PolishOrigins(TM) Forum

Translation

TorSee — Tue, 04 Aug 2026 21:53:04 +0200

Author: TorSee

Posted: Tue Aug 04, 2026 2:53 pm

Hello,
can anyone read and decipher the attached handwritten Polish document?
Thanks in advance.
Torsten Seemann

German records translations

Blue — Tue, 04 Aug 2026 01:16:18 +0200

Author: Blue

Posted: Mon Aug 03, 2026 6:16 pm

Can someone please translate the 1885 marriage record for Anna Grahl and Friedrich Netlitz?

Bobrowniki or Tłuchowo parish records

BarbOslo — Sun, 02 Aug 2026 16:32:02 +0200

Author: BarbOslo

Posted: Sun Aug 02, 2026 9:32 am

Hi,
I have sent an email. Please check your spam folder if you don't find it in your inbox.
-Barb

Need Help Deciphering Ancestor's Town Name

Trish — Tue, 28 Jul 2026 17:49:30 +0200

Author: Trish

Posted: Tue Jul 28, 2026 10:49 am

JFalejczyk wrote:

Just a minor update here, I was able to find a few things, and (thus far) not able to find a few things.

I am leaning towards that record Trish found of Joe Cieslak being Sylvia's older brother, I feel like the close birth year and parent match is too much to ignore. I was able to find his grave on FindAGrave here: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/95613654/joseph-cieslak

I don't think he had any children. I have been researching the descendants of the Fisher family and there are definitely quite a few.

I unfortunately haven't been able to find anything else on Sylvia's other siblings, like Zofia, Wladyslaw, or Edward. I was able to figure out that Stanislaw's (Sylvia's father) second wife's name was in fact Aurelia, and I was able to find some FamilySearch records on her first marriage and children from it, like here: https://www.familysearch.org/en/tree/person/details/PMQY-BD6

It appears Karpinska was her maiden name and Daszkowski was the surname of her first husband. I haven't seen any evidence of her having kids with Stanislaw after they got married, and considering she was 36 when they got married, I think it's totally possible they just didn't have any other kids.

I've been scouring FindAGrave and I can't seem to find any graves for the Cieslak family, besides Sylvia's and (potentially) Joseph's. I'm going to keep on digging to see if there's anything on her other siblings (Sophia, Wladyslaw, and Edward). I'll be sure to post updates in here.

Hi!
I am so happy to hear that you were able to find some amazing clues about the family. I'm glad you were able to figure out the maiden name and first marriage surname for Aurelia. Keep us posted as how you make out with your research and if you find any more clues.

Regards,
Trish

Villages

Fox — Mon, 27 Jul 2026 13:05:40 +0200

Author: Fox

Posted: Mon Jul 27, 2026 6:05 am

Dąb Wielki

Looking for relatives of Wesolowski, Wesolek, Jankowski,

monika_wk — Mon, 27 Jul 2026 07:24:56 +0200

Author: monika_wk

Posted: Mon Jul 27, 2026 12:24 am

Dear Terri,

while researching my husband’s ancestors, we came across your posts on this forum. You last posted in 2019; now, seven years later, I hope you’re in good health, and if you’re still interested in learning more about your immediate and extended family, I’d be happy to help you, to the extent of my knowledge about the family from Bartoszyce.

Warm regards, Monika Wysocka-Kawa
wife of Arkadiusz, a descendant of the Wesołek family

ancestry

Fox — Sun, 26 Jul 2026 18:43:28 +0200

Author: Fox

Posted: Sun Jul 26, 2026 11:43 am

Thank You

Birth record information/translation

susancoles — Sat, 25 Jul 2026 13:58:25 +0200

Author: susancoles

Posted: Sat Jul 25, 2026 6:58 am

Wow! Sophia and Barb, thank you!!! I truly appreciate your help to find Anna's father's last name & get the spelling correct.

You both have uncovered so much more about my family. I am overwhelmed with happy tears.

