Micelle and Magaret, As was indicated, most priests were pissed at haveing to use Cyrillic in the records, and usually put the names of those whom the record was about in Polish, next to the Cyrillic names in the records. That makes it easier to search even if you don't have an index. In the indecies, the names are in Cyrillic writing. You can get a very good approximation of what the Cyrillic version would look like by using an alphabet of latin letters with their Cyrillic equivalents. Sometimes there is really no equivalent for the Latin or Russian letter, but phonetically there will be something that will be used. Don't expect you have to match your Russian equivalent with the index info.... Just look at all that at least partially match, and see what the Polish equivalent name is in the text. The index usually gives a page number where the record is to be found in the book; if not the page number, and records are numbered, it could be the record number, or it could be both are given in index. What is not hard is finding the record. What might be hard is translating it, unless you have a skilled translator, but you might also be willing to try it yourself with 'help' If you attempt to translate it yourself, you are better off if you translated from Russian to Polish and then from Polish to English. There are guides, however, for traslating both Polish and Russian to English. Johnathan Shea and Fred Hoffman have books that will help you do this. I think they are available from PGSA and PGSCTNE both of which have websites... There are possibly other sources from which to buy the book(s) and perhaps they can be found in various libraries that have genealogical resources. Anettka : The film I'm ordering is in Polish or Latin until 1868 and in Russian after that. My interest is 1886-ish, so my challenge is identifying my name in Russian on an index **************Nothing says I love you like flowers! Find a florist near you now. (http://yellowpages.aol.com/search?query=florist&ncid=emlcntusyelp00000002)

Anettka and everyone who responded, Thank you - I'm sure hoping to see some Polish in those records and hope those Priests were good and mad! I'm a total novice in this and appreciate your helpful input. I feel like I'm taking a crash course in Russian - the film I ordered this morning should be here in a couple of weeks and I want to be as ready as I can be and everyone's information is great! Thanks, Michelle ----- Original Message ----- From: <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Saturday, February 14, 2009 5:56 PM Subject: Re: [PBS] POLANDBORDERSURNAMES czarnokonce wielkie LDS films > > Micelle and Magaret, > > As was indicated, most priests were pissed at haveing to use Cyrillic in > the > records, and usually put the names of those whom the record was about in > Polish, next to the Cyrillic names in the records. That makes it easier > to > search even if you don't have an index. In the indecies, the names are in > Cyrillic writing. You can get a very good approximation of what the > Cyrillic > version would look like by using an alphabet of latin letters with their > Cyrillic > equivalents. Sometimes there is really no equivalent for the Latin or > Russian letter, but phonetically there will be something that will be > used. Don't > expect you have to match your Russian equivalent with the index info.... > Just > look at all that at least partially match, and see what the Polish > equivalent name is in the text. The index usually gives a page number > where the > record is to be found in the book; if not the page number, and records > are > numbered, it could be the record number, or it could be both are given in > index. > > What is not hard is finding the record. What might be hard is > translating > it, unless you have a skilled translator, but you might also be willing > to try > it yourself with 'help' If you attempt to translate it yourself, you are > better off if you translated from Russian to Polish and then from Polish > to > English. There are guides, however, for traslating both Polish and > Russian to > English. Johnathan Shea and Fred Hoffman have books that will help you do > this. I think they are available from PGSA and PGSCTNE both of which have > websites... There are possibly other sources from which to buy the book(s) > and > perhaps they can be found in various libraries that have genealogical > resources. > > Anettka > : > > The film I'm ordering is in > Polish or Latin until 1868 and in Russian after that. My interest is > 1886-ish, so my challenge is identifying my name in Russian on an index > > > > **************Nothing says I love you like flowers! Find a florist near > you > now. > (http://yellowpages.aol.com/search?query=florist&ncid=emlcntusyelp00000002) > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' > without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

The books Anettka mentions are excellent! More information about them can be found here: http://www.langline.com/Publications.htm *In Their Words: A Genealogist's Translation Guide to Polish, German, Latin and Russian Documents. Volume I: Polish*<http://www.langline.com/ITW_Polish.htm> by Jonathan D. Shea and William F. Hoffman *(Can be ordered through* *Avotaynu<http://www.avotaynu.com/books/ITW-Polish.htm> **, the* *Polish Art Center<http://polartcenter.com/In_Their_Words_A_Genealogist_s_Translation_p/9090020.htm> **, and **Genealogy Unlimited <http://www.genealogyunlimited.com/>**) * ** *In their Words: A Genealogist's Translation Guide to Polish, German, Latin and Russian Documents. Volume II: Russian*<http://www.langline.com/ITW_Russian.htm> by Jonathan D. Shea and William F. Hoffman *(Can also be ordered through* *Avotaynu <http://www.avotaynu.com/books/ITW-Russian.htm>**and the* *Polish Art Center<http://polartcenter.com/In_Their_Words_Volume_II_Russian_p/9090027.htm> *) Bronwyn. PS Nope, I'm not on commission :-Z ** On Sat, Feb 14, 2009 at 10:56 PM, <[email protected]> wrote: > > Micelle and Magaret, > > As was indicated, most priests were pissed at haveing to use Cyrillic in > the > records, and usually put the names of those whom the record was about in > Polish, next to the Cyrillic names in the records. That makes it easier to > search even if you don't have an index. In the indecies, the names are in > Cyrillic writing. You can get a very good approximation of what the > Cyrillic > version would look like by using an alphabet of latin letters with their > Cyrillic > equivalents. Sometimes there is really no equivalent for the Latin or > Russian letter, but phonetically there will be something that will be > used. Don't > expect you have to match your Russian equivalent with the index info.... > Just > look at all that at least partially match, and see what the Polish > equivalent name is in the text. The index usually gives a page number > where the > record is to be found in the book; if not the page number, and records are > numbered, it could be the record number, or it could be both are given in > index. > > What is not hard is finding the record. What might be hard is translating > it, unless you have a skilled translator, but you might also be willing to > try > it yourself with 'help' If you attempt to translate it yourself, you are > better off if you translated from Russian to Polish and then from Polish > to > English. There are guides, however, for traslating both Polish and > Russian to > English. Johnathan Shea and Fred Hoffman have books that will help you do > this. I think they are available from PGSA and PGSCTNE both of which have > websites... There are possibly other sources from which to buy the book(s) > and > perhaps they can be found in various libraries that have genealogical > resources. > > Anettka > : > > The film I'm ordering is in > Polish or Latin until 1868 and in Russian after that. My interest is > 1886-ish, so my challenge is identifying my name in Russian on an index > > > > **************Nothing says I love you like flowers! Find a florist near you > now. ( > http://yellowpages.aol.com/search?query=florist&ncid=emlcntusyelp00000002) > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' > without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >