Thank you so much for explaining this! I never understood that. Sent by Arlene from my Blackberry PDA ----- Original Message ----- From: polandbordersurnames-bounces@rootsweb.com <polandbordersurnames-bounces@rootsweb.com> To: polandbordersurnames@rootsweb.com <polandbordersurnames@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sun Jan 17 10:29:34 2010 Subject: Re: [PBS] Perz family In other words, in 1900, John Perz's birth town was in Prussian ruled Poland; in 1910, John's birth town was in German ruled Poland; in 1918, Poland became an independent nation, which the 1920 census reflects by indication John was born in Poland. One reference for the timeline: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Pozna%C5%84 From the 2nd partition of Poland in 1793 until 1806, Poznań was in South Prussia (part of Prussia). From 1806 to 1815, Poznań was part of the Duchy of Warsaw. After Napoleon's defeat, the city once again became part of Prussia, functioning as the capital of the autonomous Grand Duchy of Poznań. After 1830, the Grand Duchy of Poznań became semi-autonomous and by 1846, in the midst of revolutions across the European continent, its autonomy was revoked. In 1871, Poznań, along with the whole of Prussia, became part of the German Empire. After Germany's defeat in World War I and as part of the Treaty of Versailles, the Second Polish Republic was created. The Allied decision was influenced in part by the Great Poland Uprising that lasted from 1918 to 1919. Despite six years of Nazi rule during World War II, Poznań has remained a part of Poland ever since. Mary the cohens wrote: > There is a separate column in each census that indicates native > language, and also nationality as a separate question from where born. > Did you find this? > > I am interested in Tina's response to your question as my ggrandfather > also sometimes said Prussia, sometimes Germany in records between > 1890-1900. > > On 1/16/10, rinny1@new.rr.com <rinny1@new.rr.com> wrote: > >> Yes, there were several, one said German Poland, one said Prussia and >> another said just Poland, >> >> >>> On Fri, Jan 15, 2010 at 8:52 AM, Tina Ellis >>> <polska.research@gmail.com>wrote: >>> >>> >>>> In the census records you found, did they give you a country and their >>>> ethnic group? This will give you hints on who was ruling their home >>>> country. Remember Poland was not Poland for ca 1920 years. >>>> ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to POLANDBORDERSURNAMES-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message