Easy way to find out which Polish coat of arm/Clan you belong to.

Or simply Modlewski or Modelski.

Find your ancestor's immigration records to find the correct spelling.
MODLESJEWSKI simply can't have been the Polish spelling.

Thank you for that response.

And do we know if the Modliszewski had a crest or coat of arms? I'm told that they did, as they were soldiers, and a family member once described it to me, but I cannot remember the details aside from that the supporters were squirrels due to hunting.. That family member has since passed.

In Polish heraldry, sometimes a singe crest, originating with a single noble family, is shared by hundreds of unrelated families who adopted it as a result of fighting together or collaborating in some way. Sometimes these families would change the design of the original crest slightly to customize it and make it their own.

I did a search and the only crest I could find with a squirrel was that of the Bazenski family. It's possible that your family adopted this crest and modified it to have two supporting squirrels. There are some variants of this crest for sale on the internet but I suspect they've been modified in modern times to be politically correct and remove the black man. Apparently the original holder of the crest defeated a Moor in battle and that's what the black man signfies.

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Thank you for that information.

Apparently, there was a Modzejewski under the Boncza Clan of Poland in 1396 onwards.. That is the closest spelling I have been able to find to the original. I am still attempting to research that particular clan / spelling to determine if it is correct... as their Coat of Arms is all wrong as to what was described to me.

Just a hint - if your family were indeed nobles, there would never allow their surname to be shortened or butchered like that. For a family of noble origin, their surname is everything.

Hello. I am hoping someone can help me find the surname Miklas. My family has been in Poland for centuries.

@David_18
Palczewski

Looking for Zablocky or Zablocki

I wish to find the birth certificate of my grandfather Marcin Wolanin. Ithink he was born in Bilgoraj Lubelskie around the end of the 19th century. He died in the mid 1960's in Bilgoraj Lubelskie,

Just a little note. Bilgoraj is a little town/city. Lubelskie is Lublin, the "district" where the town was located. I don't know the Polish word for the name of the title "district".

(My mother's side of the family came from a little village outside of Bilgoraj).

It's a nice little town. Pre-war it had a large Jewish population and Isaac Bashevis Singer set one of his stories there.


Depends on the size. Lubelskie is a województwo, a large (nowadays) region.

You don't say what country you're from and of course all have different systems which in some cases can vary within the same country. Województwo is like a large county/region in the UK (say, Norfolk in England or Highlands and Islands in Scotland). I'm not sure if there's an obvious American equivalent to that.

The next tier down is a powiat, a bit like a district, metropolitan borough or unitary authority in the UK or a county in the US. Bilgoraj, has I think it's own powiat. below that is a gmina (which the urban part of Bilgoraj certainly has too), like a pre-1974 borough in the UK.

I'm not sure what Americans would call that and of course there are big differences if it's in a conurbation (Warsaw has several powiats and more gminas within the powiats).

Don't forget about Chelm, jon.
:-)

@jon357
Thanks for the info on this post. It was very helpful.

Hello! I am trying to locate any information about last name NALEPA. Does anyone know if there is a coat of arm/clan?

Any info on surname Gogola?