Hi, Sorry last message should read Ewa T (not K) Wal -----Original Message----- From: poland-roots-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:poland-roots-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Debbie Greenlee Sent: Friday, 29 August 2008 12:22 PM To: poland-roots@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [POLAND] Surname Searching Wal, And you did all that not knowing a lot of Polish but ate least making an attempt. Good for you! Debbie Annie & Wal wrote: > Hi List, > Having returned from Poland I must say that finding church records was > a lot easier, or I was lucky. E.g. > > My mother was born in Warsaw, lived near St Stanislawa church., > grandmother buried in Powazki cemetery abt 1934, ggrandmother lived in > Gniezno, mum went to church at St Michal when with ggm. This info I got > from Mum before she died. > In Warsaw visited St Stanislawa church -no records, all sent to the > Catholic Seminary University in Dewajtis St. > Took a taxi to Dewajtis St, with very limited Polish eventually found > the building in the complex, managed to convey the year and church, > bingo found gmothers death records, being brave I then asked for records > of birth for mum's year, bingo, found mums birth, alas gmum and gdad > never married. Mum registered under gmothers name, side note added five > years later changes her name to gdads ,( presumably so that she could go > to catholic school). > This info unlocked the reason for the family fued. > Found out that most Warsaw church records are held at Dewajtis St > > Next went to Powazki Cemetery, no records held prior to 1945, all > destroyed. Must say this is the most beautiful cemetery that I have ever > seen. > > Went to Gniezno, to St Michal, saw a nun arranging flowers at the altar, > church gates shut, called her over and said "sukam Babcha" she > immediately took me over to the office, called another nun who searched > the records, found gmothers birth. Gave me a photocopy of the record. > No charge, so I gave her 50zl (abt 25$) All other records at Archives > in Gniezno. > Went to Archives, assistant can speak little English, full day search, > found, ggmothers death , birth, marriage > And a lot of related family. Paid her for another days search as we had > to leave to go to Warsaw. All documentation is being posted to us. Cost > of search was 30zl per hour, but well worth it. Some of the books were > that old that only the researcher was allowed to touch them. Also the > Archives is like Fort Knox, electronic doors, buzzers, and you get > locked into a room. > > Moral of story is that if you can afford to take a trip to Poland do so, > even armed with little information it is surprising how far you can go. > ********************************* 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