Often, all we know about our great-grandfather or great-grandmother is that they claimed to come from Poland. And they were not necessarily Poles – they have been Germans, Jews, Ruthenians…
Where you can find the place your ancestors came from?
It is known that to find a birth certificate, you need to know where your ancestor was born.
It can not be easy.
On passenger lists was entered the last place of residence before departure. On lists from 1870th and earlier, it was often only the place of local administration, i.e. the seat of a commune or district. Thus, it can be assumed that this gives an estimated search area, not a specific location.
This can be very confusing. Let’s take Posen for example. It is both the name of a city and a biggest province in Prussia. Many people often believe that their ancestors were born in the city of Poznań. In fact, it was the name of the province where they came from. It was the largest province in Prussia. Today it is the area of several provinces, which gives an idea of the scale of the difficulties.
More details are provided in the Declaration of Intention or application for naturalization. Nevertheless, there are often errors or marked places that occur in several parts of Poland. Such a name is “Nowa Wieś”(New Village) or “Kamionka” (Stoneware). There are dozens ones in Poland. You have to find the right one.
Instead of Google maps, I often use the Teryt search engine. This is a list of all towns, districts and streets in Poland. It is run by the Polish Central Statistical Office.
It is also worth using the online Geographical Dictionary of the Kingdom of Poland.
http://dir.icm.edu.pl/pl/Slownik_geograficzny/
This includes other Slavic Countries Geographical Dictionary of the Kingdom of Poland. There you can find descriptions of most of the places that were on the territory of Poland before the partitions. It also includes places that formerly belonged to it.
Misspelling names
Officials wrote the name of the place without knowing the names your ancestors told them. There were especially many mistakes when writing down names from the Russian partition. People often struggled with names. They lacked knowledge of the Cyrillic alphabet. Some letters looked deceptively similar. This often caused the name to become a difficult riddle.
This is exactly what happened with the name Siebierniszki.
It was entered on the application for naturalization of Stanley Suchorski in Melwaukee.
There is no such place in Poland, in any current or former region. But after comparing several other pieces of information (e.g. from his cousin’s passenger list). I came to the conclusion that the place I was looking for is Siewieruszki. It is part of the village of Mariany in the Kawęczyn commune of the Wielkopolska province.
There were two mistakes in spelling: the incorrect reading of B and N. In Cyrillic they mean W and U, respectively. And so Siewieruszki became Siebierniszki.
main indexation database
Once we know the name of the place of birth or residensece, we can start our search. We will look in various genealogical databases, especially indexation ones.
What are indexation databases?
Not everyone can read a handwritten document, and in another language.
Most of the documents we need to reconstruct the history of our ancestors are stored in archives, libraries, and offices. These places are far from us. Genealogists and people interested in family history have been writing down surnames contained in church books for many years. They also record other data found in civil status documents and population censuses.
Many companies and genealogical societies create their own databases of such indexes. These databases allow people to find the information they need easily. They can access it without having to travel far.
What is the best indexation database for record entries for Poland?
The answer is simple. There isn’t one. Each portal has its good and weak sides.
I’ll start with the largest and most famous.
Geneteka is a portal run by PTG – Polish Genealogical Society.
https://geneteka.genealodzy.pl
It’s worth keeping it in your bookmarks on your computer because its resources are constantly being expanded.
The Masovian and Łódź voivodeships and the city of Warsaw are the best indexed on Geneteka. Also, a large number of indexes are for the Lesser Poland, Silesian and Świętokrzyskie voivodeships.
The lowest number is for the next voivodeships: West Pomerania, Lubuskie and Lower Silesia. So Geneteka will definitely be more useful to you if your ancestors came from eastern or southern Poland.
Geneteka’s search engine is intuitive. It searches for similar versions besides the exact spelling of the surname. It is also possible to allow the precise recording feature.
When you hover your cursor (do not click) on the square tiles, extra information is displayed. I recommend always checking the ones under the letter “i”. If it is next to a woman’s surname, it displays the surname from her first marriage. If it is next to a man’s surname, it shows a different one.
Various information is displayed at the end. It is not included in the main line. This depends on the level of involvement of the indexer.
The “z” tile provides information where the indexed metrical or civil status book is stored. The last, oblong tile (SKAN) when clicked, opens a scan of the page in the next tab. Thanks to this, you can read the original recording.
But, most records offer only information.
There is an English version of the website, but the information on the tiles are in Polish.
The index database is just one of several parts of the PTG portal.
It is a very informative and useful page.
Searching for traces of your ancestors in Poland is difficult. The language barrier makes it challenging. It also requires knowledge of geography. But it is your heritage. With each fact you discover, you become richer. You have the chance to empathize with the lives of your family on the old continent. You can be proud of their achievements despite the hardships of emigration.
Comments
If you have any experience in finding the birthplaces of your ancestors in Poland, share it in the comments. Maybe you have a question that I can answer in this way.
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