Steve's Genealogy Blog

I attended four lectures on this second and final day of the annual conference of the Polish Genealogical Society of America.

Pommerania, Pommern or Pomorze

Orvill Paller from the Family History Library in Salt Lake City presented a lecture on Pomerania, known in German as Pommern and in Polish as Pomorze.

The northern European area known as the Province of Pomerania was created by the Congress of Vienna and existed as a province of the Prussian Empire from 1815 until 1871 when it joined the newly formed German Empire.

After World War II, the Oder Neisse Line divided Pomerania in half, leaving West Pomerania in Germany and East Pomerania in Poland.

To find villages, parishes, and civil registration locations in Pomerania, a number of gazetteers are helpful. These include: Meyers Orts- und Verkehrs-Lexikon des Deutschen Reichs, Gemeindelexikon fí¼r das Königreich Preussen, Mí¼llers Verzeichnis der jenseits der Oder-NeiíŸe gelegenen, unter fremder Verwaltung stehenden Ortschaften, Amtliches Gemeinde- und Ortsnamenverzeichnis der deutschen Ostgebiete unter fremder Verwaltung, Spis miejscowości Polskiej Rzeczypospolitej Ludowej, and http://www.kartenmeister.com/ .

Sources for maps of Pomerania include Landkarten von Pommern, Karte des Deutchen Reiches, Mapa topograficzna z serii Messtischblí¤tter, and the Duke Philipp II Map of the Duchy of Pomerania-Stettin (1619).

Inventories of church records in Pomerania may be found in Die Kirchenbí¼cher in Pommern, Atlas der Kirchenprovinz Pommern 1931, Das Evanfelische Pommern, and Verzeichnis Pommerscher Kirchenbí¼cher in Polen.

Vital Records of Galicia

Matthew Bielawa presented a lecture on finding, reading, and understanding the vital records of Galicia.

Vital records in Galicia may have been microfilmed, not microfilmed but in a church or archive, or lost to disaster.

Today, records could be located at any of a number of archives in Poland and Ukraine. There are several places to search for records, and the records may be located at one, several, or none of those places. In Poland, these places include the State Archives, the Zabużański Collection, Archdiocesan/Diocesan Archives, the Department of Civil Records, or the Parish Church. In Ukraine, these places include the Central State Historical Archives of Ukraine, the Provincial Archives, the Civil Status Registry Office, and the Parish Church.

Galician records were most often maintained in a columnar format and were usually written in Latin. For a certain period of time, two copies of Galician records were maintained.

Understanding Polish & Russian Documents

Jonathan Shea presented a lecture on the Polish and Russian languages, two important languages in the genealogical records of Poland. He stressed that one must learn to pronounce Polish words correctly and that, unlike English, each Polish letter has a single sound.

Like Latin, both Polish and Russian are inflected languages. Nouns and adjectives have case endings attached to each word. These case endings tell the reader the part of speech to which each noun (and adjective) belongs. Verbs also have endings that identify number, gender, and tense.

Polish names are also accompanied by endings. Surnames ending in -ski are treated like adjectives; surnames ending in -wicz are treated like nouns.

Polish documents were written in either a columnar or paragraph form. In addition, vital registration certificates were issued that were forms into which information from the original records was transcribed. Other records that may be available include population registers (recording when people moved), coroner’s reports, premarital examination records, court records (probate, guardianship), military records, guild records, and Easter Duty registers.

In general, alphabetization of records in indexes will follow the Polish alphabet (where letters with diacritical marks follow those without) or the Russian alphabet (which differs considerably from the Latin alphabet).

The Holdings of American Roman Catholic Archives

Jonathan Shea’s final talk of the conference was on Roman Catholic Church records in America.

To find the churches of Polish ancestors in America, researchers need to identify the ethnic parish to which ancestors belonged. Catholic churches have registers of sacramental events in either pre-printed books or plain, lined ledgers. These records were maintained in Latin until 1964.

In addition to records of Baptism, First Communion, Confirmation, and Marriage, other records were kept by Roman Catholic parishes.

Parishes sometimes had to prove there were enough people to support an ethno-centric parish and a parish census for the locality may still exist . 

Sick call records, burial and interment records, premarital examination records, dues books, records of those who kept their Easter duty, Jubilee books, dispensation books, and records of clubs and church societies may have been maintained.

No bishop’s copies of records were made in the United States. Some records have been microfilmed and are available at the Family History Library.

Copyright © 2008 by Stephen J. Danko

Today was the first day of the annual conference of the Polish Genealogical Society of America.

