{"id":823,"date":"2006-11-30T23:00:46","date_gmt":"2006-12-01T06:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stephendanko.com\/blog\/2006\/11\/30\/why-i-researched-the-wrong-julianna-gutowska\/"},"modified":"2006-11-30T23:00:46","modified_gmt":"2006-12-01T06:00:46","slug":"why-i-researched-the-wrong-julianna-gutowska","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stephendanko.com\/blog\/823","title":{"rendered":"Why I Researched the Wrong Julianna Gutowska"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Lesson\u00c2\u00a0on\u00c2\u00a0the Genealogical Proof Standard<\/strong>\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

A couple of years ago, while searching for Polish parish records on microfilm at the Family History Library, I tried tracing the ancestry of my Niedzia\u0142kowski ancestors.<\/p>\n

I knew my grandfather was from the Szwelice parish and I was able to find the Birth and Baptismal Record for my grandfather’s siblings J\u00f3zef<\/a>, Sabina<\/a>, and Stanis\u0142aw\u00c2\u00a0Niedzia\u0142kowski<\/a> .\u00a0 All of their records showed that their\u00c2\u00a0parents (my great grandparents) were\u00c2\u00a0Teofil Niedzia\u0142kowski and Ksawera Zygmuntowicz.<\/p>\n

I also found the Birth and Baptismal\u00c2\u00a0Records for my\u00c2\u00a0great grandfather Teofil Niedzia\u0142kowski’s siblings, Karolina, Julianna, and Franciszek Niedzialkowski<\/a> .\u00a0 All their records showed that their parents (my great-great grandparents) were Wojciech Niedzia\u0142kowski and Julianna Gutowska.<\/p>\n

I wasn’t able to find\u00c2\u00a0the Birth and Baptismal record for either my grandfather or my great grandfather, but I knew I was following the correct family because the information in the Polish parish records agreed with information I already had obtained from family records and Massachusetts vital records.<\/p>\n

With certainty I was on the right track, I looked for the Birth and Baptismal Record for my great-great grandmother, Julianna Gutowska, born in about 1836 .\u00a0 I searched the Szwelice parish records and found a Birth and Baptismal Record for Julianna Gutowska .\u00a0 Translated from the Polish, the record states:<\/p>\n

94 G\u0142odki<\/p>\n

This\u00c2\u00a0happened in the church-owned village of Szwelice on the 17th \/ 29th day of December 1836 at one o’clock in the afternoon .\u00a0 Miko\u0142aj Gutowski presented himself, age 27, from G\u0142odki, in the presence of Maciej Chrzanowski, age 40, and Kasper Tro\u015bci\u0144ski, age 60, from G\u0142odki, and he showed us a female child born in G\u0142odki yesterday at four o’clock in the morning, born to his wife Rosalia n\u00e9e Biedrzycka, age 18 .\u00a0 At Holy Baptism performed this day, the child was given the name Julianna, and her Godparents were Stanis\u0142aw and Maryanna Tro\u015bci\u0144ski .\u00a0 This document was read aloud to the declarants and witnesses and signed only by us, because those appearing and the witnesses mentioned in this document cannot write.<\/p>\n

Rev. Ignatius Ko\u0142akowski, Pastor of Szwelice<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Well, it looked like I found the Birth and Baptismal Record for my great-great grandmother!\u00c2\u00a0 She was born in the right year in the same parish as my Niedzia\u0142kowski ancestors .\u00a0 I merrily researched the families of Miko\u0142aj Gutowski and Rozalia Biedrzycka without much difficulty since this line was well documented in the Szwelice records.<\/p>\n

Then I found\u00c2\u00a0another record – the Death Record<\/a> for my grandmother, Julianna n\u00e9e Gutowska Niedzia\u0142kowska .\u00a0 Translated from the Russian, this record reads:<\/p>\n

\n

\u00e2\u201e\u2013 38 .\u00a0 Pomoski<\/p>\n

This happened in the village of Szwelice on April 13th \/ 26th 1900 at 12 Noon .\u00a0 Wojciech Niedzia\u0142kowski, the husband of the deceased, age 65, and Piotr Napierkowski, age 60, farmers living in Pomaski, appeared and stated that on April 12th \/ 25th of this year at 4 o’clock in the morning in Pomaski, Julianna Niedzia\u0142kowska died, age 67, born in Warsaw, Holy Cross parish, and living with her husband as a farmer woman in Pomaski, the daughter of the deceased Wojciech and Anna n\u00e9e Jab\u0142onowski Gutowski .\u00a0 She is survived by her husband, the widower Wojciech Niedzia\u0142kowski .\u00a0 After eyewitness testimony on the death of Julianna Niedzia\u0142kowska, this document was read to the declarant, who is illiterate, and was signed by us alone .\u00a0 Id. Administrator of the parish of Szwelice, Assistant Pastor, Keeper of the Documents of the Civil State -.<\/p>\n

Father [S\u0119dzicki]<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

At this point, everything fell apart .\u00a0 I was certain this was the Death Record for my great-great grandmother .\u00a0 However, it states that Julianna’s parents were Wojciech Gutowski and Anna Jab\u0142onowski and\u00c2\u00a0that Julianna\u00c2\u00a0was born in Warsaw, Holy Cross Parish .\u00a0 I had been researching the wrong family!<\/p>\n

I have not yet found the Birth and Baptismal Record for Julianna Gutowska .\u00a0 Like many of my other ancestors, her records have eluded me .\u00a0 I searched the Baptismal Records for Holy Cross Parish in Warsaw, but that parish is extremely large, performing thousands of baptisms a year – and the records aren’t indexed – and the records are in Russian.<\/p>\n

The lesson here is don’t assume someone is your ancestor just because they have the right name and were born at what you think was the right time and place .\u00a0 I have since learned that the Genealogical Proof Standard<\/a> requires much more.<\/p>\n

A Polish proverb says:<\/p>\n

\n

“Nauka nie posz\u0142a w las.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Literally, this is translated as “The lesson didn’t go into the forest” .\u00a0 It means “The lesson has not been forgotten”.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Lesson\u00c2\u00a0on\u00c2\u00a0the Genealogical Proof Standard\u00c2\u00a0 A couple of years ago, while searching for Polish parish records on microfilm at the Family History Library, I tried tracing the ancestry of my Niedzia\u0142kowski ancestors. I knew my grandfather was from the Szwelice … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[27,100],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-823","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-journal","category-niedzialkowski"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pyBfX-dh","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stephendanko.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/823","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stephendanko.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stephendanko.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stephendanko.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stephendanko.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=823"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stephendanko.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/823\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stephendanko.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stephendanko.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=823"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stephendanko.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}