PolishOrigins(TM) Forum

Help deciphering town name

Trish — Tue, 23 Jun 2026 19:44:40 +0200

Author: Trish

Posted: Tue Jun 23, 2026 12:44 pm

Sophia wrote:

Hi Trish,

That manifest looks very promising! Too bad this form of manifest does not have as much information on it as others do; they changed so much over the years regarding what information was gathered. It would have been nice to have a hometown listed.

I looked at the Family Search tree that you provided a link to. Looking at the 1930 census, there is a grandmother living with them, she is listed as Mary Stupan (that may or may not be the right spelling of her surname) and that could be an important clue.

Sophia

Hi Sophia,

I wish there was more information on the manifest for Franz.

Per the Mankowski tree, Josephine's maiden name is Stupaj. Josephine's mother's name was Maria. The Mary you mentioned in the 1930 census could be Josephine's mother, Maria Jaworska.

Also, I found this marriagre record for Ludovicus Mankowski who could be a possible brother of Franz Mankowski. Ludovicus' parents are also Anthony and Agnes.

Name Ludovicus Mańkowski
Sex Male
Marital Status Widowed
Event Type Marriage
Event Date 05 Apr 1910
Event Place Chicago, Cook, Illinois, United States

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q2Y9-JG4T?lang=en

Regards,
Trish

Villages

Fox — Tue, 23 Jun 2026 15:05:31 +0200

Author: Fox

Posted: Tue Jun 23, 2026 8:05 am

cześć, szukam przodków i wolontariuszy albo możliwości, jak mogę dalej znaleźć moich przodków w tych miejscach, a także potomków rodzeństwa. wysiedlenie Bobrow Strasburg Gocław Dab Niemiecki. wiele pozdrowień, keke

Please translate latin in marriage record for Kowal

galicia seeker — Tue, 23 Jun 2026 13:49:43 +0200

Author: galicia seeker

Posted: Tue Jun 23, 2026 6:49 am

Dave, one last request when you have time - could you please translate the death record - photo attached.

Thanks, Gail

Names of great-great grandparents on documents from 1891

odcecki — Tue, 23 Jun 2026 05:45:55 +0200

Author: odcecki

Posted: Mon Jun 22, 2026 10:45 pm

BarbOslo wrote:

Hi,
I have some good news for you and your family. I managed to build a family tree based on the information you gave us. It is possible to find more, but it will take a bit more time. I am also attaching a Word document with explanations/translations of the terms.

Regards,
-Barb

OH MY GOODNESS!! This is INCREDIBLE! Wow, thank you SO much! I can't believe you went to all this work... this is informtation my family has never had access to before, with our limitation with language and handwriting, resources, etc. My family is going to be so blown away when I show them what you've provided me with, it's WAY more than I ever expected. Thanks x a million!!!!

Latin records translations

cpkaway — Tue, 23 Jun 2026 02:14:08 +0200

Author: cpkaway

Posted: Mon Jun 22, 2026 7:14 pm

Thank you very much Dave. I have recorded your comments into the birth and death records. I am glad to see that the godparents did not have any financial obligation to the child. (My older brother's godmother used to give him presents when he was a young child, but I guess that was unusual.)

Perhaps Kaspar's godparents had worked on the estate and that is why they were chosen.

I should have remembered “Conjugum Legitimorum” because you told me before.

Best regards
Chris

Russian records translations p.2

jajan — Mon, 22 Jun 2026 15:31:27 +0200

Author: jajan

Posted: Mon Jun 22, 2026 8:31 am

[/quote]

Nr 42

It happened in Wiżajny, on April 6th/18th, 1894, at 9 p.m.

There appeared Jan Klimach, 30 years old and Ludwik Kaum, 45 years old, peasants residing in Kramnik and they declared that on April 2nd/14th of the current year, at 8 a.m., Daria Ryszewska nee Prostko died in Kramnik, a life tenant who resided in Kramnik, 95 years old, who was born in the town of Lik [nowadays: Ełk], located in the country of Lik, in the Gumbinnen region [nowadays: Gąbin] in Prussia. She was survived by three children.

