Fred: You are a godsend. This has to be it. My cousin was born in Kowno in 1938 and came to America in 1955. I met her two years ago and she is a history book. She knows how to read German and we located a person at the Polish Institute in Winona, MN to do the Polish translations. She has been going through reels and reels of church records of the Mariampole area. I was wrong in stating this particular baptism to be in Virbalis. I called her today and she stated no, it is from GARLIAVA. She knew the manor farm had to be in the same area. The name of the Folwark referred by you below is definitely the right one. Due to the old Polish writing in the church record the township etc. most likely was spelled different or very hard to read. Some of the pages had such a dark background. You are definitely correct. She has been finding several other records in other churches in the area such as in Mariampole, Virballis, Gumbinnen, etc. Some are also in Lithuanian or Russian languages. Thanks also for all the other information. I am sure we will be accessing it. Some of the surnames we are researching are: Krause/Kraus, Holl/Hohl, Steinke, Heidrich, Less, Zimmerman and Saborowsky/Sebrofsky or i; possibly Jurkshait or Jurkshad (need to fit them in) and Mett. I know there are others. These people were all Lutherans and most of them were of the Salzburgers. Bless you. Now we have a documentation. Sandie in Wisconsin, USA ----- Original Message ----- From: "Fred Hoffman" <wfhoffman@prodigy.net> To: <polandbordersurnames@rootsweb.com> Sent: Wednesday, July 25, 2007 7:43 AM Subject: [PBS] Village Koscielna, township Jakiwiszki > Hi, > > > Sandie <marana@tds.net> asked: > >> I would appreciate assistance in locating the >> following area. This was in >> 1834. >> >> village Koscielna (township Jakiwiszki) - >> Folwark (big farm) Ryngwaldyczki > > The names "Jakiwiszk" and "Ryngwaldyczki" don't > sound at all Polish. I suspected they might be > Polonized versions of Lithuanian or Belarusian > names. So I wondered if searching in Poland, in > its modern borders, would be a waste of time. > > In such cases, the best place to look is the > massive 15-volume Polish-language gazetter > _Slownik geograficzny Krolestwa Polskiego_, > published in the late 19th century. It does not > mention a "Ryngwaldyczki," but it does mention a > folwark (manorial farmstead) called Ryngwaldyszki > (Volume 10, p. 104). It was located in the county > of Maryampol, district of Aleksota, parish of > Godlewo. This area is now in Lithuania -- > Maryampole is Marijampole, Godlewo is Garliava. > The Garliava area is just a little south of Kaunas > (Polish name Kowno). > > You can search the SGKP for specific names of > places at this site: > > http://www.dir.icm.edu.pl/dirop/index.php/Slownik_geograficzny/Tom_I/30 > > Under "Wyszukiwanie," you can search for entry > names ("w haslach") or within the actual text of > entries (w tekscie). Text searches take longer, > but are still reasonably fast. Of course, you have > to spell the names correctly. A search for > "Ryngwaldyczki" comes up empty, but "Rynwaldyszki" > finds the place in question -- but you have to > type in the name with the slash-L, not plain L. > You can get around that by using "wild cards," ? > for any single character, * for any combination of > characters. Thus if you seach the entry titles for > RYNGWA?D*, you get one match: Ryngwaldyszki. So > you can find many places if you search correctly, > but there is a bit of a learning curve involved. > > I couldn't find any entries mentioning Jakiwiszki > or this particular village Koscielna, but that may > just be because they were awfully small; or > perhaps "Jakiwiszki" has been misspelled and isn't > the correct name. Still, it may be correct. I > notice the compilers of the SGKP did not always > have much info on smaller villages in Lithuania. > Perhaps they just didn't have access to sources > for Lithuania as detailed as those for Polish > territory. > > Normally you could study maps of areas in > Lithuania at: > > http://www.maps.lt/redirect.asp?l=2 > > For some reason, when I tried it just now, the > site was very slow to respond; usually it's much > quicker. I wasn't able to take a close look. But a > search for Garliava should put you very, very > close to the place you're looking for. I tried > Google maps and it showed Garliava and Aleksotas, > but I couldn't find any places with names > corresponding to Jakiwiszki (which would probably > be something like Jakiviskiai) and Ryngwaldyszki > (Ringvaldiskiai?). Perhaps the maps aren't > detailed enough. It's also quite possible these > places no longer exist, have been absorbed into > other communities, or have different names now. > > "Koscielna" is a Polish word meaning "of the > church," and a _koscielna wies_, literally "church > village," was usually a property owned by the > Church, as opposed to property owned by a local > noble or by the government or king. You would > expect Lithuanians to rename such a place, perhaps > with a Lithuanian word meaning much the same thing > (Lithuanian for "church" is _baz^nyc^ia_, using ^ > to stand for the little v diacritical mark over > the Z and C). Or under Communist rule it might > have been given a completely different name, one > with no hint of a religious connection. > _Ryngwaldyszki_ is a Polish rendering of a > Lithuanian adaptation of a German name > (Ringwald) -- also a prime candidate for renaming. > So even if these places still exist as independent > communities, I'd expect them to have different > names. You may need the help of someone in the > area, a local historian or long-time resident, to > find out for sure. > > I hope this helps you find what you're looking > for, Sandie. With luck, it may at least help you > look in the right country! > > Fred Hoffman > > > > ------------------------------- > 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