PolishOrigins(TM) Forum

Re: Roman Catholic Baptisms

pam56 — Sun Sep 28, 2025 12:00 pm

Author: pam56

Posted: Sun Sep 28, 2025 12:00 pm

Oh wow Sophia that is very interesting.I'll be waiting with bated breath.

Waited yars for the 1924 so this'll be a short wait for me hopefully, lol

Pam

Re: Roman Catholic Baptisms

Sophia — Sun Sep 28, 2025 7:52 am

Author: Sophia

Posted: Sun Sep 28, 2025 7:52 am

Hi Pam,

Out of curiosity, I went back to Geneteka to take a look at the baptisms indexed for Mlawa during the year 1924. Here:

https://geneteka.genealodzy.pl/index.php?op=gt&lang=pol&bdm=B&w=07mz&rid=1974&search_lastname=&search_name=&search_lastname2=&search_name2=&from_date=1924&to_date=1924&ordertable=[[0,%22asc%22],[1,%22asc%22],[2,%22asc%22]]&searchtable=&rpp1=0&rpp2=50

If you look at the last column, "Uwagi," you will notice that a number of them have the icon "i" in that column. If you hover over an individual's "i" you will see that the indexer has added the person's date of birth.

For the first few people on the page, it all seems quite logical. Those babies were born in September through December of 1923 and then baptized early in 1924. This should give you hope that your Piotr, born in October 1924, could still show up in the baptism records for 1925. So make sure to check when they become available.

If you keep looking, you will see that out of the total 425 baptisms in 1924, fully 56 of them were for people born in a year other than 1924. Some of them go back a few years, others more than a decade. I find it very interesting.

I hope the researcher you found is able to help!

Sophia

Re: Roman Catholic Baptisms

pam56 — Fri Sep 26, 2025 5:11 am

Author: pam56

Posted: Fri Sep 26, 2025 5:11 am

Thanks Sophia

I have found a researcher based in Britain who specializes in Polish records so I might ask him to search for Platon around Rowne like you suggested.

Didn't realise but after speaking to grandaughter last night she had written to the archives previously re Piotr. Seems no luck with the search request

Any luck with those early war dates or am I reading it wrong [that wouldn't be surprising lol]

Pam

Re: Roman Catholic Baptisms

Sophia — Fri Sep 26, 2025 4:58 am

Author: Sophia

Posted: Fri Sep 26, 2025 4:58 am

Additional note: In that Geneteka index that I posted, there is a birth record in 1924 for a Piotr Ciereszko, which interested me. However, the parents' names don't match, and the indexer has added the birth date as 03.02.1924 (hover your mouse over the icon "i" to see it) and this does not match with the birth date Piotr Teresko you are looking for. I am unable to find the records for that church, to see it myself.

Re: Piotr's family

Sophia — Thu Sep 25, 2025 5:16 pm

Author: Sophia

Posted: Thu Sep 25, 2025 5:16 pm

pam56 wrote:

Sophia, Barb & Diana
Have come to conclusion that Piotr wasn't born in Mlawa despite what he said. Maybe went there as a baby/child etc.

I have 3 options, Platon's Birth, Marriage or death, as I can see based on what Piotr said. Maybe Birth as we have a place?

a] Piotr was an only child and his father died when he was a baby. -Not sure his definition of baby, under 2?? so Platon died between 1924-1929 [Piotr aged 0-5.] Think 5 must be cut off point as he would be classed as a child rather than a baby
b] His father was born in Rowno/Rivne - Working on Piotr's d.o.b I think earliest d.o.b would be approx 1908 [aged 16] onwards
c] His father married Marja [Maria] Szyszko - only child - Marriage between 1919 - 1924 ??

What are your views on which route or option would be easiest to try please.
Pam

Hi everyone,

The difficult part about finding Platon's death record is the uncertainty of where the family lived at that time. They may have already been in Poland.

My suggestion is to find a researcher who is familiar with the records from Rowne/Rivne, and say you are looking for any trace of Platon, be it a birth record, a marriage record, a military record, a record from resident lists, whatever is available. And see what they say.

