ostrołęka Powiat, Płock Department, Duchy of Warsaw
• 09 Jun 1815-15 Jan 1816: Village, Ostrołęka Powiat, Płock Department, Congress Kingdom of Poland
• 16 Jan 1816-06 Mar 1837: Village, Ostrołęka Obwód, Płock Voivodeship, Congress Kingdom of Poland
• 07 Mar 1837-10 Oct 1842: Village, Ostrołęka Obwód, Płock Gubernia, Congress Kingdom of Poland
• 11 Oct 1842-30 Dec 1866: Village, Ostrołęka Powiat, Płock Gubernia, Congress Kingdom of Poland
• 31 Dec 1866-17 Oct 1915:  Village, Ostrołęka Powiat, Łomża Gubernia, Congress Kingdom of Poland
• 18 Oct 1915-10 Nov 1918: Village, Ostrołęka Powiat, General Government of Warsaw, German Empire
• 11 Nov 1918-31 Mar 1939:  Village, Ostrołęka Powiat, Białystok Voivodeship, Second Polish Republic
• 01 Apr 1939-31 Aug 1939: Village, Ostrołęka Powiat, Warsaw Voivodeship, Second Polish Republic
• 01 Sep 1939-27 Jun 1945:  Village, Regierungsbezirk Zichenau, Province of East Prussia, German Reich
• 28 Jun 1945-21 Jul 1952:  Village, Ostrołęka Powiat, Warsaw Voivodeship, Republic of Poland
• 22 Jul 1952-31 May 1975:  Village, Ostrołęka Powiat, Warsaw Voivodeship, Polish People’s Republic
• 01 Jun 1975-30 Dec 1989:  Village, Ostrołęka Voivodeship, Polish People’s Republic
• 31 Dec 1989-30 Dec 1998:  Village, Ostrołęka Voivodeship, Third Polish Republic
• 31 Dec 1998-Present:  Village, Ostrołęka Powiat, Masovian Voivodeship, Third Polish Republic

The administrative structure of the parishes of Kleczkowo, Piski, and Rzekuń can be described as follows:

• 01 Jul 1569-03 Oct 1795:  Village, Łomża Ziemia, Masovian Voivodeship, Province of Greater Poland, Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
• 04 Oct 1795-13 Oct 1809:  Village, Kammerdepartement Płock, Province of New East Prussia, Kingdom of Prussia
• 14 Oct 1809-09 Jun 1815:  Village, Ostrołęka Powiat, Płock Department, Duchy of Warsaw
• 09 Jun 1815-15 Jan 1816: Village, Ostrołęka Powiat, Płock Department, Congress Kingdom of Poland
• 16 Jan 1816-06 Mar 1837: Village, Ostrołęka Obwód, Płock Voivodeship, Congress Kingdom of Poland
• 07 Mar 1837-10 Oct 1842: Village, Ostrołęka Obwód, Płock Gubernia, Congress Kingdom of Poland
• 11 Oct 1842-30 Dec 1866: Village, Ostrołęka Powiat, Płock Gubernia, Congress Kingdom of Poland
• 31 Dec 1866-17 Oct 1915:  Village, Ostrołęka Powiat, Łomża Gubernia, Congress Kingdom of Poland
• 18 Oct 1915-10 Nov 1918: Village, Ostrołęka Powiat, General Government of Warsaw, German Empire
• 11 Nov 1918-31 Mar 1939:  Village, Ostrołęka Powiat, Białystok Voivodeship, Second Polish Republic
• 01 Apr 1939-31 Aug 1939: Village, Ostrołęka Powiat, Warsaw Voivodeship, Second Polish Republic
• 01 Sep 1939-21 Jun 1941:  Village, Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic, USSR
• 22 Jun 1941-27 Jun 1945: Village, Regierungsbezirk Zichenau, Province of East Prussia, German Reich
• 28 Jun 1945-21 Jul 1952:  Village, Ostrołęka Powiat, Białystok Voivodeship, Republic of Poland
• 22 Jul 1952-31 May 1975:  Village, Ostrołęka Powiat, Warsaw Voivodeship, Polish People’s Republic
• 01 Jun 1975-30 Dec 1989:  Village, Ostrołęka Voivodeship, Polish People’s Republic
• 31 Dec 1989-30 Dec 1998:  Village, Ostrołęka Voivodeship, Third Polish Republic
• 31 Dec 1998-Present:  Village, Ostrołęka Powiat, Masovian Voivodeship, Third Polish Republic

Copyright © 2023-2024 by Stephen J. Danko

The March Constitution of the Second Polish Republic (adopted on 17 March 1921) established a political system based on the separation of powers and restored a bicameral Sejm consisting of a chamber of deputies and the senate.

