Genealogy / Mixed-Blood Poles in America (Do we count?) [118]


In modern America this is simply not the case, unless you live in a densly populated Polish/American community it is hard to find Polish people to date. I think most Americans are spoiled and date whomever they found appealing to the eye regardless of race or ethnicity.


So I suppose if I move to China, I will suddenly become a bad driver and develop excellent math skills. Being Polish is in the genes. What does it mean to be a True Pole? Some on this site argue that Poland didn't exist at one point. Does this mean that if you can't trace your lineage prior to 1795 give or take your not a true Pole. Please.

Genealogy / Polish nationality? Which of the following (if any) determine being Polish. [231]


Thank you for the correction. I was referring to the bird on the Polish Falcon flag which I assumed was a Falcon. Oooops. And thank you for the information provided as most Polish flags I have seen were just white and red.


Yes . He was a member back starting in the 1930's. I still have the bayonets, he used to march in the parades with.


Funny you should say that because I have spoken to several of my cousins, whom were born and raised in Poland and they say I remind them of my second cousin ,Stefan, who is currently living in Poland. My father also says I often remind him of my grandfather in many ways.

I mean I am sure in many ways we are different being brought up in two totally different environments but you can't say I am not Polish because I can't speak the language. I mean what is the point of this site if we can't converse intelligently about our history and heredity and help each other to discover more about who and where we came from.

Genealogy / Polish nationality? Which of the following (if any) determine being Polish. [231]


Poland existed it was just occupied and controlled by three other countries. If it didn't exist Poland would not exist today. Poland is more than just its borders. I am currently living in the Us. but I am still proud of my heritage both on my father's (Polish) and my mother's side (Irish). Because my grandfather was born in Russian /occupied Poland that makes me Russian...I don't think so.


Well first of all it was against the law to do so. I am second generation American. I say American because I am an American citizen. Does that mean that my heritage is not Polish and Irish. Your heritage and history do not just fall off the map (excuse the pun) because you move somewhere else. My father at one point spoke Polish but I never learned. I wish to but it may prove to be difficult as my wife nor the rest of my immediate family don't either.


Curious to hear about some of the cons you are refering to especially the going down hill quickly part ?

I mean if it is not that great why live here?

I was also curious about your friend and his tattoo. Are you referring to the falcon on the Polish flag or the American fraternal order of Polish Falcons that my grandfather was a member of?

Genealogy / Valentine Stolarz, Anna Banas, Jacob Mastej, Francis Bil [30]

Hello,

Did your family eventually become citizens. If so there is an abundance of information on forms they had to fill out. The Petition for Naturalization and Declaration of intent are 2 documents that helped me a lot. Also I am not sure if your family is religious but if they were Catholic ...marriage certificates are also huge as most people didn't lie to thier priests and marriage certificates often included where both husband and wife were baptised (where they were born). My final bit of advice if you want to speed things up a bit you can hire a proffesional to do the work for you. This was invaluable to me because I don't speak Polish and most of the records are in Russian or German or others which a pro will translate for you with ease. If you need a reccomendation let me know.

Genealogy / Genealogy sites in Poland. Looking for Polish family of my great-grandparent. [13]

polishgenealogy@rubikon.pl

Genealogy / Genealogy sites in Poland. Looking for Polish family of my great-grandparent. [13]

The researcher I used charged $20.00 US. per hour of research. He came highly reccommended. I decided to contact persons he had worked for in the past as I have heard rumors of non ethical practices regarding other researchers. If you have accurate information regarding births of previous descendants, He can do alot. Most of the research done for me was done through the archives of Stary Luboten. It was rather simple for me as my name was the only family using this surname in the district. Archive research is tedious because most of the records are in Russian. I don't speak Polish or Russian so my researcher was invaluable in that regard. I could have taken a trip over there and stumbled through translations or tried to order the LDS microfilms (which we did anyway cause it is more practical when I wanted copies of documents) and tried to work through them myself. I decided to do things the more expedient way. I have discovered 4 generations on my grandmothers side of family Zadrozny. and 2 generations on my grandfathers side of the family. Skibniewski You really have to base your decisions on time and how much your willing to spend. I personelly am happy with the results but because of Emil's research I was able to contact living cousins in POland and the UK. I never knew I had. I have 35 living cousins living abroad. This information was invaluable to me.

Genealogy / Can't find on Ellis, not naturalized, never applied for SS, how can I trace him? [7]

Did he ever marry? If so the marriage certificate is a wonderful source of information. ( people generally didn't lie when providing information to the church, at least this has been my experience)

Genealogy / Are there other ways of finding records that exist further back than 1826? [22]

I will try the land records and see if that helps. grodzkie books have some land records in them sales and wills and the like but there wasn't much in there to help me. Hopefully I will have more luck with the land records.

I figured some records were destroyed in transit. Looters ,bandits, etc. but every year for centuries. Of course that is assuming the priests did there job correctly.