We don't have a solid sense of where the paths of Maria Szyszko and Platon Teresko intersected. Did he leave the Rowne area, come to some part of Poland and meet Maria there? Did Maria then migrate to Mlawa after his untimely death, to raise her child Piotr where some cousin of hers resided? So this part of the research is still very vague regarding location. You would need to find an area where Szysko and Teresko (or Tereszko) are both present, to start looking for a marriage to Maria and a birth of Piotr.

For what it's worth, I am also seeing Ciereszko in Bialorus on Geneteka, with the note that the name might be in a sense interchangeable with Tereszko:

https://geneteka.genealodzy.pl/index.php?op=gt&lang=pol&search_lastname=Ciereszko&search_lastname2=&from_date=&to_date=&exac=&rid=B&bdm=B&w=22br&ordertable=[[0,%22desc%22]]&searchtable=&rpp1=0&rpp2=50

Anyway, one does not want to send a professional genealogist off on a vague chase ("the geese went that way...") so my vote is to start in Rowne.

I do support your idea of providing ranges of years to help focus the Platon search, with the latest possible year of Platon's birth being around 1908. When would you start that range? 1880s?

Anyone else want to share their thoughts?
Sophia

Piotr's family

pam56 — Thu Sep 25, 2025 5:32 am

Author: pam56

Posted: Thu Sep 25, 2025 5:32 am

Sophia, Barb & Diana
Have come to conclusion that Piotr wasn't born in Mlawa despite what he said. Maybe went there as a baby/child etc.

I have 3 options, Platon's Birth, Marriage or death, as I can see based on what Piotr said. Maybe Birth as we have a place?

a] Piotr was an only child and his father died when he was a baby. -Not sure his definition of baby, under 2?? so Platon died between 1924-1929 [Piotr aged 0-5.] Think 5 must be cut off point as he would be classed as a child rather than a baby
b] His father was born in Rowno/Rivne - Working on Piotr's d.o.b I think earliest d.o.b would be approx 1908 [aged 16] onwards
c] His father married Marja [Maria] Szyszko - only child - Marriage between 1919 - 1924 ??

What are your views on which route or option would be easiest to try please.
Pam

Re: Roman Catholic Baptisms

pam56 — Mon Sep 22, 2025 8:08 am

Author: pam56

Posted: Mon Sep 22, 2025 8:08 am

Wow Sophia you have been busy. Great news that we have at least some Tereskos in the right area for Platon. I'm full of hope lol. I will look thru the records now can't wit.

Yes I did contact a researcher many years ago for Piot's birth but he had no luck either. Maybe platon may be an easier option. As I have a lot of info on Piotr etc the birrth record may not be of any help anyway.
Well off to start searching ...going to be a long night lol

Thanks Sophia for trying sso hard to help

Pam

Re: Roman Catholic Baptisms

Sophia — Mon Sep 22, 2025 7:36 am

Author: Sophia

Posted: Mon Sep 22, 2025 7:36 am

Hi Pam and Barb and Diane,

There are online records from Rowne. If you go here and ask your browser to translate the Ukrainian to English, you will see a list of files:

https://uk.m.wikisource.org/wiki/%D0%90%D1%80%D1%85%D1%96%D0%B2:%D0%94%D0%90%D0%A0%D0%9E/%D0%A0-740

If you open them, you will see very nice images and an easy way to move forward a page and back a page. Some of the records are in Russian, others in Polish. There are some Roman Catholic church records in this but the way I came across this resource was through a recent thread here on the forum, where Kris (user name "Iskou") was trying to trace his Jewish ancestors in Rowne. It's a long thread but I will take you to the end of it:

https://forum.polishorigins.com/viewtopic.php?t=23663&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=30

You will see in this thread that Kris' post caught the attention of Walter who hired a professional genealogist and had success. Perhaps you would consider contacting him to see what you can learn.

In my (admittedly random) hunt through the Rowne records, the closest thing I could find was reference to a "Tereszko" and I include an image here. Look at the third column, third name, and you will see it. This image is from a book of inhabitants from Rowne in 1921. No way of knowing if there is any connection to your family. The given names on this page are Jewish, but not every name in the book is.