After covincing myself of the death of Daria Rydzewska nee Prosto, this Act was read to the declarants, and due to their illiteracy it was signed by Us only.

Paston Leon Kweisser.

(Note: In the Russian text the deceased's name was written twice as Daria, but in the Polish annotations in brackets, it is was written as Dorota).[/quote]

Thank-You, Marcel!

Translating and Transcribing Birth Certificate

marcelproust — Mon, 22 Jun 2026 06:37:29 +0200

Author: marcelproust

Posted: Sun Jun 21, 2026 11:37 pm

odcecki wrote:

I found the birth certificate for my great-grandfather, Andrzej Zak. It lists the names of his parents, which I have never found anywhere else, but I can't read his mother's name. If I could figure out her name, I could research them. It says his father's name is Grzegorz Zak, and my best guess for his mother, based on the handwriting, is Marianna L. Nowinskich, but that doesn't sound very Polish. If anyone could help me translate the rest of the document and try to figure out what her name is, I would really appreciate it!

Republic of Poland
Act numer: 129
Year: 1891

Voivodeship: Kielce
County: Olkusz
Parish: Ogrodzieniec

Birth Certificate

Birth place: Ryczów
Full name: Andrzej Żak
Birth date: November 14th, 1891.
Parents' full names: Grzegorz Żak, Marianna nee Nowińska.

Year of birth in words: the year one thousand eight hundred and ninety-one

Ogrodzieniec, April 11t, 1939.

Parish-priest, serving as Civil Registrar: Jan Podkopał.

This Certificate was issued for presentation at the Commune Office for entry into the register of residents.

Stamp: Registry Office, The parish of Ogrodzieniec.

Transcript:

RZECZPOSPOLITA POLSKA

Nr Aktu 129
Rok 1891

Województwo: kieleckie
Powiat: okluski
Parafia: Ogrodzieniec

ŚWIADECTWO URODZENIA

Miejsce urodzenia: Ryczów
Imię i nazwisko urodzonego: Andrzej Żak
Data urodzenia: Dzień: 14, Miesiąc: listopada, Rok: 1891.
Imiona i nazwiska rodziców: Grzegorz Żak, Marianna z Nowińskich.

Słownie: Tysiąc osiemset dziewięćdziesiątego pierwszego roku.

Ogrodzieniec, dnia 11 kwietnia 1939 r.

Utrzymujący Akta Stanu Cywilnego, proboszcz ks. Jan Podkopał.

Wydane celem przedstawienia gminie do użytku rejestru mieszkańców.

Stamp: Urząd Stanu Cywilnego Parafii Ogrodzieniec.

Cemetery Records

Sophia — Mon, 22 Jun 2026 04:18:32 +0200

Author: Sophia

Posted: Sun Jun 21, 2026 9:18 pm

cmasiak wrote:

Hello,

I am trying to see if I can find cemetery records or images of grave stones for Wyszny Kosciene, I tried searching all of the cites but was unable to find any cemetery from Wyszny Kosciene. Does anyone have any suggestions or guidance? Thank you.

Hi,

I am having the same difficulty that you are having finding any websites that include gravestone photos from the cemetery in Wyszyny Kościelne (note the spelling). You can get a general look at the cemetery by going to google maps and using the "street view" to see it. I am attaching a screenshot of what that looks like. I would guess, however, that you want to see specific graves.

I will point out that the website for the parish has a section for articles, and there is one regarding the renovation of the cemetery chapel back in 2022. It consists of photos rather than text. In the photos you can see that there are names on plaques on the chapel which appear to be WWII era deaths, including one Feliks Masiak that I am also attaching a screenshot of. Is there a Feliks (in English: Felix) Masiak in your tree?

Here is a link to that article on the church website:

https://parafiawyszyny.eu/kaplica-cmentarna-po-remoncie-zdjecia/

Next to each name is the letter L which refers to the person's age (for Feliks it was left blank) and then the year of death.

You may wish to contact the parish to ask whether the gravestone(s) of whomever you are searching for still exist. As you might already know, grave sites are rented and not permanent. It is not uncommon for rentals to last for 20 years and unless the family extends this, the grave site is re-used, so many of the older graves will not be found.

