PolishOrigins(TM) Forum

Re: Looking for relatives of Wesolowski, Wesolek, Jankowski,

mcdonald0517 — Thu Nov 07, 2019 7:46 pm

Author: mcdonald0517

Posted: Thu Nov 07, 2019 7:46 pm

Why thank you, EanWhitson, for your kind words!

I appreciate that you took the time to say so....especially given your expertise with the database.

I chose to post the instructions in the public form rather than in private email in the hope that others who are just beginning their search might find it a helpful guide.

Best,
Cynthia

Re: Looking for relatives of Wesolowski, Wesolek, Jankowski,

EANWhitson — Thu Nov 07, 2019 5:28 pm

Author: EANWhitson

Posted: Thu Nov 07, 2019 5:28 pm

While this is not my parish and I am VERY familiar with this site, I wanted to commend you, Cynthia, for doing such a thorough job of explaining to Teri how to find things!! Well done!

Re: Looking for relatives of Wesolowski, Wesolek, Jankowski,

mcdonald0517 — Thu Nov 07, 2019 3:33 pm

Author: mcdonald0517

Posted: Thu Nov 07, 2019 3:33 pm

Hi Teri,

Here is the second set of instructions as promised.

Now that you have the 1881 marriage record for Michal and Marianna, you can begin searching for birth records of their children.

You will need to have the image I provided for you previously of the Wesolek name written in Russian script in front of you so you can refer to it when searching the indices. Remember, you don't have to read Russian. It is about pattern recognition. Look at the image of the surname in Russian that I attached. The first letter of Wesolek in Russian script looks like a capital "B". It is a small word. It has no letters with tails or heads (above or below the line of writing), and the second letter looks like an "e", the third looks like "c" and next to last letter looks like a "k".

1. Click on the link I gave you for all the online parish books for Szrensk:

http://metryki.genealodzy.pl/metryki.php?op=sy&ar=13&zs=0616d

3. You can assume Marianna was married at about 19-20 years old. That means she would be able to bear children for about 20 years. This means you would look at the parish book for each year between 1881-1901 (or perhaps a bit beyond 1901). Begin by selecting the year 1881.

4. The page will load. Look to the right side of the page. Under "1881", click on Urodzenia / U (births). NOTE: "M" is for Małżeństwa (marriages), and "Z" is for Zgony (deaths).

5. You will see a list of numbers in columns. The numbers represent the record #s in the form of ranges, i.e., 002-003 means if you click on this, you will find records 2 and 3 of the parish book. You will also see several links at the end of the columns beginning with the letters "SKU". These are the birth index pages for the parish book.

6. Select SKU-1 (first page of the index). An image written in Russian will appear. Look at the lower right side of the image. This is where the birth index for 1881 begins. You will see names written in Russian script in the following columns: record #, Surname, Given name. Look at the image I gave you of the Wesolek surname written in Russian script. Compare the first letter of Wesolek in Russian script to the first letters of the surnames on the index page and see if there is a match. NOTE: what looks like a capital "B" in Russian script is the equivalent the Polish letter "W" when pronounced. You will notice there is not a match on that page of the index.

7. Look to the top left of your computer screen and you will see 3 small square icons. The first square takes you back to the main map page of the database. The second square takes you back to the list of records for 1881 (left side of page) and other years available (right side of page). The third square is to download the image of the record you are currently viewing. To go back to the 1881 list of birth records and indices, click the second square.

8. Now you should be back at the page for 1881 births with the columns of number ranges. Select the next index page "SKU-2". An image of page 2 of the index for 1881 births will appear. Remember, columns are: record#, Surname, Given name. Again, look at the first letter of Wesolek in Russian (looks like "B). You will see a whole list of surnames on the page that begin with "B". Now look at the second letter of Wesolek in Russian. It looks like "e". Scan the list of surnames for any beginning with what looks like "Beco...". You will notice there are none. That means no Wesolek child was born in 1881.

9. Look to the top left of your computer screen and you will see 3 small square icons. To go back to the list of birth records and indices, click the second square. After the page loads, look to the right of the page and you will see other years available. Select "Urodzenia" (births) for 1882.

10. You will see the familiar columns of number ranges and index pages (SKU-). Select SKU-1. The first page of the parish book index for births will appear. Remember columns: record #, Surname, Given name. Scan the page for surnames that begin with "B". When you see them, look for surnames that begin with what looks like "Bec...". When you see it, compare the rest of the surname in the index to the example of Wesolek in Russian script I gave you earlier to see if it could be a good match. If it looks like a match (and it does), look at the record number to the left of the surname (in this case, it is 33).

