Hi, I will make a couple of quick comments on these two points. You seem not to be alone in America with confusing the ~ski/a, ~cki/a etc endings. I have found it can be a very good idea when searching databases to search both versions of a surname regardless of whether you are searching for a male or a female. There's a classic example here: http://pilot.familysearch.org/recordsearch/start.html#start and search Sofinowska. John Sofinowska is revealed, but he does not come up in a Sofinowski search on this site. How his name may have been received had he visited Poland I have no idea! Less surprisingly Alma does not show up under Sofinowska but is recorded as Sofinowski. To a non-European all those border changes are confusing and difficult to remember. I recommend keeping this page by Lukasz Bielecki handy: http://www.donhoward.net/genpoland/polhistory.htm Yes it is brief, but it is a very easily understood overview of what was happening. And of course if in doubt, post questions as they help everyone learn and remember ;-) Kind regards, Bronwyn. > 2. Is not the difference in spelling simply the masculine (-ky) and > > feminine (-ka) versions? The other differences in the spelling can be > > attributed to Polish/English spelling (-niecka vs --netzky) - they sound > > very similar. Properly, the brother should not have been using the > > feminine version. > > I always get confused and forgetful about this, thank you. I think > my north American ancestors also got confused. > > > 3. In 1933 there wouldn't have been any Cyrillic - Poland was > > independent of Russia. Since French was (is?) the language of diplomacy > > the passports were bilingual (as is my mother's 1928 passport). > > Thanks so much, it shows my lack of experience. And confusion over > the changing borders. I have learned quite well that they changed, > but have trouble keeping when they changed straight no matter how > many times I look it up. [I thought that when Poland was governed by > Russia, Cyrilliac was used on official documents. And as I said in my reply > to Ernie, have > little experience or knowledge about this stuff.] > >