On 9 April 1938, the Sejm issued an act to change the borders of some of the Voivodeships within Poland. These changes were short-lived. Nazi Germany invaded Poland on the 01 September 1939 and the Soviet Union invaded Poland a little over two weeks later on 17 September 1939.

• Title of Act: Act of 9 April 1938 on changing the borders of the following voivodships: Białystok, Kielce, Lubelskie, Łódzkie and Warsaw.
• Date of Issue: 9 April 1938
• Date of Entry into Force: 1 April 1939

240
ACT
of April 9, 1938
on changing the borders of the following voivodships:
Białystok, Lubelskie, Łódzkie and Warsaw.

Article 1.
(1) The following shall be included in the area of the Łódź Voivodeship:
1) from the Warsaw Voivodship, the powiats of Kutno, Łowicz, Skierniewice and Rawa;
2) from the Kielce Voivodeship, the powiats: Opoczno and Końskie, with the exception of the municipal communes: Skarżysko-Kamienna and Szydłowiec and the rural communes: Bliżyn and Szydłowiec.
(2) Included in the area of the Warsaw Voivodeship:
1) from the Białystok Voivodship, the powiats of Ostrołęka, Ostrów and Łomża;
2) from the Lubelskie Voivodeship, the powiats of Sokołow, Węgrów and Garwolin, and the commune of Irena from the Puławy powiat.
Article 2.
The Minister of the Interior and other competent ministers, according to the scope of their activities, are entrusted with the execution of this Act.
Article 3.
This Act shall enter into force on April 1, 1939.

President of the Republic: I. Mościcki
Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior: Slawoj Składkowski

Copyright © 2023 by Stephen J. Danko

Old metrical records often include obsolete terms, presenting problems for those of us who are trying to interpret those records today. Particularly confusing are obsolete terms in languages in which we are not fluent.

Even the term “metrical” is confusing. Look up this term in a dictionary of the English language and you’ll find definitions such as:

metrical adjective
1: pertaining to meter or poetic measure
2: composed in meter or verse
3: pertaining to measurement
https://www.dictionary.com/browse/metrical

Many genealogists know that vital records or sacramental records in English-speaking countries are called metrical records in Eastern Europe and Russia. Despite the fact that some genealogists may consider these records to be poetry, metrical records document births, baptisms, marriages, deaths, and burials.

The terms dziś (or dzisiaj), wczoraj, and przedwczoraj (meaning today, yesterday, and day before yesterday) are often found in Polish metrical records in phrases such as i okazał nam dziecię płci żeńskiej urodzone wczoraj (and he showed us a female child born yesterday). Usually, the record states that the child was born dzisiaj (today), wczoraj (yesterday), or przedwczoraj (day before yesterday). But, what if the child was born zawczoraj?

Old documents sometimes include words that were in common use at the time the document was written but have now fallen into disuse. I could not find the word zawczoraj in my modern Polish-English dictionary. Wiktionary includes a list of Polish terms with obsolete senses, but zawczoraj is not included in that list, either. Fortunately, Zawczoraj does appear in the Słownik wyrazów zapomnianych czyli słownictwo naszych lektur (Dictionary of forgotten words or the vocabulary of our readings).

Here’s what the Słownik wyrazów zapomnianych has to say about zawczoraj:

zawczoraj falling out of use «on the day before yesterday; the day before yesterday, the other day»: They sent for him the day before yesterday. RODZ. Dew 198. For example, the day before yesterday they had fun at my uncle’s music school until five o’clock in the evening… ORZESZ. Sylwek 237. The day before yesterday I wrote to you. KRASIŃ. Listy II, 151. // L

: I received your letter dated the 9th of this month three days ago. CHOPIN Wyb. 113. // SWil

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