Thanks for the suggestions all. :)

Genealogy / Are there other ways of finding records that exist further back than 1826? [22]

Have one thank you very much and doing well. Have 4 beautiful healthy children and do not need the advice of some moron looking to belittle someone looking into thier family history.

Genealogy / Are there other ways of finding records that exist further back than 1826? [22]

Yeah I figured that. Just don't understand how the records were destroyed. I understand that buildings were destroyed during wartime but according to what I have read. The records were copied every year and sent to the vatican. I don't understand how centuries of records were lost...unless the vatican is holding out on the world. (God forbid) Oh well. I may have to start on my mothers side of the family (100 percent Irish).

Genealogy / Are there other ways of finding records that exist further back than 1826? [22]

Softsong
Thank you for the suggestion. I have looked at all death records from D: 1809-1862, 1864-1869, 1882-1897. the earliest death record I have is Florian Skibniewski died Dec 31. 1841. It does say they were living in Podbielko at the time.

Genealogy / Are there other ways of finding records that exist further back than 1826? [22]

The records exist they just don't contain any information about my family prior to 1826. My family seemed to avg 7-9 siblings per generation and seems weird that there is no records for births for close to 20 years.

The records listed are LDS records ordered throught the archive. Thank you very much for list.

Is it possible to gain access to the Russian archives?

Genealogy / Are there other ways of finding records that exist further back than 1826? [22]

All records I have found to date are from the Pultusk archives in the Stary Luboten area which was the proper Catholic parish. What bothers me is there is a large gap in the records from 1808 to 1826. Which suggests to me that they moved from a different area to that region. Unfortunately for me I have no idea from. I tried to check other parish records for neighboring areas but they don't exist for that time period, records checked in archives

STARY LUBOTYŃ Roman-Catholic parish records:
B: 1808-1862, 1864-1869, 1890-1898
M: 1808-1862, 1864-1869, 1884-1900
D: 1809-1862, 1864-1869, 1882-1897

as well as grodzkie books for the Ostrow MAzowiecka area (only 2 survived)

Genealogy / Are there other ways of finding records that exist further back than 1826? [22]

Sympathy no. Perhaps understanding from those who feel the same as I do when they are faced with the possible end of a journey. Certainly not feeble comments from a weak fool wishing to kick someone when they are down. Or perhaps maybe some honesty. I have looked for a long time and hoped I would be able to go back further. I understand I am lucky to have gone back as far as I have but I do not wish to give up. I still appreciate the luck though as I will need it.

Genealogy / What certificate is this?; birth certificate from the greek catholic church [63]

Thank you for the sites , I will definately look them over.

Genealogy / What certificate is this?; birth certificate from the greek catholic church [63]

Why is it so important to you whether your ancestors called themselves ethnic Poles, Germans or Russians? What difference does that make for your genealogical research?

Probably because several of my descendants were killed during the Russian occupation/partisian whatever you prefer. I have living cousins in Poland and the U.K. that have very biased views of both Germany and Russia. I personally do not but that probably is because I was not directly influenced by the war. It is funny I have one relative who hates the Russians understandably (her husband was killed by the Russians while they were hiding in the woods while they were looting thier farm) while her son has fond memories of the German soldiers who played with him when they temporarily seized thier farm and used it as a base camp.

It is not what my ancestors called themselves (they were Polish) It is when others call them German or Russian. AS I said guilty.

As for genealogical research it matters less, but I will let you know. Before I found this site and really became interested in tracing my heritage I consulted several Russian sites as well as 2 consulates as I know my Grandfather was born in Poland under the Russian partisian. They all directed me to look in Poland for the answers.

I was curious however about missiing records that could still be in Germany? Is there a site or place online where I could learn more about this subject. It seems my search is coming slowly to a close as the records just don't exist anymore.

Genealogy / What certificate is this?; birth certificate from the greek catholic church [63]

Why? I believe that to most people (in the west?) heritage is not really important.

Define in the west? Because I am proud of both my Polish and Iirish heritage. Don't know anyone who isn't.

[b]And honestly, what difference does it make whether your g-g-g-grandfather grew up in Poland, Germany or Russia, and whether he felt like a German, Russian or Pole? [/b]

I'm sorry what site did you sign up to chat on. I was under the impression this was Polish genealogy forum. Not that I or anyone else on this forum would disriminate against another heritage asking questions. IMHO

Some people here on PF take heritage, national pride and history way too serious, IMHO.

guilty

History tell us that although Poland may have been removed from the map temporarily (who makes the maps anyway...the people in power do) it never truly went away.

Genealogy / Where in Poland is the town of Laka? [20]

I assme they became naturalized. You may wish to look up thier petition for naturalization and/or declaration of intent papers they were loaded with information including where theywere before they came over. Is that the correct spelling of name I did a search and found no record? Where did he pass away?

