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Zenon
PolishOrigins Team Leader

Joined: 28 Apr 2007
Replies: 1519
Location: Poland
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Posted: Wed Jan 26, 2011 7:45 am Post subject: Deciphering places names - please attach scans/pictures!

One of the most common “brick walls”, and at the same time crucial issues in moving our research forward, deal with question about correct spelling of places of origins' name: “What is the correct town's name in the Old Country where my ancestors arrived from?”. You are finding the mystery names in passengers lists, naturalization documents, social security records and others.

The problem is not only the often illegible handwriting of unknown Polish words. It is also about Polish language grammar. Simple example regarding town Łuków (it may be about any other town or village name) and how it can be written down:

English: My last place of residence was Łuków, Moje ostatnie miejsce zamieszkania to Łuków,
BUT
English: I was born in Łuków, Polish: Urodziłem się Łukowie.
English: I come from Łuków, Polish: Pochodzę z Łukowa

We are here to help each other, also in locating these places and its correct, present-day names. If you expect any sensible hint you should attach along with your question scan or picture of the document (or preferable more than one document) where the place name is recorded.

Click here: http://forum.polishorigins.com/viewtopic.php?p=373#373 to read simple instruction about attaching files into posts in our Forum.

The suggestion also applies to surnames and other words you would like to decipher with our community help.

cbuckord

Joined: 25 Aug 2009
Replies: 30

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Posted: Fri Jul 15, 2011 3:10 pm Post subject:

I support what Zenon has stated. When I was looking for my grandfather's village, I first just posted the name and asked if anyone knew where it was. No one was able to help.

Later, I asked Zenon and supplied the documents I had found. The village was spelled differently among the documents, but with the supporting information, Zenon was able to locate the village where my grandfather was born and even found Parish Records for me. It was a wonderful 90th birthday present for my mother!

I am still searching for other family members, but I do not have any documents to help us find their location.

So, when asking about a location, attach the documents you have as well. It really helps! Very Happy

BobK
PO Top Contributor

Joined: 11 Nov 2008
Replies: 231
Location: Portland, Oregon USA
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Posted: Sat Nov 26, 2016 9:12 pm Post subject:

I came across a useful (I hope) URL for Village Names of 1907 and the name used in 2005, as well a map for that town.

But the one major city I checked for, Torun, seems to have been misplaced in their maps.. It is listed, but I couldn't find it on the map they presented. Several much smaller villages were correctly shown, and smaller villages are the ones we seem to be looking for.

In any case, it appears to be another useful cross-index of town names.

http://ipgs.us/mapinfo/atlas1907/indexsalpha/mapindexa.html

Bob K.

Sophia
PO Top Contributor

Joined: 05 Oct 2014
Replies: 1146

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Posted: Sun Nov 27, 2016 1:05 pm Post subject:

Hi Bob,
Thanks for the link! Great resource.
You mentioned that you cannot find Torun on their map. I do see it. They link you to http://ipgs.us/mapinfo/atlas1907/maps/map10.jpg and you look at the grid for Column 1, Row C and there it is. Or is there a second Torun that you are looking for?
Sophia

Magroski49
PO Top Contributor & Patron

Joined: 10 Nov 2008
Replies: 1762
Location: Joao Pessoa - Brazil
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Posted: Sun Nov 27, 2016 1:33 pm Post subject:

Sophia wrote:

Hi, Sophia

This Torun (currently a set of three places with that name) is near Nasielski. I think Bob referers to the Torun near Bydgoszcz, in kujawsko-pomorskie.

Gilberto

Sophia
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Joined: 05 Oct 2014
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Posted: Sun Nov 27, 2016 5:07 pm Post subject:

Hi Gilberto,
Thanks for adding this. If that is the Torun that Bob wants, then the reason he does not see it on these maps is that they are only for the old Russian Partition. The Torun near Bydgoszcz was just outside of that.
Best regards,
Sophia

BobK
PO Top Contributor

Joined: 11 Nov 2008
Replies: 231
Location: Portland, Oregon USA
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Posted: Sun Nov 27, 2016 5:41 pm Post subject:

Duplicate, due to twitchy finger, deleted

Last edited by BobK on Sun Nov 27, 2016 5:51 pm; edited 1 time in total

BobK
PO Top Contributor

Joined: 11 Nov 2008
Replies: 231
Location: Portland, Oregon USA
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Posted: Sun Nov 27, 2016 5:48 pm Post subject:

Sophia wrote:

Thanks Gilberto and Sophia.
I was a bit too quick looking it over.. Yes, with my German side of the family, I did a quick check for the Torun near Bydgoszcz, I wasn't even aware that there are others!
I had traced my German ancestors backwards from the Lipno area to many small villages along the way back to Torun.