Deepest gratitude,
Susan

Looking for help narrowing down location

Trish — Mon, 20 Jul 2026 17:56:34 +0200

Author: Trish

Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2026 10:56 am

ShannonCreedon wrote:

Hi Shannon and Sophia,

If we are going by the information on the obituary, then I found a tree on ancestry.com. I don't know if any of the information on the tree is correct. There isn't any source information for the Poland dates and places.

Regards,
Trish

Konstanti "Kostek" Smigiel
Birth 8 May 1893 • Piasutno Zelazne, Lomza, Poland
Death 7 Jan 1952 • New Bedford, Bristol County, Massachusetts, USA

Father: Jozef Szmigiel
Birth 14 Mar 1860 • Katy, Podlaskie, Poland
Death 26 Oct 1920 • Piasutno-Zelazne, Maly Plock, Podlaskie, Poland

Mother: Julianna Piaścik
Birth 1861 • Piasutno-Zelazne, Mały Płock parish, gmina Zbojna, Kolno County, Podlaskie, Poland
Death 12 May 1926 • Katy, Maly Plock, Podlaskie, Poland

Wife's information.
Wiktoryja "Victoria" Wojtuszewska
Birth 4 Mar 1897 • Niebieszczany, Podkarpackie, Poland (Galicia)
Death 19 Apr 1991 • New Bedford, Massachusetts

Sister's Information.
Stanislawa "Stasia" Smigiel
Birth 15 JAN 1885 • Piasutno Zelazne, Zbojna, Lomza, Augustów Governorate, Poland
Death 17 JUN 1972 • New Bedford, Bristol, Massachusetts, USA

Hi Trish!

Thanks for taking the time to look. I believe I have also found this tree in the past and noticed the same thing. I will say, something that strikes me as interesting, looking at it now though, is that Wiktoryja Wojtuszewska is listed as being born in Niebieszczany. The reason that jumps out at me, is because the Smigels are from my grandmother's side, and I know for a fact that my grandfather's side of the family (Jozefek, Wesoly) is from Niebieszczany.

I know that the Niebieszczany birth records from 1890-1915(ish) are available on https://www.szukajwarchiwach.gov.pl/, so I'll definitely explore that connection!

***EDIT***

I just looked, and I found her listed there! It's a very interesting discovery, thanks for sharing what you found![/quote]

Hi Shannon and Sophia,

Sophia, I see you figured out the mystery about the towns. Great maps!

Shannon, by any chance did you contact the person who put the ancestry.com tree online? I would contact the person and ask if they have the actual records since they posted exact dates and places for the family.

Regards,
Trish

Polish records translations

Blue — Thu, 16 Jul 2026 03:16:06 +0200

Author: Blue

Posted: Wed Jul 15, 2026 8:16 pm

Thanks Sophia. Unfortunately I don't know whether it is a parish church list or a residence list. Your information has been really helpful.

Witamy Górale!

ShannonCreedon — Tue, 14 Jul 2026 18:31:34 +0200

Author: ShannonCreedon

Posted: Tue Jul 14, 2026 11:31 am

Bill Rushin wrote:

(Please click on the "Yes" bar above if you have Highlander relatives).

Welcome, this forum is only for anyone who has connections with the extreme Southern area of Poland at the foothills the Tatra Mountains. This is the magical land of the Highlanders, the Góral.

Polish: Górale; Slovak: Gorali; Cieszyn Silesian: Gorole; literally "Highlanders"

The Górale are a group of indigenous people found along southern Poland, northern Slovakia, and in the region of Cieszyn Silesia in the Czech Republic as well as in Chicago, the seat of the Polish Highlanders Alliance of North America.

"The flatland's grow onions, the mountains grow men."

Hi Bill! Nice to "meet" you!

I'm curious how far east this indigenous group goes. My grandfather's family came from Niebieszczany, about 15 km southwest of Sanok in the Subcarpathian Voivodoship. Looking forward to hearing from you.
Shannon

Latin records translations

TedMack — Tue, 14 Jul 2026 13:41:57 +0200

Author: TedMack

Posted: Tue Jul 14, 2026 6:41 am

dnowicki wrote:

Hi Ted,

The Baptism Record:

The priest baptized many of the children on the pages where your entry is found and his title is written in full in several of the entries, which is a good thing. Otherwise is would not have been possible to determine the title. The Latin is vice custos insignis collegiantae calissiensis, which is translated: “the vice keeper/custodian of the insignia of the collegiate church of Kalisz”.

