Hi Brian, A few questions and thoughts. What documents have you found so far for Davis and Leah Jacobs and they're children. Also do you know when they moved to England and if they stayed or moved to another country after 1901. If they moved you may be able to find a passenger list. You might find their original town name on another document with a different spelling. I'm not familiar with UK research but in other places the birthplaces of the parents can be found on records such as the children's birth or marriage. Obituaries can be a source of information if the person writing it had good knowledge of the deceased. Personally I find obituaries a good place to start simply because they can be accessible but much of the information especially about the birth must be weighed carefully. Don't overlook Cemetery records either. Most cemeteries don't have extensive information but I have run across a few that have many treasures. If you have access to any old written records that your family kept you just might find a clue there also. I found my grandparents passenger list because of a little scribbled note on a 2" square of paper in an old trunk that my mother kept. I just about threw it out but decided to send the words to a mail list and someone put those few words together and I had the microfilm number of their passenger list by the end of the day. This was before the days when these passenger lists were online. Don't stop at your direct line. Much of my family information has come from information found for siblings and cousins. Polish Surnames: Origins and Meanings, Second Edition, by William F. Hoffman may be another place to gain more insight. Hope some of this helps. Val On 29 Nov 2008 at 11:17, Val <vcon@ebtech.net> wrote: > Hi Brian, > > Dobjins looks like that is the way it was spelled on the Census but > the other name looks like Refacus to me. There is a Joseph and Kitty > Jacobs 2 pages over on page 5 of the Census and they also listed > Dobjins. One thing to note is that Poland didn't exist from 1772 until > after WW 1. It was divided into 3 partitions by Russia, Prussia, and > Austria. You can find much on the Internet about the partitions. > People often cited Poland as the place there were born because their > race was Polish. My Polish family actually lived in the partition of > Austria in the area known as Galicia during the mid 1800's yet they > usually said they were from Poland. The area where they lived in now > the Ukraine. Because of all the changes often times the city names > were changed completely or more often they were spelled in the new > language. > > I found a reference to Dobjin in a book: The deluge. An historical > novel of Poland, Sweden, and Russia. A sequel to "With fire and > sword." (1893, c1891) > > http://www.archive.org/stream/delugehistorical01sienuoft/delugehistori > cal01sienuoft_djvu.txt > > You can view the text of the book in various formats. It may give you > a clue to where this place is located. It starts back in the 13th > century and this may or may not be connected but it is the only place > I found with the name if it is correct. > > Val > > > > On 29 Nov 2008 at 9:43, Brian Jones <poland-roots@rootsweb.com> > wrote: > > > Hi Val, Tina & Debbie, > > > > Thank you for the tips. As you have probably realised I am very new > > to main land Europe research. > > > > As regards to these Polish place names of Dobjins and Repton it > > might be easier if you could look on the actual 1891 census on > > ancestry.co.uk in respect of Davis JACOBS born c 1859 Poland and > > Leah JACOBS born c 1862 Poland. The writing is not good for > > decyphering, or it could be me. > > > > Thanks again for your help. > > > > Brian > > *********************************