Marie, I have posted in New York county and received the e-mail addresses and phone numbers for three Catholic churches in the Bronx. I have never requested information from a church. Are they used to dealing with these kind of requests.? I am sure it might vary from church to church. I struck out on a birth certification for my grandfather from the county and ended up $15 poorer (worth the try, but disappointing). Someone helped me find a certificate for his younger brother. That is where I found Antonia's maiden name. What I have seen with my other ancestors is that the name is spread from one location to different parts of the US. I have a feeling that all the Bieniewicz' from the Bronx were related back in Poland. I am trying to find a common relative with them also. Bieniewicz is frequently transcribed so poorly. When I get the copies of the documents I see the accepted spelling clearly. Do they ever take additional information from relatives so future researches have it easier? Thanks for your help. Each e-mail helps me chunk away at my brick wall. Great e-mail distribution. Bonnie -------------- Original message ---------------------- From: MJDallas <rwlistsboards@comcast.net> > bonnie.mcneill@comcast.net wrote: > > > Can someone suggest where to look in Poland for the ancestors > > of these people? Lewandowski seems like a very popular name. > > Bonnie, > > Yes, Lewandowski is a very popular name. In 1990, there were over > 89,000 individuals with that surname, and they lived all over the > country. As for Bieniewicz, that seems much less common, but the > 202 people with that last name were also spread all over Poland. > > As Ella already mentioned, you'll need to find the exact place of > birth for your ancestors before you can begin looking for records in > Poland. Pretty much like every other country, older records are > filed at the state/diocesan level and "newer" records (under 100 > years old) are held at the local level (parish/civil office). So, > if you don't know where they were from, you won't know where to > begin looking. > > If they were Christian, I'd recommend obtaining copies or > transcripts of baptismal records (not certificates but info from the > actual entry in the church books) for *all* of their children born > in the USA. Sometimes, depending upon how thorough the priest > wanted to be, the exact places of birth of the parents were recorded > in the entry. Other times, it may just give just the country or the > region or the name of the parish town. However, when all you have > to go on is "Russian-Poland" *anything* more specific is a big help. > > Also, look for the church record of their marriage. Civil records > were often less detailed than church records. You may also find > their places of birth in the church records, as well as the names of > their parents. Again, you don't want a certificate - you want a > copy or transcript of the actual entry in the books. Certificates > issued to verify baptism or marriage don't usually contain *all* of > the info found in the record. > > -Marie > > ********************************* > Need to contact the list manager? Write to Marie at > Poland-Roots-admin@rootsweb.com > ---------------------------------- > Discussion of Polish food, culture, and customs are welcome on the list as long > as the discussion stays pertinent to the topic of this list: researching our > Polish roots. > ---------------------------------- > Browse the list's archives here: > http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index?list=poland-roots > Search the list's archives here: > http://archiver.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/search?aop=1 > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > POLAND-ROOTS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes > in the subject and the body of the message