Forum | PolishOrigins :: View topic - Finding a village/town

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Susiesioux

Joined: 26 Jun 2024
Replies: 15
Location: UK - Chester
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Posted: Wed Jun 26, 2024 4:19 am Post subject: Finding a village/town

Hello.

I am hoping that someone will be able to assist me in finding the birthplace of a deceased Polish friend. I have documents stating he was born in Stracze, Wilno in 1935. I have been informed that this place didn't exist then. I have other documents stating that at age 7 he was taken on a displaced persons ship to Iran and later from Iran to Lebanon. The only Stracze I can find is Stare Strazce which is nowhere near Wilno (Vilnius).

As so many of the documents state he was born in Strazce, Wilno, they surely can't all be errors. I wonder if anyone can assist me in this? I am trying to trace his ancestors and it is difficult with this birthplace problem.

His name was Mieczyslaw Jozef Charkiewicz. I believe that where he was born it was probably a small place or village. The family had a farm which was taken by the Russians when they invaded.

I do hope someone can help.

Thank you.

Susiesioux

Trish
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Joined: 23 Sep 2020
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Posted: Wed Jun 26, 2024 10:38 am Post subject: Re: Finding a village/town

Susiesioux wrote:

Hi Susiesioux,
I am only posting this record so that the forum can see the information about Mieczyslaw. Please note that Mieczyslaw is on line 281. It looks like his mother is on line 280. Emilia is from a different town.

The information came from ancestry.com - Africa, Asia and Europe, Passenger Lists of Displaced Persons, 1946-1971

Name Mieczyslaw Charkiewicz
Gender Male
Marital Status Single
Departure Age 15
Birth Date 14 Jun 1935
Birth Place Stracze, Poland
Residence Place Poland
Religion R.C.
Passport Place Beirut
Departure Date 10 Jul 1950
Departure Place Beirut (Beyrouth), Lebanon
Resettlement Camp Beirut (Beyrouth), Lebanon
Transport Ship OXFORDSHIRE
Arrival Place United Kingdom
Destination ENGLAND

Regards,
Trish

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Sophia
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Joined: 05 Oct 2014
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Posted: Wed Jun 26, 2024 12:36 pm Post subject: Re: Finding a village/town

Trish wrote:

Hi Trish,

Given what that document says, I am guessing that the person on the line above Emilia, Antoni Szapiel, is related. He and Emilia are from the same town, and the three of them all have the same Form Number, 18209.

Susiesioux, do you know the name of Mieczyslaw's mother and his maternal grandfather?

Sophia

Susiesioux

Joined: 26 Jun 2024
Replies: 15
Location: UK - Chester
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Posted: Wed Jun 26, 2024 12:49 pm Post subject:

Thank you very much, but as you can see his birthplace is Stracze and there seems there was no place called Stracze in Poland in 1935!

Sue

Sophia
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Posted: Wed Jun 26, 2024 1:38 pm Post subject:

Susiesioux wrote:

Thank you very much, but as you can see his birthplace is Stracze and there seems there was no place called Stracze in Poland in 1935!

Sue

Hi Sue,
Yes, don't worry, we do understand your question. In order to get to an answer, sometimes we take a side route. For example, if we find a place with a similar spelling that looks almost right, near a village named Mosciany, and it happens to have both Szapiel and Charkiewicz families, that adds to our confidence that we are in the right place. I was just checking with you, in case you know for sure that his mother had some quite different name.
We are on the hunt for what "Stracze" might have been.
Sophia

Trish
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Joined: 23 Sep 2020
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Posted: Wed Jun 26, 2024 2:25 pm Post subject:

Hi Sue and Sophia,

Sophia, as usual, you always find extra clues on a document. Nice catch that you saw Antoni and Emilia are from the same town.

One of my great Aunts married into the Sugalski family. The Sugalski's were from a town called Starcz,
Lutocin, Zuromin, Poland. Just a thought I'm throwing out there for the name of the town.

