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dgawell



Joined: 01 Jun 2014
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Post Posted: Thu Mar 31, 2016 7:34 am      Post subject: Other info possible to find in parish office
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I have been blessed to have received sufficient records that I do not need to spend my valuable and short time in my grandparents' villages searching for documents. My question is: are there other records that might be available at the parish level to tell me more about my ancestors? Manor employment records, tax records, etc.

I know that at least two local village priests will be willing to do some research for me and I want to be more accurate when I make a request. Also, I know this is a question that is probably best answered "whatever you want to give", but what is a reasonably generous donation to give to a small parish to honor your ancestors?

Donna
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Zenon
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Joined: 28 Apr 2007
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Post Posted: Fri Apr 01, 2016 12:51 am      Post subject:
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Donna,

In Galician parish records aside from baptism, marriages and death records sometimes it is good to ask for a few other kind of documents. They are not always available but it doesn't cost to ask and they may enrich you knowledge about your forefathers' life.

The first one is Status Animarum (Latin term), in Polish it would be "Spis Dusz", what can be translated as "List of Souls". It is book organized by house numbers of all parishioners. For each house there are listed all of its residents, most often with dates of their births, marriages and relations between them. We could compare this document to a local census. I don't have to add how useful it can be in finding quickly specific dates of many family members at at time.

The second useful document, especially if marriage book is missing or if groom married in different parish are banns, in Polish "Zapowiedzi". The book should include not only all the marriages which took place in given parish but also outside the parish of the parishioners, which was often the case for grooms.

In some parishes priests prepared for their own purposes indexes of records they have which also makes the search easier and faster. I am sure if they have them they will start from using them, you will not have to ask about that.

Not very often, but it happens, that among the parish books survived so called raptularius (Latin) or raptularze (Polish) which are just scratchpads used by priests or parish administrators to put information before writing them down to official books.

Sometimes it happened that you can find other kind of documents not related directly to church life like list of conscripts (for young men), land ownership documents, or others. But you shouldn't expect them in parish office. If they are there it is only by accident (someones oversight) or one of the parish priest's resourcefulness.

As for donation it is customary to leave between 50 and 100 Polish zlotys. Of course, you can always ask for mass for your ancestors to be said in the future.
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Sophia
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Post Posted: Fri Apr 01, 2016 9:25 am      Post subject:
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Hi Zenon,
Thanks for posting this information. I was not aware that some of these kinds of records actually existed. It is good to know!
Regarding the question of how much of a donation to give, by today's exchange rate, 100 Polish zloty is about $27.00 U.S. dollars. That seems to be a rather small amount, if you are expecting the priest (or organist) to do all of the searching through the old records. It could take hours of work. Would you say there is a difference in the donation you would give, if you were a professional genealogist asking to view the old record books yourself and the priest allowing you access, compared to a donation you would give if you were asking the priest to do the research for you?
Just curious,
Sophia
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Zenon
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Post Posted: Fri Apr 01, 2016 1:44 pm      Post subject:
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Sophia wrote:
Regarding the question of how much of a donation to give, by today's exchange rate, 100 Polish zloty is about $27.00 U.S. dollars. That seems to be a rather small amount, if you are expecting the priest (or organist) to do all of the searching through the old records. It could take hours of work. Would you say there is a difference in the donation you would give, if you were a professional genealogist asking to view the old record books yourself and the priest allowing you access, compared to a donation you would give if you were asking the priest to do the research for you?
Just curious,
Sophia


Sophia,

This is exactly about the second case: if you personally visit the parish office and ask priest for making the books available for you and you do the whole research job. This is donation for access to the books. Of course, some of the priests try to be helpful but this is you, the researcher, who is suppose to provide purpose, starting point(s) and the actual research.

Sometimes, but very rarely, it happens that priests (or people working at the parish like organists or nuns) are willing to do the research without presence of the inquirer but usually they limit the project to a specific request, like finding specific family member and/or his or her siblings. They are reluctant to do real, extensive search. But as I wrote, this kind of "remote" search on request performed by priests (or any other person from the parish) happens very rarely. Most often priests either ignore such requests, even if you paid for that in advance..

Fortunately, more and more records are available not only physically in the parish offices but also in the church and state archives. And what is even better they are being scanned and more and more of them is available on-line.
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Sophia
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Post Posted: Fri Apr 01, 2016 2:19 pm      Post subject:
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Hi Zenon,
Thank you! That is exactly what I wanted to know.
When I read what Donna wrote, I have the impression that the priests are doing the work for her. Donna, if I am incorrect, I apologize, but this is what I think you said.
Best regards,
Sophia
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