Knowing the meaning of the words is not terribly enlightening so I did some reading about collegiate churches. As far as I know collegiate churches do not exist in the USA. They are a European institution which originated during the Middle Ages. A collegiate church was sponsored by a well-to-do individual. The priests were all secular/diocesan priests who lived in a community to staff the collegiate church (as opposed to religious order priests who also lived in community). I know quite a bit about secular/diocesan priests since my maternal uncle was one. He came twice a week for dinner and visited during the evening. Since we lived in the same house with my maternal grandparents I saw him twice a week for over 25 years. Also over 90% of the Catholic parishes in Chicago were staffed by secular/diocesan priests. From after the end of WWII through the 1950s & 1960s there were over 400 parishes in the Archdiocese of Chicago so secular priests were everywhere. Anyway the priests of a collegiate church were mainly responsible for doing the services at the church and for providing Mass and the Sacraments for members of the parish. His job of vice keeper/custodian of the insignia seems like it would be a real drag—just busy work.

The Death Record:

The info in the margins is a cryptic summary of the entry which gives the place of death, the gender of the deceased, and the kind of death. For Jadwiga the margin summary is Nędzerzew, a female, sudden death.

The Body of the entry: quae* nihil**umbens sine omnibus sacramentis repentina et improvisa morte die 21 Januarij hora 7ma vesperi obiit

Translation: who*nothing** lying down without all the sacraments died of a sudden and unexpected death on the 21st day of January at the 7th hour of the evening.

Notes: *the relative pronoun “who”. The antecedent of the pronoun is Jadwiga.
**nihil/nothing: used with the sense that there was no indication that death was imminent. Everything was normal. She just decided to lie down and she died. The record does not connect her death to childbirth. There are multiple possible medical conditions which could cause a seemingly healthy person to die suddenly.

The vegetable garden is doing well. During August there should be plenty of ripe tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, cucumbers, etc. The large tomatoes which I plant are all heirlooms and are 80 to 90 day varieties. They ripen late but the taste and size is worth the wait. One variety, Polish Giant, lives up to the name and regularly produces 1 to 1.5 pound fruits and some years 3 pound fruits. It is true...gigantes sunt (they are giants).

I hope that you are having an enjoyable winter.

Dave

G'day Dave

Thank you very much for your assistance - that death record had me confused with the lying down and nothing wasn't sure if the sacraments were or were not provided.

Anyway, I'm still waiting for winter to start, it has been weird, May was damp not really wet just rubbish drizzle to stop clothes on the line drying but not cold, June was drier, and even today in mid-winter the temperature was 21⁰C (it should be in the mid teens). Still no sign of getting a frost - coldest morning so far about 5⁰C. I've nearly got the veggie plot ready for planting (brush turkeys keep digging holes), need to plant early here to beat the Mediterranean Fruit Fly, and then the humid and hot weather from mid December. My harvest is for Christmas. My main problems are with environmentalists - no poisons to control fruit fly, they have baited all the foxes and over the last few years we are now being inundated with possums and now brush turkeys - the way it's going I'll need to build a green house to keep the pests at bay. I suppose as we age, we get crankier - or just realistic.

Until next time, thank again.

Cheers
Ted

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

Sam — Wed, 08 Jul 2026 21:03:27 +0200

Author: Sam

Posted: Wed Jul 08, 2026 2:03 pm

Sophia,

Your guess is as good as mine in regard to how Andrzej and Marya ended up in Luxor, Penn. I never really did find any records of their presence in the U.S. before 1913.

Good Hearted Woman

Sonny Poremba — Wed, 08 Jul 2026 16:29:15 +0200

Author: Sonny Poremba

Posted: Wed Jul 08, 2026 9:29 am

Thanks for giving it a listen!

Seeking Church Records for Grodno (Kadysz, Horaczki Towns)

Trish — Mon, 06 Jul 2026 17:21:42 +0200

Author: Trish

Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2026 10:21 am

Hi!