Sophia

Re: Roman Catholic Baptisms

looking for clues — Sun Sep 21, 2025 7:18 pm

Author: looking for clues

Posted: Sun Sep 21, 2025 7:18 pm

Hi Pam,
It sounds like you have been tracking down every lead and have probably seen these, but just in case you haven't......

https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=811003.0
In 2019 Gaynori was researching Piotr Teresko from Mlawa for her granddaughter. Has other family names in the post. Of note, she says "His father died when he was very little and brought up by Anna and his Uncle/Grandfather Valentino. We think his Mother/Father had a brother called Stephan (he had 3 children Alexander, Nicolai & Anatasia). (This is from a distant cousn who knew Piotr.)" She also has a 1962 naturalization certificate. It appears that granddaugher may have written to Poland to request birth record.

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVDH-4VFD?lang=en
1949 England marriage registration for Piotr Teresko and Lillian W Johnson. If the marriage was performed in a Catholic church, the registration may give you clues as to what parish. Catholic marriage records can give great details, like where the the bride and groom were baptized. They are especially helpful if the priest was also Polish (that way names and places were more likely spelled correctly.)

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:CG5Y-7C2M?lang=en and https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/281133117/piotr-teresko
I see that Piotr Teresko born October 1 1924, died 2008 was commemorated on a church plaque in Michigan

https://www.britannica.com/place/Rivne-Ukrainehttps://www.britannica.com/place/Rivne-Ukraine. and https://www.britannica.com/place/Rivne-Ukraine
You point out that Platon could have been born in Rivno per Piotr's army records. There was a Rivno - Rivne - Rowno that was part of Poland and now a part of Ukraine.

https://geneteka.genealodzy.pl/index.php?op=gt&lang=eng&bdm=B&w=21uk&rid=B&search_lastname=tereszko&search_name=&search_lastname2=&search_name2=&from_date=&to_date=&exac=1&rpp1=&ordertable=
The Teresko and Tereszko names shows up in geneteka under Ukraine but did not find your specific family records

Great photo of Piotr and his aunt!

Good luck on your continued search.
Diane

Re: Roman Catholic Baptisms

pam56 — Sun Sep 21, 2025 1:37 am

Author: pam56

Posted: Sun Sep 21, 2025 1:37 am

Thanks Barb

I don't think so either. Neither name is showing up not even any relatives. I was looking through the marriages yesterday and couldn't find a thing.Monica [MOD] seems to think the street, Mlawa 6, Makowskiego Street was in Dzialdowo.

That sounds interesting, wonder what Sophia has.
Will check out the photos, just preparing a casserole for lunch. Coerced husband for casserole rather than a Sunday Roast. Means I can get back to the important stuff like family history lol.
Pam

Re: Roman Catholic Baptisms

BarbOslo — Sat Sep 20, 2025 2:24 pm

Author: BarbOslo

Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2025 2:24 pm

Hello,
I have contacted a person from Mlawa. He said that Makowskiego Street did not exist. The closest to this is Makowa Street, which Sophia mentioned earlier.
He recommended this page on Facebook. There you can find some old photos from Mlawa.
https://www.facebook.com/search/top?q=stowarzyszenia%20m%C5%82awa%20miasto%20zabytkowe

I spoke with Sophia. We suspect that Maria was not born in Mlawa and she did not get married there, either. Sophia is writing to you about something she found in Rivne.

Regards,
-Barb

Re: Roman Catholic Baptisms

pam56 — Fri Sep 19, 2025 9:28 am

Author: pam56

Posted: Fri Sep 19, 2025 9:28 am

Thank you Sophia.
Yes so much to look at.
I can't believe that this family is sooooo elusive.I thought once I'd gleaned the evidence i.e dob & place of birth it would be plain sailing....how wrong was I lol.
Yes I'll carry on, been at this for years and refuse to be beaten.
I have a' to do list' as long as my arm but will keep ticking it off. Was looking at photos last night and I think once got some more info that I'd love to visit Mlawa etc.
Pam