Hope this helps,
Sophia

Could This Be a Village or Town (Popczyki, Galicia)?

Sam — Sun, 21 Jun 2026 01:44:24 +0200

Author: Sam

Posted: Sat Jun 20, 2026 6:44 pm

Sophia,

My mistake! But Trish's manifest makes me wish the AR-2 asked if the registrant had any living siblings in the U.S.

Help identifying the village of Paszki (Polish-Lithuanian)

Sophia — Sat, 20 Jun 2026 14:54:53 +0200

Author: Sophia

Posted: Sat Jun 20, 2026 7:54 am

The Polona website is taking a "technical break" at the moment, so you will not be able to access the full map at this time. Try again in a day or so and hopefully it will work.

Sophia

Respublica - AI query for polish court records from XVIth C.

michal.werpachowski — Sat, 20 Jun 2026 03:14:59 +0200

Author: michal.werpachowski

Posted: Fri Jun 19, 2026 8:14 pm

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evolution of two sets of names

tomjwalsh — Wed, 17 Jun 2026 05:58:31 +0200

Author: tomjwalsh

Posted: Tue Jun 16, 2026 10:58 pm

BarbOslo wrote:

tomjwalsh wrote:

I have the same situation. My 2xgreat grandmother was Zofia Miskowiec, but in some records it is listed as Wirmanska. I found this odd but then I found some later records for two individuals (early 1900s who I assume are related - same town) who use the hyphenated name Miskowiec-Wirmanski/a. Not sure what to make of it.

Hi,
Among the Polish Highlanders (especially in the Podhale region), it is common to encounter a situation where a person is associated with two surnames. This stems from the tradition of clan nicknames (known as "przydomki rodowe"). In mountain villages, many families shared the same surname, such as Bachleda. To distinguish between the different branches of the clan, they were given nicknames that over time became highly important within the local community. For example, someone might formally be named "Jan Bachleda," but in the village, he was known as "Jan Bachleda Curuś" or simply "Jan Curuś."This nickname helped to more precisely identify a specific family within the community and to differentiate its various ancestral lines.

Regards,
-Barb

Thank you Barb! I appreciate the explanation.

Looking for the Origin of this photo

Fabian — Sat, 13 Jun 2026 14:43:32 +0200

Author: Fabian

Posted: Sat Jun 13, 2026 7:43 am

Hello

can anyone tell me, where this was photographed (it is a still from a 16mm b/w film, most likely shot 1941 or 1942). I have no further info.

thank you for the opportunity to post this question here.

Fabian

Henschel / Henschell of Poland / Russia / Ukraine

Trish — Wed, 10 Jun 2026 15:26:58 +0200

Author: Trish

Posted: Wed Jun 10, 2026 8:26 am

gyoungest wrote:

Hello,
Below is the Henschel family I am researching, I am having difficulty with confirming the birth / residence locations and finding birth or baptism records. The dates provided are from death certificates written in North America.
I cannot speak / read / or write Polish, any assistance will be greatly appreciated.
Many thanks.

Andreas Henschell born / baptised 15 July 1832, Lowicz, Lodzkie, Poland
and
Karoline Soch (Sache) born / baptised 25 July 1833, Volyn (Volhynia), Dabruwka, Ukraine ?
Their family
August - 1859, Volhynia, Russia / Volyn, Ukraine
married Susanne Heubner about 1883
Gottfried - 10 September 1860, Russia / Poland
married Christina Jantz about 1891
Wilhelm - 29 January 1862, Lowicz Province / Kutno, Warsaw, Poland
married Leokadia Ganske about 1887
Johan - 28 May 1864, Dabrowka Colony, Volhynia, Russia / Ukraine
married Mathilda Leistikow 9 February 1888, Rozyscze, Zhitomir
George - 18 January 1867, Zhitomir
Justina - 2 September 1869, Dombruwka, Zhitomir, Volhynia, Russia / Ukraine
married Gottlieb (Yantz) Jantz 28 March 1888, Dombruvka, L'viv, Ukraine
Gustave - 19 September 1874, Russia
Michael - 23 August 1877, Dabruwka, Zhitomir, died before 1894, Volhynia, Russia / Volyn Ukraine

