Hello List, I have received many good suggestions to help me with my Polish ancestors (BARTKOWSKI / BARTKOSKI) from some of you and I am back looking for more advice. I have called the County Clerk in Barry County, Missouri to inquire about Naturalization records and the gentleman there said, “I don’t know where they are kept.” Today I got a reply back from the Sec. of State’s office in Missouri and they inform me that they will not have any records from Barry County. They did, however, try to do a search in their database and only found 1 L. BARTKOWSKI from St. Louis. Not mine, darn. I have tried searching at FamilySearch.Com and their records do not go back far enough to cover the time frame for my ancestors and the BARTKOWSKI’s listed do not fit anything I have. A search on Ancestry.Com, Library Edition so far has only led me back to census records I have already found and a 1918 – 1919 WW I Enlistment record for Stanley. So, last night I pulled out everything I have collected on my BARTKOWSKI ancestors and went through everything again. I also made a trip to the library on the way home from work and found an obituary for my great grandfather that will help shed some light on his birthplace I believe. Part of the problem I have had in the beginning was while growing up we only heard the name BARKOSKI. Then we heard it was BARTKOSKI, and eventually, after grandmother passed away we found that the original spelling was BARTKOWSKI. It appears that sometime between 1905 and 1918 great granddad dropped the W from his name? Following is a chronological list by date of the information I have; 1. A marriage record from Sts. Peter & Paul church, dated 1897, lists my great grandfather’s name as Stanislaus BARTKOWSKI 2. Stanley’s American baptismal record from Sts. Peter & Paul, dated 1889, lists my great grandfather’s name as Stanislaus BARTKOWSKI 3. A baptismal record from Sts. Peter & Paul church for Stanley’s first born, date 1889, lists his name as Stanislaus BARTKOWSKI 4. The 1900 Federal census for Barry County, Missouri lists my great grandfather as Stinny BARTKOWSKI 5. The baptismal records for Stanley’s twin daughters from Sts. Peter & Paul church, date 1901, lists his name as Stanislaus BARTKOWSKI 6. The baptismal record for Stanley’s youngest child from Sts. Peter & Paul church, date 1905, lists his name as Stanislaus BARTKOWSKI 7. The WW I Draft Reg. record lists Stanley’s name as Stanley BARTKOSKI 8. The 1920 federal census lists him as Staney BARTKOSKI 9. The 1930 Federal census lists him as Staney BARTKOSKI, born in Plock, Polonia 10. A photo I took of his grave stone lists him as Stanley BARTKOSKI 11. His obituary, date 1953, lists him as Stanley BARTKOSKI, and his birthplace as Warsaw So, from 1884 until 1905 he went by BARTKOWSKI before dropping the “W” from his name. I have also found that Stanley’s grandfather, Michael BARTKOWSKI immigrated in 1882 and that Stanley was naturalized under his father’s Naturalization since he was still a child living at home. I apologize to the list for the length of this message but I didn’t want to break it up into smaller mailings. If anyone has any suggestions for me please let me know. Glen Williams