11. Look to the top left of your computer screen and you will see 3 small square icons. Select the second square that will take you back to the list of records for 1882 (left side of page).

12. Select the range of numbers that contains the record number indicated by the index (in this case for record 33 you select the range 031-034. A page of birth records from the parish book will appear. Notice there are 2 records per page and 2 pages per image. So, you are looking at 4 records numbered 31, 32, 33, 34 in the margin. Find record 33.

13. Look at each line of the record to see if the names of the parents and the child's given name are written in Polish after the Russian. The Russian is usually followed by a "/" then the Polish version of the name. The father's name is usually listed within the first 3-4 lines of the record. The mother's name is usually listed about halfway or more in the record, and the child's given name is about 3-4 lines after the mother's name. In this example, look at line 3 and you will see "/Michal Wesolek". Look at line 10 and you will see the mother's name separated, first "/Marianna" then some Russian, then "/Dawbrowskiej". Then look at the end of line 12 and you will see the given name of the child "/Szymon Wladyslaw". Now you know, this is the birth record for their first born child!

14. Look to the top left of your computer screen and you will see 3 small square icons. Click on the third square to download the image to your computer. It will download the to the download folder of your computer, and it will have a file name of record range you downloaded, in this case: 031-034.jpg. You can rename the file for easier recognition. I usually rename mine like this: 1882-33 Szymon Wesolek birth

15. Congratulations! You just found the birth record for Michal and Marianna's first child. Now, to find birth records for the rest of their children, look to the top left of your computer screen and you will see 3 small square icons. Select the second square to return to the 1882 list of records (left side of page) and other years available (right side of page). Select 1883, Urodzenia, go to step 5 of these instructions and repeat.

If you have any questions, or need any help along the way, let me know. After you find all the birth records, let me know and I will tell you how to locate records for the marriages of their children.

Happy hunting,
Cynthia

Thank you

TerriLD — Sun Nov 03, 2019 8:21 pm

Author: TerriLD

Posted: Sun Nov 03, 2019 8:21 pm

I’m going to check your private message now.

Thank you

TerriLD — Sun Nov 03, 2019 8:21 pm

Author: TerriLD

Posted: Sun Nov 03, 2019 8:21 pm

I’m going to check your private message now.

Re: Looking for relatives of Wesolowski, Wesolek, Jankowski,

mcdonald0517 — Sun Nov 03, 2019 7:46 pm

Author: mcdonald0517

Posted: Sun Nov 03, 2019 7:46 pm

Hi Terri,

We live n California. We looked at LOT but chose to fly United. Both were good, but United had better times and deals for what we wanted.

One on my ancestral villages is about 15 miles northeast of your family village. We went to the Mlawa archive when we were there.

I hope you can work something out with POlish Origins for your trip. They are wonderful!

Your sleuthing is paying off - how exciting!

Well done you for successfully navigating the site and getting the marriage document. Did you see Michals name on line 7 of the record?

I will post more instructions later tonight or tomorrow morning....

You are on a roll! I will send you a private message via this website with my email address so we can talk off line.

Best,
Cynthia

Looking for relatives of Wesolowski, Wesolek, Jankowski,

TerriLD — Sun Nov 03, 2019 7:16 pm

Author: TerriLD

Posted: Sun Nov 03, 2019 7:16 pm

Hope I'm not speaking too soon, but I followed all of your instructions above and I got to the actual open book photo, which I did print out. I didn't find it too difficult because your instructions were excellent.

So, yes! I'd love the next set of instructions which will enable me to locate records of their children.
Thank you and best to you,
Terri

Looking for relatives of Wesolowski, Wesolek, Jankowski,

TerriLD — Sun Nov 03, 2019 3:33 pm

Author: TerriLD

Posted: Sun Nov 03, 2019 3:33 pm

Hello Cynthia,
You have been a wealth of information and I certainly appreciated it.

Your trip last year sounded very exciting! It truly is a trip of a lifetime. Heritage has always been important to me and I think if one has followed it since childhood, as an adult it becomes even more precious.

We will be flying over, etc. on our own. We're still in the early planning stages, however, we do plan to spend a few days in Warsaw on arrival and then we possibly wanted to go to Krakow and from there do the tour of Auschwitz. That would be after I visit my grandmother's area. But that part is subject to change based on what turns up for my grandmother's area. We may end up spending more time in that area.