Re: Roman Catholic Baptisms

Sophia — Fri Sep 19, 2025 6:23 am

Author: Sophia

Posted: Fri Sep 19, 2025 6:23 am

Hi Pam,

So much happening here. To your question about deaths, you can look at the records yourself up through 1938. Of course that won't get you Piotr's mother but theoretically his father (or any other extended family member, Szyszko or Teresko). If you look here:
https://metryki.genbaza.pl/genbaza,list,389386,1
You will see that in the later years which are of interest to us, there are no birth records but they have grouped the marriage and death records together (example: 1935MZ will have marriages first, then deaths). The 1935 example is lovely, because the files ending in "sl.JPG" are the marriages and the files ending in "zg.PJG" are the deaths. So to find an index for the marriages, go to the last page of the marriages, in this case 063_sl.JPG and you can look at the index. In other years, for example 1938_MZ you are left to guess where the marriages end and the deaths begin. Hint: marriages take up a lot of space on a page, whereas deaths are smaller. So you can pick a random image somewhere near the middle of the pack, then page forward or backward until you find the marriage index (in this case, in 1938, it is 049.JPG). The files that have the "_al" ending are allegata, I think you and Barb were finding the records on FamilySearch or elsewhere and they were called annexes, same thing, but my opinion is that if you cannot find the marriage in the marriage index, why look for the annex.

To your question of illegitimate birth, yes, he would be indexed under his mother's name. But again, very hard to find any Szyszko records in Mlawa itself. Sigh.

Keep on keeping on, as they say.
Sophia

Re: Roman Catholic Baptisms

pam56 — Fri Sep 19, 2025 4:45 am

Author: pam56

Posted: Fri Sep 19, 2025 4:45 am

It appears that both of Piotr's parents died before February 1945. Unfortunately I found no documents in the annexes for the year 1923-24.

Hi Barb
Did you find their deaths? The dates fit in as Piotr says his Mother was deceased by 1944.

Pam

Unmarried?

pam56 — Fri Sep 19, 2025 4:41 am

Author: pam56

Posted: Fri Sep 19, 2025 4:41 am

Just another one of my many thoughts lol

What if Piotr's parents never married and he was illg. Would he be registed under his Mother's surname even if the father was known at the time of his birth.

Pam

Piot'r Mother

pam56 — Fri Sep 19, 2025 3:37 am

Author: pam56

Posted: Fri Sep 19, 2025 3:37 am

Sopia
In Piot's letter he states
"In Spring 1942 Germans came to our house......my Mother was crying non-stop."

So she was still alive in 1942.

Army Record in 1945 states that his Mother is dead.

Family Lore:

That Maria was shot by Germans

Piotr's Father Plato died when Piotr was a baby. His,[Piotrs] Uncle gave Maria a small plot of land to sustain herself. This Uncle was supposedly Plato's brother.

Barb Thank you for looking.

Re: Roman Catholic Baptisms

BarbOslo — Thu Sep 18, 2025 5:37 pm

Author: BarbOslo

Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2025 5:37 pm

It appears that both of Piotr's parents died before February 1945. Unfortunately I found no documents in the annexes for the year 1923-24.
-Barb

Re: index

Sophia — Thu Sep 18, 2025 5:25 pm

Author: Sophia

Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2025 5:25 pm

pam56 wrote:

This is the index No 182 2nd down

Hi Pam,

Yes, the index confirms what Barb read for you in the record. It is for Zofia Sychowska. I can see how the handwriting would have given you hope that the surname was Szyszko. I am not seeing much of the name Szyszko in the Mlawa records, in fact only a few Szyszkowski; however, there are many Szyszko in other parishes in woj. Mazowieckie. So, adding that to what you wrote much earlier today, I think you may be right about Piotr being born (or at least baptized) elsewhere. It may be that they moved to Mlawa proper when he was at such a young age that he might have thought he always lived there.

What is the family lore about Piotr's mother? Did she die when he was younger, or during the war years?

Sophia

index

pam56 — Thu Sep 18, 2025 12:27 pm

Author: pam56

Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2025 12:27 pm

This is the index No 182 2nd down

Re: Roman Catholic Baptisms

BarbOslo — Thu Sep 18, 2025 12:13 pm

Author: BarbOslo

Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2025 12:13 pm

This is the birth record of Zofia Sychowska, daughter of Władysław and Marianna Łukasiak.

-Barb