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HBK1957



Joined: 16 Jul 2018
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Location: Memphis, Tennessee

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Post Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2018 10:44 am      Post subject: Palka/Polka surname in Rzeszow
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I am just beginning my research in Poland into my Polka/Palka roots. My great grandfather Jan Palka/John Polka arrived in the United States in 1901 and listed his last residence as Bratkowice. He and his sister Julia were joining their brother Jacob in Chicago. In 1904 his wife Katarzyna Bednarz Palka and their young son Wladislaw arrived and their last residence was also listed as Bratkowice. They were joining Katarzyna's husband Jan Palka in Chicago. By 1906 Jan Palka was going by the name John Polka. He filed his first papers in 1906 and his place of birth was listed as Rzeszow. On his death certificate his father's place of birth was listed as Bratkowice and his mother's place of birth listed as Swilcza. I have no leads at all on the birthplace of Katarzyna/Catherine other then her husbands naturalization papers which state she was born in what was then Austria Hungary and American records in general attribute her birth year to 1877.

My grandfather Frank Polka's birth certificate in 1906 says that both parents were born in Cracow, Poland.

Jan/Palka has used a number of different birthdays on various records in the US. On his naturalization paperwork he gives his date of birth as December 11 1877. His SSI gives the date of birth at December 10 1877. So I do believe his birthdate to have been in December of 1877. He and Katarzyna were married in Poland before his departure in 1901 and their first of 11 children was born in Poland. Wladislaw (Walter) has given his birthdate as July 27 1899. so I'm assuming a marriage took place before 1899 between Jan and Kataryzna.

Jan Palka's parents are listed in documents as Stanislaus Palka from Bratkowice and Maryanna Batuch (Batogi) from Swilcza.

I am looking for guidance on what resources to use for searching for birth and marriage records. I'm a newbie to Polish research, having been intimidated by the daunting task of searching Polish records. Any and all guidance would be appreciated.
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EANWhitson
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Joined: 18 Apr 2012
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Post Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2018 4:14 pm      Post subject:
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Records for Rzeszów can be found at FamilySearch here:

https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/results?count=20&placeId=69707&query=%2Bplace%3A%22Poland%2C%20Rzesz%C3%B3w%22&subjectsOpen=1355298-50

From Wikipedia: Bratkowice is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Świlcza, within Rzeszów County, Subcarpathian Voivodeship, in south-eastern Poland. Records can be found here. https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/results?count=20&placeId=1144406&query=%2Bplace%3A%22Austria%2C%20Galizien%2C%20Bratkowice%20(Gr%C3%B3dek)%22&subjectsOpen=1144586-50

But there is also another Bratkowice that Familysearch has records for, but since you mentioned Rzesów, I figure the one above is what you are looking for.

Świlcza [ˈɕfilt͡ʂa] is a village in Rzeszów County, Subcarpathian Voivodeship, in south-eastern Poland. It is the seat of the gmina (administrative district) called Gmina Świlcza.[1] It lies approximately 8 km (5 mi) north-west of the regional capital Rzeszów.

The village has a population of 3,000
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HBK1957