Hi Gay and Sophia,

I found a family tree on the Henschel family on family search. I do not know how correct the source inforamtion is. I would double check the information.

https://www.familysearch.org/en/tree/person/details/LYCK-KCP

Regards,
Trish

Heinrich Albert Komant

Trish — Tue, 09 Jun 2026 16:49:16 +0200

Author: Trish

Posted: Tue Jun 09, 2026 9:49 am

Sophia wrote:

Hi everyone,

Just to add one interesting detail. Returning to the Family Search online microfilm for baptisms, on the page right after Heinrich's baptism there is another baptism, for Ludwig Vitzinus. One of his godparents was Ludwig Kommont. It is possible that Ludwig was a brother of Heinrich's father Friedrich Kommont.

Sophia

Hi Sophia and Gay,

Sophia, very interesting record about Ludwig Kommont. I found a possible sister to Friendrich Kommant. Her name is Anna Christine Kommant. She married Wilhelm Hermann. There is a tree on family search, however, some of the information posted on this tree is incorrect. I believe the poster was having a difficult time reading the records.

https://www.familysearch.org/en/tree/person/details/P9W4-633

Gay, the article I posted about Heinrich Kommant and Emma Busenius states Heinrich was the second youngest of 4 children born to Friedrich and Caroline Lange. It also stated that Caroline (Heinrich's mother) was already in Canada with her second husband prior to 1914. Do you know the name of Caroline's husband? Do you know of any of the other siblings of Heinrich?

There is also a tree on family search for Emma's parents and siblings.
https://www.familysearch.org/en/tree/person/details/9VHY-287

Regards,
Trish

Bydgoszcz (1925–1929): Poszukiwania dokumentów (paszporty, s

Puma — Sat, 06 Jun 2026 16:31:23 +0200

Author: Puma

Posted: Sat Jun 06, 2026 9:31 am

Dzień dobry,
Bardzo dziękuję za odpowiedź oraz cenne wskazówki.
Chciałbym poinformować, że w moich dotychczasowych poszukiwaniach udało mi się już zgromadzić istotne dokumenty. Dysponuję już notą werbalną (Verbalnote), która stanowi dla mnie bardzo ważny dowód. Ponadto posiadam precyzyjne informacje dotyczące miejsca zamieszkania mojego przodka na terenie Polski, co znacznie zawęża obszar poszukiwań w archiwach.
Dziękuję jeszcze raz za wsparcie i pomoc w nakreśleniu dalszego kierunku działań.
Z poważaniem,

Our Polish Ancestors book

dgawell — Fri, 05 Jun 2026 22:50:46 +0200

Author: dgawell

Posted: Fri Jun 05, 2026 3:50 pm

A new book, available on Amazon : https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0G2GN43RH

Review of “Our Polish Ancestors” in the June July, 2026 edition of the Polish American Journal. Review by David Trawinski.
Donna Gawell’s “Our Polish Ancestors” celebrates our heritage, its customs and traditions, and its origins. Subtitled “The history and culture of Poland from Prehistory to World War I” I was enthralled to see that it was not merely another recitation of important dates in Polish history or explanation of the Szlachta and their “Golden Veto.” Those are vitally important and very prevalent.
This work fills a void by offering a historical perspective on the lives of the peasants who struggled to eke out a living from the land. It’s twenty-four chapters include “A Little History of Poland,” The Prussian and Russian Partitions,” Serfdom,” “Life on a Typical Polish Farm,” “Market Days,” “Sickness, Epidemics and Plagues and “Death, Funerals and Cemeteries.”
If you wonder why the Prussian and Russian Partitions are explored but not the Austrian Partitions, this entire work is highly focused on the Galician (Austrian-partitioned) provinces. The Galician provinces were much more lenient in their attempts to control or eradicate Polish culture and customs than the Prussian Germanification or the Tsarist Russification attempts.
Two of my favorite chapters are entitled “Holiday and Holydays” and “Superstitions and Ancient Rites.” The first deals not only with the Christmas Wigilia meal, but also the traditions of New Year’s Eve; Lent (including Maundy Thursday’s focus on the Last Supper, the fasting of Good Friday; the blessing of the food on Holy Saturday; and finally Easter (with zurek soup and pisanki, the multitude of colorful hand-painted Easter eggs); Dyngus Day followed with its sprinkling of water rituals. By contrast, the next chapter, “Superstitions and Ancient Rites,” deals with darker elements of the culture, especially regarding witchcraft and vampire superstitions of pagan times. Photos of evidence of vampire burials from Polish museums are included.
Overall, Gawell has added to the cultural knowledge base available to readers. Much is drawn from her travels to the “Old Country, and she performs a remarkable service in including photos of museum artifacts, prints of classical Polish art, and other colorful cultural images throughout this work. The writing is superb, ever so enjoyable as one feels warmly bathed in the forgotten details of a time long past. I highly recommend her book.