I did contact Polish Origins on Friday to see about getting a guide when we do my grandmother's area. Friday was a holiday in Poland. But they wrote back, explained the holiday and said someone would get back to me on Monday (tomorrow) So hopefully, this will work out because due to the language barrier, I know it will be much more enriching to have a guide to translate and assist us.

I had considered about the mass and the donation, so thank you for telling me about that. As my trip gets closer, perhaps I can get with you about more questions concerning this. How wonderful for you to be there in spirit for the days of the mass. That's a lovely thought.

I wanted to ask but understand if you want to remain private.....do you live in the US? And if so, which airline did you fly to Poland? We're considering LOT.

I haven't had a chance to get into the data base today but thank you so much for explaining about your reasoning and allowing me the chance of discovery. That's very kind of you. I'm afraid I'm a bit unclear though as to what, exactly, I will be pulling up in the records. Will it be the pages written in Russian/Polish? I'm afraid I have a terrible time trying to decipher the letters, etc. Somebody on Polish Forums found the marriage listing for me last week. It was on a site Geneteka.genealodzy.pl It's very easy for me to read as it's all typed with year, record, surname, and parents. The SKAN is also there for me to access....however, that takes me to the actual hand written record that has me thoroughly confused. When I saw the typed information, I got chills. I never knew the names of my great-great grandparents and now I DO! It's so exciting.

Also.....my sleuthing this week has really paid off. This morning, I took a chance via Facebook. I had the name of a woman, first and last name and decided to enter it in search. I ended up finding a girl who is the daughter-in-law of "Barbara" in one of the letters that I have. Barbara still lives in the Mlawa area! She doesn't speak English though. However, this girl was extremely helpful and is acting as the go-between. I sent her photos via FB messenger and she said she'll speak to her mother-in-law tomorrow and send her the photos and give her the names of my grandmother and my aunt. So it's amazing to me that all of a sudden, after 20 of research on and off, that this past week has brought me info at warp speed. I've always maintained everything happens precisely when it's supposed to. So hopefully through this Barbara, who is possibly related to me, I will discover even more information.

I also meant to ask you if your family is located anywhere near where mine is? Or did you visit a different area of Poland?
Again, thank you so much. Enjoy your day and I'll be in touch after I attempt that database.
Best,
Terri

Re: Looking for relatives of Wesolowski, Wesolek, Jankowski,

mcdonald0517 — Sat Nov 02, 2019 6:42 pm

Author: mcdonald0517

Posted: Sat Nov 02, 2019 6:42 pm

Hi Terri,

Thank you so much for your kind words. I do understand how excited you are! We hired Polish Origins to do a customized tour for us last year. All four of my grandparents immigrated from Poland, and we got to see all of the villages and family churches! It was a trip of a lifetime for us. Family reunion with living relatives and discovering other living relatives on the spot while we were there. You are going to have such a memorable trip.

Are you going to Poland on your own or with a tour? If with a tour, are you going with Polish Origins?

A tip if you haven't considered it: in each family church I visited, I had a Mass said in memory of that branch of my family and gave the priest a donation for the church. I wrote all the dates on my calendar when I returned and each time the day came, I was there in spirit. I still have all of the Mass cards.

I am very gratified that I was able to help you. If you need help when you try to use the database with the instructions I provided, just let me know. I am here if you need me.

By the way, there is a reason I am not just posting the birth records I found for your family. I am trying to give you the chance to discover your family records for yourself because I know how exciting that is and how fulfilling it is. I don't want to rob you of that experience. That being said, if you can't or don't want to go through the do it yourself process, I am happy to post the records I found for you. Just let me know either way.

Best,
Cynthia

Re: Looking for relatives of Wesolowski, Wesolek, Jankowski,

TerriLD — Sat Nov 02, 2019 2:31 pm

Author: TerriLD

Posted: Sat Nov 02, 2019 2:31 pm

You are amazing! You have no idea how excited I am. At age 72 to finally have so much information about my beloved Babcia and the village she left to begin a new life.

I wanted to thank you before I began reading. To think that I will be able to visit her parish church is a dream come true.

From a young age, I was enthralled with the stories that my father and aunt would tell me about my grandmother coming to America. Unfortunately, she didn’t speak English and I spoke no Polish. However, love is the universal language because we did manage to communicate and as the only granddaughter, we were very close.

My husband and I visited Ellis IsLand in the late 1970’s, before it was even an official museum and I treasure the photos I took there because I’m sure it looked similar in 1909, when she came.

I began seriously searching for information about 20 years ago with my first PC. I was thrilled to find her ship manifest and Ellis Island information online and had printed everything out. But it’s been a long journey getting to where I am now.

