This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: Classification: queries Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/localities.ceeurope.poland.mazowieckie/2031.1/mb.ashx Message Board Post: Hi, Did the parish in Myszyniec inform you that the records were destroyed or are you just assuming? Until the last century, I believe, churches were the main "collectors" of birth/baptismal, marriage, and death records. A copy of the church records were then turned over to the local civil office and were used as civil records. It doesn't look like the LDS have microfilmed the parish records for Myszyniec, but you can write to the parish or the diocese (I believe Myszyniec is in the Lomza diocese) to obtain records. While some records likely were destroyed during the wars, there are countless records that have survived. If the parish records were destroyed, as you say, then you should check for the civil records, as they are likely just a copy of the parish records. Here's the website for the parish in Myszyniec: http://zdzislawmikolajczyk.webpark.pl/ Here's the address: Parafia Rzymsko-Katolicka p.w. Trójcy Przenajswietszej ul. Rynarzeckiego 16 07-430 Myszyniec Poland/Polska Here's the page for the Myszyniec parish on the Lomza diocese website: http://www.kuria.lomza.pl/index.php?wiad=206 Have you found the PolandGenWeb site yet? It has lots of tips for researching Polish roots: http://www.rootsweb.com/~polwgw/index.html