I think it's wonderful that you have so much information on the family. Hopefully you can get records so that you can connect all the people you found.

Regards,
Trish

Katarzyna Niemiec- born in Giedlarowa 12 October 1874

BarbOslo — Fri, 03 Jul 2026 19:23:23 +0200

Author: BarbOslo

Posted: Fri Jul 03, 2026 12:23 pm

It is quite easy to check these parish records. I would focus on the birth records. At that time, it was rare for a woman to be a witness at a wedding.
-Barb

Russian records translations p.2

marcelproust — Thu, 02 Jul 2026 22:45:37 +0200

Author: marcelproust

Posted: Thu Jul 02, 2026 3:45 pm

cbsibell@gmail.com wrote:

Hi,

Would you please translate the attached birth record?

Thank you!

Nr 111
Dawid Lichtensztajn

It happened in Michów on May 13th/25th, 1890, at 8 a.m.

There appeared personally: Aron Moszek Lichtensztajn, 37 years old, a carpenter, a permanent resident of Michów, in the presence of witnesses: Srul Lichtensztajn, 38 years old and Szmul Cwajgenbaum, 36 years old, both synagogue servants residing in Michów and presented to Us a newborn male child, declaring that the child was born in Michów on January 8th/20th of the current year, at 5 a.m., to his legal wife, Liba nee Angielczyk, 41 years old.

At circumcision the child was given the name Dawid.

This Act was not drafted in a timely manner because the father of the child did not report the birth within the proper timeframe.

This Act was read to the declarant and the witnesses, and it was signed by Us and witnesses. The father of the child declared that he was illiterate.

Witnesses: Szmul Cwajgenbaum, Srul Lichtensztajn.

Commune clerk, serving as Civil Registrar - illegible signature.

Please translate latin in marriage record for Kowal

galicia seeker — Thu, 02 Jul 2026 00:20:14 +0200

Author: galicia seeker

Posted: Wed Jul 01, 2026 5:20 pm

Dave, your information is always spot on - thank you for this. I am away for the next few days but will respond more fulsomely when I return - following house numbers in a village is usually correct but there are exceptions as I have discovered on my journeys - this query for sure was a nothing burger, but then....

Kind regards, Gail

Help deciphering town name

Trish — Sun, 28 Jun 2026 17:55:47 +0200

Author: Trish

Posted: Sun Jun 28, 2026 10:55 am

Sophia wrote:

Hi Trish,
Nice find!
For Walter Mańkowski the godparents are Ludwik Mańkowski and Jozefa Mańkowska (shown in their Latin forms on this record but I am writing all names in their Polish form).
On Gertrude's record, the godmother is Agnieszka Mańkowska.
Sophia

Hi Sophia,

Thank you for telling us the the names of the sponsors. They have to be related. Ludwik has to be Ludovicus that I posted the marriage record. Ludwik (Ludovicus) has the same names on his death record as Franz Mankowski.

Hopefully Curious comes back to look at the post.

Thanks again for your help.
Trish

Introducing myself

JaegerGenealogy — Fri, 26 Jun 2026 20:08:37 +0200

Author: JaegerGenealogy

Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2026 1:08 pm

Hello everyone,

My name is Tobiasz Jaeger, and I am a historian from Poland.

For many years, I have been passionate about genealogy, archival research, and the history of Polish families. One of the most meaningful moments in my own research was locating the grave of my great-grandfather, a soldier of the 15th Poznań Uhlan Regiment who was killed during the September Campaign of 1939. That journey inspired me to continue exploring family history and historical records.

I joined this forum because I enjoy learning from other researchers and sharing knowledge about Polish genealogy, archives, and local history. I am particularly interested in military history, historical documents, old photographs, family origins, and the history of villages, churches, and cemeteries in Poland.

I hope I can contribute to discussions here and, whenever possible, help other members with questions related to Polish archival research and family history. I also look forward to learning from your knowledge and experience.

Thank you, and I look forward to being part of this community.

Best regards,

Tobiasz Jaeger

Historian | Genealogy Researcher | Poland