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Sokołowski - Reaching my Family Tree - stuck in 1799!


FSokolowski  1 | -  
29 Mar 2017 /  #1
Hello!

I have been researching my family in Poland, pretty much only the paternal line so far, but seem to come up against a bit of a problem and was hoping someone on the forum could give me some advice.

I've been using the genealodzy index website, occasionally ordering records and also having help from a very kind Polish genealogist I know. From this I have traced back to my paternal great-great-great-great grandfather, Marcin Sokołowski, of whom I have a copy of his marriage certificate from 1799, Skierniewice, łódzkie, when he married Katarzyna Szóstakowska. The record is in Latin (e.g. Marcin is written as Martinus).

Unfortunately, according to the genealodzy index, Marcin does not have a birth certificate listed in the index, nor are his parents listed on the marriage certificate. It does say on the marriage certificate that he was a widower, and on the index a Marcin Sokołowski is listed as the father of two children with the mother Franciszka Brylińska. However, the index records for Skierniewice only go back to 1793 for marriages and to 1806 for deaths. As the two children with Franciszka were born in 1791 and 1793, this means that their marriage certificate is lost. So my question is how do I find out who Marcin's parents were if they are not listed on his second marriage certificate when the first is missing and I cannot find his birth certificate? Thank you for considering my problem.

Also, what does Homo Honestus mean? I was told it was the meaning of 'HH' which came before Marcin's name on the marriage certificate. I've heard it means peasant farmer, but I've also heard it was reserved for the wealthier commoners. Or was it just a generic term like 'gentleman' or 'upstanding citizen' are today?

Many thanks,
F. Sokolowski
TheOther  6 | 3596  
30 Mar 2017 /  #2
Does the marriage record for Marcin Sokołowski mention his age? That's a good indicator for the year he was born (careful, the age mentioned in the church books is not always correct) and also for the time frame when his parents married. How far back do the records for Skierniewice go? If you can't find the marriage of his parents in this parish, try others nearby. Weddings often took place in the town the bride was born in.

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