PolishOrigins(TM) Forum

Which Archives for Lida, formally of Wilno Poland.

BobK — Sat Dec 15, 2012 10:10 pm

Author: BobK

Posted: Sat Dec 15, 2012 10:10 pm

My mother was born in Lida, province of Vinius (Wilno). Today it's in Belarus, but when she was
born in 1911 it was Poland and yes, it was originally Lithuania before it merged (and split again)
Their village was Nieciecz, about 9km east of Lida.

A Polish archive I wrote to, directed me to the Belarus archive, claiming they had no information
on Lida. The Belarus archive sent me a bill but nothing more. No information, no claims of what
they had or would send - and it appeared to be from a private individual, nothing refereing to any
archive. I wasn't about to send money to a name and adress without more information.

About a month back I found and wrote to a Lithuanian archive. http://www.archyvai.lt/en/archives/vilnius.html

They wrote back that they had no "date-base" (assume no computerized records) and would need to
search books, page by page and needed "precise names, dates and events" required.
As they only have the early years to 1864, it leaves me out as I only have my mothers birth date (1911)
and approximate years for her siblings and my grandparents.

I've written them, but hold no hope of learning anything from them.

Short of going there to hope I could search those old books, anyone have any ideas of who, what, where
to try next?

Re: Results back from Polish Archives...any insights?

James — Sat Dec 15, 2012 1:55 pm

Author: James

Posted: Sat Dec 15, 2012 1:55 pm

Hi kcs719,

Many of the Polish Archives will only have records for certain years, ( ie. 1860 - 1905), and so they would not have all of the info we are searching for, if our dates do not fall in that time span. Some records are at the local churches , some are at archives in other cities that are close by. Church archives usually have to be searched in person, along with a priest.
You may receive records from the archive in a smaller city, that only has certain years, and the records for other years are at an archive in larger city, in the same county / township.

An example of this is in my family research. My family is from Wloclawek, and I have obtained records from the archive there, but the city of Torun, also contains some records for Wloclawek. This is all part of the fun in doing research in Poland.

I hope that this is of some help, and don't give up.

james

Results back from Polish Archives...any insights?

kcs719 — Fri Dec 14, 2012 2:21 pm

Author: kcs719

Posted: Fri Dec 14, 2012 2:21 pm

Hi all,

I finally received information from the government archives in Bialystok, Lomza, Poland for my grandmother's family. I was able to get records for her birth, her parents names and all four of her younger brothers, who we didn't even know existed!

At the end of the email though, it states that they were unable to find a marriage certificate for her parents or death certificates for any member of her family.

Is this typical for Polish records? All of the births in her family were between 1893 and 1904, so assuming they survived childhood, they all would have died within the 20th century. Do the missing records possibly indicate these brothers and even her parents might have emigrated? How can I find more information about her siblings? Any and all insight would be much appreciated!!!!

Thank you all again for your tips and tricks and happy holidays