In the morning I attended two lectures by Jonathan Shea, and in the afternoon I attended two lectures by Matthew Bielawa.

Beginner’s Workshop

The two lectures by Jonathan Shea were devoted to a Beginner’s Workshop. Despite the title, the lectures were useful for genealogists at any level researching Polish ancestry.

Jonathan stressed that to research one’s ancestry in Poland, a researcher must know the ancestor’s names in their native language and must know the exact location of the vital events.

Polish names were often anglicized, and researchers must learn to convert the anglicized names back to the original spelling. Often, this process requires that the researcher know how to properly pronounce the letters in the Polish language.

Genealogists in the United States should begin Polish research with American records: Birth, Marriage, and Death records using civil records and church records; obituaries; city directories; cemetery records; probate records; parish histories; fraternal societies; labor union records; consular records; census records (both federal and state); passenger lists; naturalization records; draft cards from World War I and World War II; U.S. passport applications; and alien registration records.

For the most part, immigrants from the Prussian partition of Poland settled in the midwest, those from the Russian partition settled in the northeast, and those from the Austrian partition settled in both areas.

To find the village of your ancestors, gazetteers specific for the partition in which one’s Polish ancestors lived are invaluable to find the locations of the parishes and civil registration offices for the village.

Records in Poland may be found in the parishes, the diocesan archives, the civil registry, or the state archives. Frequently, only one set of records was maintained, but the common assumption that the records were destroyed is usually incorrect.

Gazetteers

Matthew Bielawa’s first lecture was on gazetteers.

He described the Słownik geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego i innych krajów slowiańskich, the Genealogical Gazeteer of Galicia, the Gemeindelexikon der im Reichsrate vertretenen Königreiche und Lí¤nder, Gemeindelexikon fur das Konigreich Preussen, Meyers Orts und Verkehrs – Lexikon des Deutschen Reichs, http://www.kartenmeister.com/, Spiski naselennyh mest Rossiiskoi imperii, Skorowidz miejscowosci rzecrypospolitej polskiej, Spis Miejscowosci Polskiej Rzeczypospolitej Ludowej, among others.

Galicia: A Historical and Cultural Perspective

Matthew’s second lecture was an overview of the history, politics, and religious culture of Poland with an emphasis on Galicia.

Galicia itself was an invention of the Austrian Empire (note: the Austrian Empire was more properly known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Crown of St. Stephen) and was created as a result of the partition of Poland. The area of Galicia included those who considered themselves Polish, Ukrainian, and Jewish (among others) with Catholics belonging to either the Roman Catholic Church or the Greek Catholic Church.

In general, western Galicia was mainly populated by Polish Roman Catholics, and eastern Galicia was mainly populated by Ukrainian Greek Catholics.

Politically, life was better for Poles in the Austrian partition than in other partitions. In fact, after the Russian crackdown in the Congress Kingdom of Poland, Galicia became a center of “Polishness”.

Matthew also provided insight into certain aspects of Polish peasant life using examples from Stauter-Halsted, Keely. 2001. The nation in the village: the genesis of peasant national identity in Austrian Poland, 1848-1914. Ithaca [N.Y.]: Cornell University Press.

Sales of alcohol sales were frequently designated to the Jewish population. Peasants were required to purchase a minimum amount of alcohol (whether or not they actually wanted it) from that produced by the manors.

In 1848, the Spring of Nations provided emancipation of the Polish peasants but resulted in few real changes. Before the Spring of Nations, peasants worked in servitude on common lands. After emancipation, peasants were unable to pay new imperial taxes and so had to work on manorial estates.

World War I resulted in the creation of the Second Polish Republic and World War II resulted in massive border changes and ethnic cleansings that forced many to leave behind their homes and move to new ones within the restructured borders.

Copyright © 2008 by Stephen J. Danko

I arrived in Boston at 6:30 this morning on the redeye.

It seems that a few people figured out I’m here – my friend Barbara ran into me at the New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS) where I spoke with NEHGS genealogists Rhonda McClure and Julio Otto for help with French Canadian records. I also spoke with David Dearborn and briefly caught sight of Marie Daly.

Then, when I returned to my hotel room, I found that Midge had left me a message on Facebook to let me know she was waving to me from her home South of Boston.

I’ll be here in Boston for six days. Today, I spent half the day at NEHGS (I spent the first half of the day napping in my hotel room after the flight). I’ll return to NEHGS on Wednesday evening to try to find some Québec notarial records that mention my Godmother’s ancestors. On Thursday, I’ll be at the Massachusetts Registry of Vital Records and Statistics.