The major maps I'd been working with - came from http://igrek.amzp.pl/mapindex.php. those are down to the trees, shrubs and rain puddles for detail.
Another I found shows Torun in the Prussion partiton of 1772, Lipno was added in 1793 to the Prussian partition. I'll take another look at that first site to see what they *are* describing ..

Added later:
On the Map58, it shows "Krolestwo Pruskie" where I expected to find the Torun I was looking for .. That translates to "Kingdom of Prussia" ! So being called a 1907 map threw me off. I know that Russia administered the Lipno/Plock area as being in their Partition. Other maps showed Torun in the Prussian Partition.. I know it was also called South Prussia for a time. I guess I'm heading back for more research..

Stepping back from that URL, we find that this is a map of the Kingdom of Poland.. Thus, Torun is in Prussia in 1907. Grandpa was born near Lipno in the Russian partition in 1881.

Podjazd

Joined: 14 Sep 2015
Replies: 114

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Posted: Fri Nov 23, 2018 6:16 pm Post subject: Leedvinovie, Russia

Hi

"Leedvinovie, Russia"

Anyone have any guesses as to what town this might have been? This appears on a US death certificate in 1933 as the birthplace of the deceased (a Jewish immigrant born in 1883). Her husband, also an immigrant, probably provided the American clerk with the name phonetically. The only thing close I get from Google searching is a town in Czechia but that doesn't make sense.

All US family records (census, and vital records) say the family was from Russia or Poland. We always believed they were from Marijampole, Lithuania (or near there).

John

Magroski49
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Joined: 10 Nov 2008
Replies: 1762
Location: Joao Pessoa - Brazil
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Posted: Fri Nov 23, 2018 7:54 pm Post subject: Re: Leedvinovie, Russia

Podjazd wrote:

John,

Ludwinowo
woj. podlaskie
pow. suwalski
gmina Raczki
kod: 16-420

about 50 miles southwest of Marjampole.

Gilberto

Podjazd

Joined: 14 Sep 2015
Replies: 114

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Posted: Sat Nov 24, 2018 5:27 am Post subject:

Thanks Gilberto! I think that's probably it!

Podjazd

Joined: 14 Sep 2015
Replies: 114

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Posted: Sat Nov 24, 2018 4:20 pm Post subject:

Actually, now I have my doubts.

I wonder if it might be Liudvinavas - which is much closer to Marijampole.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liudvinavas

This would make sense, as I see a reference to a Ludwinowo in the Kalwarja district near Marijampole that was a village where Jews lived.
https://suwalkigermans.wordpress.com/2016/03/16/2016-landsmen-post-3/

If true, could be bad news for my search (the linked post says there were no Jewish vital records saved from that district).

Angelamermaid

Joined: 21 Jan 2020
Replies: 2
Location: Calgary, Alberta, Canada
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Posted: Tue Jan 21, 2020 11:24 pm Post subject: Re: Deciphering places names - please attach scans/pictures!

I'm looking for more information on Dzwiniac.

I recently found my grandfather's death certificate, published in British Columbia, Canada.

Born: Frederick Boyko
Aug 19 1893
Parents: Nick and Katherine.

This is all I have!

004479252_01767-fredrick_boyko_death_record.jpg

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Sophia
PO Top Contributor

Joined: 05 Oct 2014
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Posted: Fri Jan 24, 2020 8:07 am Post subject: Re: Deciphering places names - please attach scans/pictures!

Angelamermaid wrote:

Hi,
If you go to google maps you can look at both Dźwiniacz Górny and Dźwiniacz Dolny which are, oddly, about 30 miles apart. I say oddly because there are many villages that occur in pairs, one being Górny and the other Dolny, and such pairs are usually quite close together. It is like saying Upper Dźwiniacz and Lower Dźwiniacz. Anyway, both of these villages are in southeastern Poland, very close to the border with today's Ukraine, although in the timeframe in which your grandfather was born they would have been in Galicia (the Austrian partition of Poland).
Best of luck in your research,
Sophia

grega

Joined: 14 Feb 2018
Replies: 2
Location: Pennsylvania
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Posted: Wed May 27, 2020 9:24 pm Post subject: Polish City Names SS George Washington Manifest NY 1910

My ancestor Adam Blacha gave the name of his "City or Town" as something like "Stywagut" (as I read it). Can you read this name? I attach 2 files: 1 with just the image of this town name , and the other with all the City names on the manifest.

Stywagut.jpg

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SS George Washingtom -N Y 1910 Polish Cities.jpg

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