Genealogy / Where in Poland is the town of Laka? [20]

Wow I am very surprized the Catholic church was unwilling to help, every church I have ever inquired about records has bent over backwards to help. Are you sure they were married at this church? When were thier 1st children baptised. If it was close to 1902 , they might have got married at St. Stanislaus,, Philadelphia or The Imaculate Heart Church on Second and Norris st. St. Stanislaus was the popular Polish church at the time. It was far but Polish immigrants tended to flock to Polish priests to marry them.

Good luck

Genealogy / Missing/unknown letter in my great-grandmother's last name. Any ideas? [34]

Thanks for all the other suggestions. I will contact someone back in the states to look into the Naturalization records. My greatgranfather is listed as 'NA' in the earliest census reports I could find (Code for Naturalized).

If you know the state and county that your Greatgrandfather lived when he 1st came to the states or where you think he was living when naturalized, there are many records listed online that will assist you in finding the record. The only drawback is it will most likely cost you $15- $20.00 to obtain the record. If you need any assistance let me know as i have obtained my grandfathers record this way

Genealogy / Jewish Roots of Poland [612]

Romans were the ones who popularised crossbows, boarding ships the way it was done to 19 century, they were the first to invent the concept of law in its modern style, public schools, they were the first to get serious about masonry and ironworks

Not sure about crossbows but it was the greeks who invented public schooling, they also had law but I agree not as modern as the Romans.

The Romans copied the Greeks.

This is very true, as they did of many and all conquered lands. The Romans ,however were organized one great nation under many gods vs the greeks who were a broken people for the most part often waging war on eachother. The Romans were the ancient version of the borg. They took what they could use and threw away the rest.

Genealogy / Missing/unknown letter in my great-grandmother's last name. Any ideas? [34]

There are a few possibilities.
1. Was your grandfather an American citizen. If so you can look for his Declaration of Intent and Petition for Naturalization records. These records are a great source of information and are most probably more accurate as they were legal documents.

2. Was your grandfather married in the states? Was he christian/roman catholic? If so was he married in a Polish church? Even if the church wasn't Polish the records are also a great source of information. They often list where both husband and wife were baptised. Which is great for finding the town where your relatives were born.

good luck

Genealogy / Why Polish aren't white?? [272]

I have never experienced any racism other than black and white. I do not consider a person telling the occasional Polish joke a racist.

Genealogy / Why Polish aren't white?? [272]

This post seems a bit odd to me. If your not black, your white. Not that there is anything wrong with being either. I live in the Usa. and have never heard of anyone being called black that was Polish.

Genealogy / ABOUT KUKULKA [42]

TheOther
I apoligize you are right It was Helen. It is possible that her relative was Protestant. But even in the early 1800's the height of the protestant faith in Poland the area was still only 30 percent protestant. I will wait to see if Helen's ancestors were in fact protestant before I make any recommendations regarding possible research.

When we are talking about ancestors

It was nice to hear you use the word instead of citizens. As geealogy is more the study of one heritage not ones citzenship.

Genealogy / ABOUT KUKULKA [42]


Apparently you don't get it. Less than 1 percent of Poland is protestant. So of course if your looking for protestant records... there is more than a 99 % chance they won't be there. If Iowagirl's relative was protestant.... than by all means I would suggest she book the first flight out to Germany to check those records.

Genealogy / ABOUT KUKULKA [42]


AHHHH yes I do considering protestants make up less than 1 percent of the persons in Poland and that is just persons of the christian faith.

A lot of old catholic church books were given back to Poland by Germany as late as 2001

Thanks for making my point.

Genealogy / ABOUT KUKULKA [42]

Well if I am looking for records for less than 1 percent of the population no problem I will book my next flight to Germany. But I am thinking there is more than a 99 percent chance the records will be in Poland.

As far as the Catholic records all records can be found in Polish archives unless they were destroyed during the war or in the Polish uprising.

Genealogy / ABOUT KUKULKA [42]

iowagirl
I assume the state of MA means Massachusetts. If this is the case, have you looked at thier Petition for Naturalization papers. This will list the area they came from often the town, another source would be marriage certificates especially if they were christian.

Nope, not true. I was responding to Hellen's post (#15) only; read it.

I did read it She asks if anyone knows about passenger lists ..you responded by telling her her descendants were not Polish. You are wrong.

Again: I am talking about citizenship, not ethnicity. An ethnic Pole who was born in Posen (not Poznan!) in 1900 was a citizen of the German Empire.

yes but that does not make them German nor if you want to find genealogical data on anyone being born there would you look in the Germany. lol

Rewriting history or ignoring simple historical facts

No one has rewriiten the facts or history...the fact is if you are looking for genealogical
data for a person born in "occupied" Poland ...you will have to look in Poland.

That's typical American... ;)

The fact that American history is limited to a short time frame does not prevent me from being proud of being an American citizen nor does it negate the fact that my ancestors came from somewhere else.