In between all that, I’ll be attending the Regulatory Affairs Professionals Society Conference in the Hynes Convention Center. Events for that conference begin at 7:00 AM on Sunday and run through 4:30 Pm on Wednesday.

But, for now, it’s an early night for me here in Boston. Tomorrow will be a busy day!

Copyright © 2008 by Stephen J. Danko

When I was young, I spent a lot of time in the local library, and I remember telling my mother that I wanted to read all the books there. At home, I began my own library, mostly with paperback books I bought through Scholastic Book Services at school.

Ever since I began researching my family history, I’ve accumulated a number of genealogy reference books. I keep most of these genealogy books in bookcases, but there are a number of books that I keep at my desk because I use them so often.

Ten essential books in my genealogy library are:

1. Fisiak, Jacek, Arleta Adamska-Sałaciak, Piotr Gąsiorowski, Marcin Feder, Maciej Machniewski, and Mariusz Idzkowski. 2003. Nowy słownik Fundacji Kościuszkowskiej = The new Kosciuszko Foundation dictionary. New York: Kościuszko Foundation.
   The Kościuszko Foundation dictionary is the definitive Polish-English English-Polish dictionary and includes a searchable CD version of the dictionary.
2. Geyh, Patricia Keeney, Joyce Soltis Banachowski, Linda K. Boyea, Patricia Sarasain Ustine, Marilyn Holt Bourbonais, Beverly Ploenske LaBelle, Francele Sherburne, and Karen Vincent Humiston. 2002. French Canadian sources: a guide for genealogists. Orem, Utah: Ancestry Pub.
   This book provides a great overview of French Canadian records and includes sample translations.
3. Hoffman, William F. 1998. Polish surnames: origins and meanings. Chicago: Polish Genealogical Society of America.
   I use this resource constantly to verify the spellings of Polish surnames. In this book, Fred Hoffman provides the frequencies of surnames in Poland as well as insight into the source and the meanings of Polish surnames.
4. Mills, Elizabeth Shown. 2007. Evidence explained: citing history sources from artifacts to cyberspace. Baltimore, Md: Genealogical Pub. Co.
   I use this resource constantly when preparing complete and accurate source citations. It’s absolutely the best reference for citing sources for genealogy.
5. Mullerowa, Lidia, and Zofia Zuchowska. 1995. Roman Catholic Parishes in the Polish People’s Republic in 1984. Chicago, IL: Polish Genealogical Society of America.
   This book is not only a reference to the location of Roman Catholic Parishes in Poland, but it also includes a section on the translation of Polish church names.
6. Proko, Barbara, John Kraska, and Janice Baniukiewicz Stickles. 2003. The Polish community of Worcester. Images of America. Charlestown, SC: Arcadia.
   When my cousin gave me this book, I didn’t expect much. However, I found photos of several cousins, the main Polish church in Worcester, and the priests my parents and grandparents knew in the early 20th century.
7. Shea, Jonathan D., and William F. Hoffman. 2000. In their words: a genealogist’s translation guide to Polish, German, Latin, and Russian documents. Volume one, Polish. New Britain, CT: Language & Lineage Press.
   What a great resource for genealogists translating Polish records! I use it frequently.
8. Shea, Jonathan D., and William F. Hoffman. 2002. In their words: a genealogist’s translation guide to Polish, German, Latin, and Russian documents. Volume two, Russian. New Britain, CT: Language & Lineage Press.
   For those of us with ancestors who lived in Russian-Poland, this book is a Godsend! I doubt if I could have made much progress on my maternal ancestry without it.
9. Sulimierski, Filip, Bronisława Chlebowski, and Władysław Walewski. 1880-1902. Słownik geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego i innych krajów słowiańskich. Warszawa: Filipa Sulimierskiego i Władsława Walewskiewgo.
   I have a copy of this series on CD, although I usually refer to the searchable online version these days. This enormous work is a gazetteer of Poland and surrounding areas, frequently with useful facts of the villages where our Polish ancestors lived.
10. White, Jeanne Sauve. 1993. Guide to Quebec Catholic parishes and published parish marriage records. Baltimore, MD: Printed for Clearfield Company by Genealogical Pub. Co.
    While deceptively small, this book is a great resource for locating Roman Catholic parishes in Québec. I bought a copy for my cousin, and then I panicked when I had a hard time finding another copy for myself. Luckily, I was able to buy a copy through the National Institute for Genealogical Studies.

Written for the Carnival of Genealogy: 10 Essential Books in My Genealogy Library.

Copyright © 2008 by Stephen J. Danko