researching

looking for clues — Mon, 01 Jun 2026 09:40:29 +0200

Author: looking for clues

Posted: Mon Jun 01, 2026 2:40 am

Hi Jaime,
You title this post emigration but my gut reaction is that this isn’t an emigration or an immigration record. I believe that it is Ignacy Dziodziola sending money “home” to Poland to Katarzyna Dziodziola.

A quick Google AI overview in response to "Cunard money orders from immigrants" showed:
Historical Cunard money orders were financial instruments issued by the Cunard Line, allowing immigrants in the U.S. to securely transfer funds to family members in their home countries. This service provided a reliable alternative to mailing cash, operating alongside the company's established travel and traveler's cheque operations.

That said, there is always a chance that there also was a ticket purchased separately and this was additional spending money.

What I found interesting is the detailed information regarding Katarzyna address in 1925!

There was a similar receipt that sold on scripophily.net a paper collectible site (search scripophily cunard money order)

You asked about how you can trace this receipt. What specifically are you trying to trace?

Jakubiel - Not finding results

Sophia — Sun, 31 May 2026 11:43:36 +0200

Author: Sophia

Posted: Sun May 31, 2026 4:43 am

ShannonCreedon wrote:

Thank you for these great resources!

I had a feeling that it likely was not the same Jozef, but because I am still learning how Polish surnames endings can change due to grammatical rules, I couldn't be certain. Unfortunately, because this was very early on in my research, I hadn't done a very good job of tracking my sources and identifying where I found the document. I'm including two other pages that are from the same source in case you're interested in any of the information that is included there.

**editing before posting**

I translated the title of one of the documents I'm including here, which triggered a memory of where I found these.

On the top of Josefek 3, it says "Zusammenstellung von Namensangaben ans Akten der Sozialversicherungs und Arbeitsamter oder fruherer Naziorganisationen. Originalakten oder beglaubigte Kopien (auch Fotokopien) aller Documente sind beizulegen (in zweifacher Ausfertigung)." Which translated is "Compilation of names extracted from the files of social security and labor offices, or of former Nazi organizations. Original files or certified copies (including photocopies) of all documents must be attached (in duplicate)."

There is also a stamp at the bottom of the page that does say Nurnberg. At one point, I had looked through the Nuremburg papers that are available on Ancestry.com and must have come up with these. Given that the date 1938 is written on the first document I shared, and the dates of documentation in the sixth column almost entirely are 1944, and at the bottom is dated 1947, I will assume that they are some sort of documentation from that.

What exactly any of the information means, is, at this point anyway, beyond me.

***second edit (forgive me, I'm on an over-night shift and my brain is not very sharp right now!)
On the josefek 1 document it shows "Jakubowice," which does show up on the resources you provided. It looks like there several that are in Poland, and a few with a various spelling in Czech Republic.

Hi Shannon,
Interesting documents.
Since this is not likely to be your Józef Józefek, it probably is not worthwhile to dive too deep into trying to find which Jakubowice is the hometown of the man on these records.
It's always good in genealogy research to look at records of people whose names are possible variants of the people you are searching for. Even when they turn out not to be connected to you, you still can learn about new research sources along the way, so the effort is never wasted!
Sophia

Help with Finding polish roots

Aleksandra — Sat, 30 May 2026 15:59:09 +0200

Author: Aleksandra

Posted: Sat May 30, 2026 8:59 am

Oh,I see. Thank you ❤️