I truly believe timing is everything because only a couple weeks ago when I began planning my trip to Poland in April, more information is falling into place! You have been instrumental in helping to accomplish this. I am deeply grateful and I know my Babcia is too!
I will definitely keep you posted.
Best,
Terri

Re: Looking for relatives of Wesolowski, Wesolek, Jankowski,

mcdonald0517 — Sat Nov 02, 2019 2:04 pm

Author: mcdonald0517

Posted: Sat Nov 02, 2019 2:04 pm

Hi Terri,

Here is the link to your family's parish Church (translated into English by Google):

https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=pl&u=http://parafiaszrensk.pl/&prev=search

The original page in Polish:

http://parafiaszrensk.pl/

The address and contact info for the parish is:

Parafia pw. św. Wojciecha, Szreńsk
ul. Wikariacka 1
06-550 Szreńsk
tel. 23 653 40 15

szrensk@diecezjaplocka.pl

Best,
Cynthia

Re: Looking for relatives of Wesolowski, Wesolek, Jankowski,

TerriLD — Sat Nov 02, 2019 12:56 pm

Author: TerriLD

Posted: Sat Nov 02, 2019 12:56 pm

Oh, my goodness! Thank you so much!
It is a bit daunting but I’m willing to give it a try.
Your instructions are amazing and after I read them over again, I plan to attempt to follow them.

I’ve surprised myself in just the past week translating some of the letters I have. And I have found that I’m unconsciously beginning to understand letters unfamiliar to me before. Especially the letter z and lower case l.
So when I have some time tomorrow, I will begin.
Thank you again and I will keep you posted.
Best,
Terri

Re: Looking for relatives of Wesolowski, Wesolek, Jankowski,

mcdonald0517 — Sat Nov 02, 2019 12:22 pm

Author: mcdonald0517

Posted: Sat Nov 02, 2019 12:22 pm

Hi Terri,

You are very welcome. I am happy to help.

It takes some practice to use the link for the database I provided. I will post the actual records to this forum thread later today. Meanwhile, here are some basic instructions in case you want to try it yourself.

1. Begin with the information that you know about from the Geneteka Index I gave you earlier for the marriage records. The marriage record index for Michal and Anna (see below) gives you the year (1881) and the record # (6); name of groom and his parent; name of bride and her parents; parish location; and a link to the SKAN at the end of the line:

1881; 6; Michał Wesołek (Piotr, Magdalena Płocharska); Anna Marianna Dąbrowska (Szymon, Magdalena Kołaczkowska); Szreńsk; SKAN

2. Click on the link I gave you for all the online parish books for Szrensk:

http://metryki.genealodzy.pl/metryki.php?op=sy&ar=13&zs=0616d

3. Click on the year 1881.

4. Click on "M" for Małżeństwa (marriages). NOTE: "U" is for Urodzenia (births), and "Z" is for Zgony (deaths).

5. You will see a list of numbers in columns. The numbers represent the record #s in the form of ranges, i.e., 002-003 means if you click on this, you will find records 2 and 3 of the parish book. So, you know from the Geneteka index line that their marriage is record 6. So, click on the range that contains record 6, i.e., 006-007.

6. An image of the page from the parish book with records 6 and 7 will display. Look for record 6 (noted in margin). Look at the 7th line of the record which is written in Russian script. You will see after a slash "/" the name Michal Wesolek - the groom. So you know this is the right record. You will also see in this record what the surname Wesolek looks like when written in Russian script - that is important to know so you can find additional records later like birth and death records. See the attached image that isolates the name in Russian and Polish.

7. Look to the top left of the screen and you will see 3 small square icons. The first square takes you back to the main map page of the database. The second square takes you back to the list of records for 1881 (left side of page) and other years available (right side of page). The third square is to download the image of the record you are currently viewing. To download the marriage record, click that third square. It will automatically download the JPEG image of the record to your computer's "Downloads" folder. Note the name of the file will be the record range you selected, in this case 006-007.jpg You can rename the file later for easy identification.

That's it for now. Learning to use this database will be important for your research, so I encourage you to give it a try. If you click the wrong button, just use your browser back arrow to take you back where you were and try again. It just takes some practice. You can do it. Once you get the hang of it, the next steps for locating birth, marriage, and death records for their children will be easier. You don't need to read or understand Russian or Polish to do this. It just requires a bit of practice, some intuition, trial and error, and an eye for pattern recognition (being able to recognize the shape and pattern of the letters in their surname written in Russian). Look at the image of the surname in Russian that I attached. The first letter of Wesolek in Russian script looks like a capital "B". It is a small word. It has no letters with tails or heads (above or below the line of writing), and the second letter looks like an "e" and next to last letter looks like a "k".

