When genealogists enter the names of the locations where events in their ancestors’ lives occurred, they are faced with the dilemma of how to enter place names so as to unambiguously identify the locations in both space and time.<\/p>\n
On 16 January 1816, the Kingdom of Poland, established by the Congress of Vienna on 09 June 1815, was reorganized into more traditionally Polish administrative divisions.<\/p>\n
Of the ten departments of the former Duchy of Warsaw, the departments of Bydgoszcz and Pozna\u0144 were returned to Prussia by the Congress of Vienna. The remaining eight departments were reorganized into eight voivodeships:<\/p>\n
wojew\u00f3dztwo augustowskie (August\u00f3w Voivodeship) created from the \u0141om\u017ca Department
\nwojew\u00f3dztwo kaliskie (Kalisz Voivodeship) created from the Kalisz Department
\nwojew\u00f3dztwo krakowskie (Krak\u00f3w Voivodeship) created from the Krak\u00f3w Department
\nwojew\u00f3dztwo lubelskie (Lublin Voivodeship) created from the Lublin Department
\nwojew\u00f3dztwo mazowieckie (Masovian Voivodeship) created from the Warsaw Department
\nwojew\u00f3dztwo p\u0142ockie (P\u0142ock Voivodeship) created from the P\u0142ock Department
\nwojew\u00f3dztwo podlaskie (Podlasie Voivodeship) created from the Siedlce Department
\nwojew\u00f3dztwo sandomierskie (Sandomierz Voivodeship) created from the Radom Department<\/p><\/blockquote>\nThe administrative structure for the eight remaining departments of the Duchy of Warsaw were largely preserved in the structure of the Kingdom of Poland from 1815-1837. To convert the name of a village in one of the eight remaining departments of the Duchy of Warsaw to the name in the Kingdom of Poland (1816-1837), simply change “Powiat” to “Obw\u00f3d”, “Department’ to “Voivodeship”, and “Duchy of Warsaw” to “Kingdom of Poland”.<\/p>\n
Genealogists may specify a place name in the Kingdom of Poland from 16 January 1816 to 07 March 1837 as follows:<\/p>\n
name of city or village, obw\u00f3d, voivodeship, nation<\/p>\n
for example:<\/p>\n
Krasne, Przasnysz Obw\u00f3d, P\u0142ock Voivodeship, Kingdom of Poland<\/p>\n
or, if one prefers to write the place name in Polish:<\/p>\n
Krasne, obw\u00f3d przasnyski, wojew\u00f3dztwo p\u0142ocki, Kr\u00f3lestwo Polskie<\/p>\n
The Kingdom of Poland was also known informally as Congress Poland (Kongres\u00f3wka). In my own records, I call the nation established by the Congress of Vienna the “Congress Kingdom of Poland” in order to differentiate this nation from the Kingdom of Poland that existed from 1025-1569 and the Kingdom of Poland proposed as a puppet state by the German Empire and Austrian Empire from 1916-1918.<\/p>\n
To directly learn the names of the Obw\u00f3d and Voivodeship to which a village belonged, the researcher should consult the civil registrations recorded in the corresponding parish during the 1817-1826 time period. Most civil registrars of the time included the names of the Obw\u00f3d and Voivodeship directly in the records.<\/p>\n
Other articles in this series:<\/p>\n
\n
- Describing Place Names in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth 1569-1795<\/a><\/li>\n
- Describing Place Names in the Duchy of Warsaw 1807-1815<\/a><\/li>\n
- Describing Place Names in the Kingdom of Poland 1815-1816<\/a><\/li>\n
- Describing Place Names in the Kingdom of Poland 1837-1844<\/a><\/li>\n
- Describing Place Names in the Kingdom of Poland 1844-1867<\/a><\/li>\n
- Describing Place Names in the Vistula Land 1867-1915<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Copyright \u00a9 2010 by Stephen J. Danko<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When genealogists enter the names of the locations where events in their ancestors’ lives occurred, they are faced with the dilemma of how to enter place names so as to unambiguously identify the locations in both space and time. On … Continue reading