This message is for Laura Zurowski from Friends of Poland or for anyone else that can be of some help. Are you able to obtain birth records from Belarus? I am trying to find a copy of my grandfathers birth records so I can find out his parent's names and his mother's maiden name. I was told by a family friend that he was from Belarus (White Russia). What would it cost to obtain this document? I can send an attachment showing the town, etc. where he says he came from to whoever can assist me. Thanks. Dolores Brown Fontana, Ca. -----Original Message----- From: polandbordersurnames-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:polandbordersurnames-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Nhasior@aol.com Sent: Wednesday, November 07, 2007 4:16 AM To: polandbordersurnames@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [PBS] Theresa on Belarus Hi Rose, Laura Zurowski is a member of the Friends of Poland yahoo group. She posts news and updates about Belarus and I think she may be able to give you lot of heads up information which may be useful in planning your trip. _http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FRIENDSofPOLAND/_ (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FRIENDSofPOLAND/) I hope you have a wonderful and informative visit. Noreen ************************************** See what's new at http://www.aol.com ------------------------------- 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

From my personal experience, obtaining birth records from Belarus is similar to obtaining birth records from Poland: Identify the village of birth and religion of the person. Identify the church attended by people from that village. Identify the province for the village. Identify the archdiocese (if Roman Catholic) for the village. Determine where the church records are currently held. This could be the church itself, the archdiocesan archives, the civil archives, etc. BEFORE requesting information from Belarus, check with www.familysearch.org to determine if the records have been filmed. MANY parish registers from villages around Grodno have been filmed and can be ordered to view at your local Family History Center. It is much easier to view the records yourself on film. You can print a copy of each record you want (birth, marriage, death) with ALL the information listed in the record. Frequently when these records are ordered from Belarus, you receive a partial transcription of the record, leaving out information that is extremely valuable to researchers in building family relationships. Also, be aware that church records from Belarus may be kept at a civil archive in Belarus and a church archive in Poland. If so, you have double the opportunity to locate them. But, ALWAYS check for these records at www.familysearch.org first. BTW, the cost of ordering a film is about $5.50 and remains at the Family History Center for about 5-6 weeks. What a bargain for a gold mine! So many of us experienced the excitement of seeing the actual parish register the priest wrote in. If you contact me at my email address, I could answer additional questions and offer further assistance. Obtaining records can be much more complicated than I describe above; however, this is a basic explanation. Harriet On Nov 19, 2007, at 12:31 AM, Dolores Brown wrote: > This message is for Laura Zurowski from Friends of Poland or for > anyone > else that can be of some help. > > Are you able to obtain birth records from Belarus? I am trying to > find > a copy of my grandfathers birth records so I can find out his parent's > names and his mother's maiden name. I was told by a family friend > that > he was from Belarus (White Russia). > > What would it cost to obtain this document? > > I can send an attachment showing the town, etc. where he says he came > from to whoever can assist me. > > Thanks. > Dolores Brown > Fontana, Ca. >