Let me know if you want the next set of instructions for locating records for their children.

best,
Cynthia

Unable to understand

TerriLD — Sat Nov 02, 2019 7:47 am

Author: TerriLD

Posted: Sat Nov 02, 2019 7:47 am

Hi Cynthia,
I went to the link, but I don’t know what number to click for correct page. So I’m not able to find the records.
Terri

Re: Looking for relatives of Wesolowski, Wesolek, Jankowski,

TerriLD — Sat Nov 02, 2019 7:41 am

Author: TerriLD

Posted: Sat Nov 02, 2019 7:41 am

Hi Cynthia,
I do not have birth records for my grandmother or her siblings. Thank you SO much! I will go to the link you gave me.

My grandmother died here in America in 1986 at age 95. So I have her death record. She came in 1909, married, had my father and his siblings and lived to be 95.

Many of the letters I have to my grandmother and aunt in the 1970s are postmarked Kyrzwi. But there seemed to be different names added on to Kryzwi when I tried to research. Thank you so much for clarifying it is Boski. That is the village I hope to visit in April.

You have been extremely helpful to me and I deeply appreciate it.
Best,
Terri

Re: Looking for relatives of Wesolowski, Wesolek, Jankowski,

mcdonald0517 — Sat Nov 02, 2019 12:48 am

Author: mcdonald0517

Posted: Sat Nov 02, 2019 12:48 am

Hi Terri,

I found your grandmother’s birth record in the online parish books. I also found birth records for about 5-6 of her siblings.

Do you have these records already? By tracing the births, marriages, and children of her siblings, you may be able to locate living relatives.

Let me know if you want them.

The family seemed to have stayed in the same village, so you may find her death record there. Here is a current description of the village:

Krzywki-Bośki [ˈkʂɨfki ˈbɔɕki] is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Szreńsk, within Mława County, Masovian Voivodeship, in east-central Poland.[1] It lies approximately 6 kilometres (4 mi) north of Szreńsk, 18 km (11 mi) west of Mława, and 112 km (70 mi) north-west of Warsaw.

And here is the link to the records from 1826-1912

http://metryki.genealodzy.pl/metryki.php?op=sy&ar=13&zs=0616d

I will look online tomorrow to see if I can find information about the parish church.

Best,
Cynthia

Wesolowski

TerriLD — Fri Nov 01, 2019 8:07 pm

Author: TerriLD

Posted: Fri Nov 01, 2019 8:07 pm

Thank you, but I already have the marriage info.
I’m trying to connect with family still living, in order to find burial spots and where the family farm and house was located when my grandmother left Poland.

Re: Looking for relatives of Wesolowski, Wesolek, Jankowski,

mcdonald0517 — Fri Nov 01, 2019 7:59 pm

Author: mcdonald0517

Posted: Fri Nov 01, 2019 7:59 pm

Hello Terri,

Here is the link to view the marriage records of:

1) Michał Wesołek and Anna Marianna Dąbrowska and 2) Their daughter, Marianna Wesołek and Walenty Jankowski

http://www.geneteka.genealodzy.pl/index.php?op=gt&lang=pol&bdm=S&w=07mz&rid=3646&search_lastname=Wesolek&search_name=Michal&search_lastname2=D%C4%85browska&search_name2=Marianna&from_date=&to_date=&rpp1=&ordertable=

At the end of each line is a scan of the record.

Best,
Cynthia

Looking for relatives of Wesolowski, Wesolek, Jankowski,

TerriLD — Fri Nov 01, 2019 6:39 pm

Author: TerriLD

Posted: Fri Nov 01, 2019 6:39 pm

My grandmother, Julianna born 1890 (Julia in America) immigrated in May 1909 from Krzywki, Mlawa.

I always thought her maiden name was Wesolowski and that is on her Ellis Island papers. However, recent searches indicate in Poland, the name could have been Wesolek.

My grandmother's parents were Michal and Marianna Wesolek. I believe her sister, Marianna, married Walenty Jankowski. His parents were Antonia and Scholastyka Buchotz.

I have letters from the 1970's from probably distant cousins. One of whom is Krystyna Kaminska, living in Bartoszyce. She was born in 1950. My aunt Veronica, Julia's daughter, visited family in Poland in 1973 and I have the photos, in addition to the photos of a funeral in Poland in 1986.

I'm very interested in connecting with family in order to gain more information about my great-grandparents in Poland and where they might be buried.
Thank you for any assistance.