Daily Archives: January 22, 2011

In 2010, I wrote a series of articles on Describing Place Names in Poland. Because the borders and the administrative divisions in Poland changed so often throughout history, some genealogists may be tempted to simply enter the name of the village, town, or city where their ancestors lived followed by “Poland”. Others may decide to provide some detail to the place names by using the administrative divisions as they exist today or by using the administrative divisions as they existed at only one point in history (e.g. at the time when one specific gazetteer or map was created). To be historically accurate, the genealogist should provide the administrative divisions as they existed at the time of the event described. Recently, a genealogist friend mentioned that she was having difficulty finding the names of the powiats in which her ancestral villages were located and so I am writing this article on Identifying Administrative Divisions in Poland. Continue reading →