Regards,
Trish

BarbOslo
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Joined: 19 Nov 2022
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Location: Norway
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Posted: Wed Jun 26, 2024 2:40 pm Post subject: Re: Finding a village/town

Hello ladies,

I think Mosciany and Stracza are located today in Belarus. See map.

Mościany - village in Astraviec district Hrodna region of the Republic of Belarus.

-Barb

Mosciany - Stracza.png

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Sophia
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Posted: Wed Jun 26, 2024 4:26 pm Post subject: Re: Finding a village/town

BarbOslo wrote:

Hello ladies,

I think Mosciany and Stracza are located today in Belarus. See map.

Mościany - village in Astraviec district Hrodna region of the Republic of Belarus.

-Barb

Hi Barb,
That does look promising. I would like to find it on a map from the period during which this was Polish territory, so that the map would show the town names written in Polish. My favorite website for finding old maps is not working today. Maybe you have other sources?
Sophia

BarbOslo
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Posted: Wed Jun 26, 2024 4:50 pm Post subject:

Hi Sophia,
The best site is Polona.pl, but I got no response from them. I also use other old maps, but can only find Mosciany. Looks like the second place doesn't exist.

-Barb

Sophia
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Posted: Wed Jun 26, 2024 4:54 pm Post subject:

BarbOslo wrote:

Hi Sophia,
The best site is Polona.pl, but I got no response from them. I also use other old maps, but can only find Mosciany. Looks like the second place doesn't exist.

-Barb

Hi Barb,
Yes, Polona.pl is what I have been trying but it does not work for me today. I will look again tomorrow.
Thanks,
Sophia

Sophia
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Posted: Thu Jun 27, 2024 9:07 am Post subject: Re: Finding a village/town

BarbOslo wrote:

I think Mosciany and Stracza are located today in Belarus. See map.

Mościany - village in Astraviec district Hrodna region of the Republic of Belarus.

-Barb

Here it is.
The image is from here:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WIG_Mapa_Operacyjna_Polski_-_37_Wilno_1930.jpg
To see it, go to "original file" and click on that. Zoom in on the upper right corner of the map.
The town is STRACZA as Barb indicated.
I would not have found it without the clue about Mosciany, so thanks to Trish for posting that record!

Sophia

P.S The Polona website is still not working for me.

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BarbOslo
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Posted: Thu Jun 27, 2024 9:36 am Post subject:

Hello,
Fantastic that it has been confirmed, Sophia. I also wouldn't have found this place without the document that Trish posted. And as you said earlier, every little bit of information is important that can lead us to discovery.

-Barb

Trish
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Joined: 23 Sep 2020
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Posted: Thu Jun 27, 2024 10:49 am Post subject:

Hi Everyone,

I'm happy that I was able to provide the document with clues.

I don't know if this website is of any help. It seems to be a website you have to pay to gain access. However, it did have a little bit of information on Mosciany.
https://www.radzima.net/eng/miejsce/mosciany.html

I agree with you both - every little bit of information could be an important clue to help with researching your ancestors.

Enjoy your day!
Trish

Sophia
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Posted: Thu Jun 27, 2024 2:42 pm Post subject:

Trish wrote:

Hi Trish,

Yes, interesting link, kind of sad that they demand payment for info.

Here is an answer to my question:
https://www.ushmm.org/online/hsv/person_advance_search.php?SourceId=48561&sort=name_primary_sort&MaxPageDocs=25&start_doc=1776

It shows documents that cover Antoni, Emilia and Mieczyslaw together. Antoni and Emilia are cousins. Emilia's maiden name is Szapiel. She is Mieczyslaw's mother.

Barb, if you look at it, it shows the name of the county for Mosciany. Can you deduce what church they would have gone to?

Sophia

BarbOslo
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Posted: Thu Jun 27, 2024 3:28 pm Post subject:

The village of Mosciany belonged to the parish of Kluszczany. Will check the link later to see if there is anything more.

-Barb

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