Thomas, In looking at the information you provided, I would make the following assumptions. The first set of records, the newer ones, appear to be the copy of records provided to the civil authorities - a copy of the records made by the church during that time. The first date to me is telling; Napolean was there. Abt that time, Napolean decreed that civil authorities have records of BMD. Because not many were able to read/write, the churches were appointed record keepers. Abt 1884/5 civil authorities took over the job as decreed by the then government. The other set of records indicates they are indeed church records of an earlier time. That there is a time overlap between the two indicates to me that one could find the same record (not necessarily the same 'book') in both sets of films for that overlap time. It would be interesting to know that, and to see if the contents of the reocrds do indeed match; copies of the records are notorious for errors. If the records go back that far, you are indeed lucky. Records elsewhere in Poland often do not exist for that early due to all the destruction during wars. Anettka