I am a participant in the Gesher Galicia Cadastral Map and Landowner Records Project. This project was initiated in the Spring of 2007 to obtain cadastral maps and landowner records from the Lviv Historical Archives.
In the Fall of 2008, Brian Lenius obtained ten maps for Nienadowa, the village in Galicia where my Danko ancestors lived. These maps were prepared in 1854 and are at a scale of 1:2880. Even though Nienadowa is located within the present borders of Poland, these maps were found in the Ukraine archives.
Last weekend, while I was at the Summer Seminar of the Polish Genealogical Society of California, Pamela Weisberger gave me the maps of Nienadowa that Brian Lenius obtained in Lviv.
Nienadowa, Galicia - 1854 (Map 10)
SOURCE: “Map of the Village of Nienadowa, Galicia – 1854 (Map 10).” Published 1854. Feldskizzen (Field Sketches), Fond 186, Opys 9, Sprava 611 . State Historical Archives of Ukraine in Lviv, Lviv, Ukraine.
Click on the map above to enlarge it. This map includes parcels of land (which I have shaded in grey) that belonged to my third great grandfather, Wojciech Dańko. The number 140 indicates the house number to which the parcels belong. Unfortunately, the house itself is not on this map or any of the other maps that Brian Lenius brought back from Lviv. Nine other maps exist for this collection of maps for Nienadowa, and I expect that house number 140 appears on one of the maps that Brian has not yet copied.
From parish records, I know that seven children of my third great grandfather Wojciech Dańko were born in house number 140 in the years 1816, 1819, 1822, 1824, 1827, 1830, and 1833. Since Wojciech was living in the same house to which the parcels on this map belonged in 1854, I can conclude that Wojciech Dańko resided in house number 140 from at least 1816-1854.
Furthermore, the first child of my second great grandfather, Pawel Dańko, was born in this same house in 1826.
In addition to my third great grandfather, I have seen many other ancestral names on these maps. I will have to look at these maps in more detail and try to find other ancestors.
Copyright © 2009 by Stephen J. Danko
Very cool. This is the kind of stuff that would make my family history so much richer… if only I knew where to find it or if it even exists.
Hi Jasia,
I’ve wanted to obtain maps like this ever since I first heard Brian Lenius talk about them at a genealogy conference. If your ancestral village was in Galicia, there should be maps like this for your village.
These maps were from the Ukrainian Archives in Lviv, but I think most maps for the part of Galicia that is now in Poland will be in the Polish State Archives in Przemysl.
The Przemysl Archives website mention that the cadastral maps are some of the most interesting parts of its collections: http://www.przemysl.ap.gov.pl/ev/zasoby.html
Being very new to researching in Ukraine, would you be kind enough to tell me how I can find any land owned by my maternal great-grandparent Josef Medinsky of Bednarowka, POLAND, Ivan0-Frankivsk, approximately 90 miles southeast of Lvov, (now part of Ukraine).