Joined: 16 Jul 2018
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Post Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2018 6:32 pm      Post subject:
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Thank you so much for your help. I'll check out the links.
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Cheri Vanden Berg
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Post Posted: Sat Jul 28, 2018 9:41 am      Post subject:
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Hi, The Polish National Archives has some records for Bratkowice online
https://szukajwarchiwach.pl/search?q=bratkowice%20XSKANro%3At
Marriages 1878-1904 Births 1896-1907 Deaths 1862-1892 Births 1878-1893
I found Władysław Pałka’s birth/baptismal record https://szukajwarchiwach.pl/59/1109/0/-/8/skan/full/H2ICSJxBfaTBRsClmKt2hQ
Note that the first names are written in Latin, so Władysław is Ladislaus, Jan is Joannes...
I've attached a screen print. He was born in 1901. I looked through 1899 first, but then I noticed that he was 3 on the ship manifest in 1904. He was born in house number 230. His paternal grandparents were Stanisław Pałka and Marianna Batóg, his maternal grandparents were Stanisław Bednarz and Marianna Pomianek. The people on the far right are his godparents. I also found the marriage record of Jan and Katarzyna. https://szukajwarchiwach.pl/59/1109/0/-/5/skan/full/IZzqVClVL3Kh95UyuukXow
I believe it does say that Jan was born in 1877, but I don't think it gives the month or day. In the Aetas column for Katarzyna, it may say 1875, but then it also looks like there is a month and day. I believe their marriage date is 13 Sep 1900. I would imagine that someone who understands Latin may be able to glean more from this record. If Jan Pałka had any younger siblings, you should be able to find them in the 1878 - 1893 births, and by doing so you would be able to get one more generation of his family, since his siblings records would have their grandparents names. If Katarzyna had younger siblings born in Bratkowice, you'd have another generation for her too. My grandfather was born in Świlcza, and I have been all over the 1891-1908 records that the Archives has online for that village. It might seem intimidating at first, here are some guides https://mikeeliasz.wordpress.com/2013/03/27/a-guide-for-using-szukajwarchiwach-pl-poradnik-polish-archive-guide-poradnik/
https://familysearch.org/wiki/en/images/b/bf/Catholic_Vital_Records_of_Galicia-Halychyna_by_Matthew_R._Bielawa.pdf



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Cheri Vanden Berg
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Post Posted: Sat Jul 28, 2018 9:46 am      Post subject:
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I just noticed that Władysław's record has the birth and marriage dates of his parents. I never saw that in records before.
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HBK1957



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Post Posted: Sat Jul 28, 2018 10:42 am      Post subject:
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Wow...you are amazing. That is absolutely incredible that you were able to find the records. Thank you so very much. Polish records have been pretty scary for me to delve into, but you have given me a lot of information which helps tremendously. Thank You !
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HBK1957



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Location: Memphis, Tennessee

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Post Posted: Thu Aug 02, 2018 12:57 pm      Post subject:
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Cheri -- I really want to thank you for sharing those records with me. I was able to navigate the site and as you thought, I was able to find siblings of Jan Palka and Kataryzna Bednarz and find not only records for the parents but also the names of grandparents on both sides. I'm still exploring, but you have helped me so very much. Thank you !!!
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Cheri Vanden Berg
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Post Posted: Thu Aug 02, 2018 10:30 pm      Post subject:
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I'm so happy to hear that you found another generation back in the Bratkowice records! I have gone back to the Świlcza records many times. I wish they had more years, but I'm not sure they will on this site. The church has records further back, but these might have been all that the priest sent to what was Austrian ruled Poland at the time.

I think that I got better deciphering the handwriting with time. Sometimes I would find out what a surname was by googling what I thought it said, and in my case adding Świlcza to the search. Sometimes Google would have the correct surname in the links they gave me (because people with that surname still lived there). I also looked at Polish surname lists, such as Iwona's http://www.ipgs.us/iwonad/surnames/allnames.html and others. Note that Iwona's doesn't have the diacritical marks in surnames.

In case you don't already know, the house number could be a great hint. Sometimes I would just got through the records quickly looking at house numbers to see who might be related because of the ties to that house.

Sometimes I would just look at grandparents' names, and find siblings of the child's parents. I try to wring out as much information I can in the years that they have online!
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HBK1957



Joined: 16 Jul 2018
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Location: Memphis, Tennessee

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Post Posted: Thu Aug 02, 2018 10:43 pm      Post subject:
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That's a great hint about the house numbers. I'll make sure to look for that. I've been looking at the grandparents and found 4 siblings of Jan Palka and 7 siblings of Kataryzna. So I have scans now of those records and also found the death of one of the grandparents. Still looking and exploring. So exciting. Your help was invaluable.
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