PolishOrigins(TM) Forum

Re: Seeking help locating birth record — Rybnik, Upper Silesia,

BarbOslo — Tue Sep 22, 2026 12:11 pm

Author: BarbOslo

Posted: Tue Sep 22, 2026 12:11 pm

Thank you so much, Trish. It is so nice to hear that you missed me! I think you and Sophia are managing perfectly fine without me for a few days.
I have exchanged a few emails with Sophia, and we do not think the family comes from Rybnik in Silesia. We are thinking today's Ukraine is the place. Sophia came up with some interesting findings, but we are waiting to see what Akemy has to contribute.
Regards,
-Barb

Re: Seeking help locating birth record — Rybnik, Upper Silesia,

Trish — Tue Sep 22, 2026 11:24 am

Author: Trish

Posted: Tue Sep 22, 2026 11:24 am

BarbOslo wrote:

Hi Akemy,
Welcome to the forum! Could you share some documents with us? For example: manifests, emigration documents, or whatever the family has found on FamilySearch.
Regards,
-Barb

Hi Akemy and Barb,

Barb, there is a tree on familysearch.org.
https://www.familysearch.org/en/tree/person/details/GZMB-2XM

Here is the link to Michal Horski's death record from Brazil. His parents' names are listed.

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:9396-WN9X-FT?view=index&personArk=%2Fark%3A%2F61903%2F1%3A1%3AH5Q2-1BN2&action=view&cc=2016194&lang=en&groupId=M9SH-QSX

Regards,
Trish
PS: Barb, glad to see you posting!

Re: Seeking help locating birth record — Rybnik, Upper Silesia,

BarbOslo — Mon Sep 21, 2026 10:48 am

Author: BarbOslo

Posted: Mon Sep 21, 2026 10:48 am

Hi Akemy,
Welcome to the forum! Could you share some documents with us? For example: manifests, emigration documents, or whatever the family has found on FamilySearch.
Regards,
-Barb

Seeking help locating birth record — Rybnik, Upper Silesia,

akemyamasaki — Mon Sep 21, 2026 10:10 am

Author: akemyamasaki

Posted: Mon Sep 21, 2026 10:10 am

Hello everyone,

My name is Akemy, I currently live in Paris, France, and I'm trying to trace my family roots in Upper Silesia. I'm new to genealogy research but have been at this for a while now and have hit a wall.

I'm trying to find the birth records of my great-great-grandfather and my great-grandfather, both likely born in the Rybnik area of Upper Silesia (Kreis Rybnik).

What I know for certain:
- A Brazilian civil document belonging to my great-grandfather, **Bogdan/Bohdan Horski (Orski)**, born 17 July 1923, which states his place of birth as Rybnik
- A 1943 Brazilian employment record (Southern Brazil Lumber & Colonization Company, which listed Polish immigrant workers) confirming both him and his father, **Miguel/Michał Horski**, born 11 September 1898, married, Polish nationality
- The family emigrated to Brazil (Três Barras/Canoinhas region, Santa Catarina/Paraná) sometime in the late 1920s

What I've already tried, with no results:
- Traveled to Rybnik in person
- Direct correspondence with the Archiwum Państwowe w Katowicach (they found nothing and redirected me to the local USC)
- Direct correspondence with the USC in Rybnik itself (they confirmed they only hold records for the city of Rybnik proper, not the wider Kreis/district, and found nothing under this surname)
- Geneteka (searched "Horski", "Horsky", "Górski", "Gorski" in the Śląskie region, no clear match)
- FamilySearch (only found records my own family had already indexed)

Given that Miguel was born in 1898, his record would have been made under the Prussian Standesamt system, not the Polish USC, since Rybnik only transferred to Poland in July 1922.

Questions I have:
1. Could this family have originated in one of the smaller villages within the former Kreis Rybnik rather than the city itself, and if so, how would I identify which USC/parish covers it today?
2. Is there a chance the surname is a phonetic corruption of something else (I've considered Górski, but I'm open to other suggestions given the Kurrentschrift handwriting of the era)?
3. Would this be a case where a local professional researcher, or a visit to a smaller municipal/parish archive not yet digitized, is the only realistic next step?

Any pointers, even partial, would mean a lot. Thank you so much in advance.