Hello Lorene I came across this site with information on Kashubian family names and noticed that yours was included. http://www.pgsa.org/Kashub/kashub.php Enjoy! Pax Vobiscum, ...mark (Mark Rabideau) ManyRoads Family Genealogist (Rabideau-Henss Family) *Visit us at: http://many-roads.com <http://many-roads.com/> * *Snail mail at: *711 Nob Hill Trail - Franktown,CO USA - 80116-8717 *phone:*+1.303.660.9400 *fax:*+1.303.660.9217 *member:*Association of Professional Genealogists & National Genealogical Society _____________________________________________________________________ *"It’s always useful to know where a friend-and-relation is, whether you want him or whether you don’t."* Rabbit, Pooh’s Little Instruction Book (Winnie the Pooh) On 01/04/2011 10:54 AM, Mark Rabideau wrote: > Hi Lorene > > Hard to guess what might be best. I guess, I'd try the LDS archives > looking for the town church records searching Village of Podjazy > (Polish), /Podjas /(German, /Poland/) (a keyword search yielded a > potential: > https://familysearch.org/s/search/index/catalog-search#searchType=catalog&filtered=true&fed=false&collectionId=&catSearchType=keywords&searchCriteria=Podjazy&placeName=&author_givenName=&author_surname= > <https://familysearch.org/s/search/index/catalog-search#searchType=catalog&filtered=true&fed=false&collectionId=&catSearchType=keywords&searchCriteria=Podjazy&placeName=&author_givenName=&author_surname=> > > A place name search is useless in either Polish or German (comes up > empty)... so you need to find the adjacent towns to search all while > being sensitive to the religious affiliation you seek. Because your > family came from the area in 1868, you will be hard pressed to find > addressbooks that will be helpful, although I have some early ones > online from Danzig, which seems near to where your family lived (you > can browse those to see what you find). > > You will need to search for your family in the language relevant to > the time period and region (it shifted a lot in certain areas). My > family was in a nearly 100% German area (had been starting about 1400- > all that can be read on ManyRoads). As for finding their farm... well > you could get lucky. My mother's farm survived and I am in contact > with the people who took it over after my family was dispossessed and > ethnically cleansed from the region at the end of WW2 (also on ManyRoads). > > btw. I also do this as a service so without meaning to be too pushy, > you can learn more about my genealogical services at: > http://www.many-roads.com/manyroads-services/ > I wish you the best of luck. I do think the archives that started > this whole discussion are a good place to look and query in both > Polish & German (who knows what will pop-up!) > -- > > Pax Vobiscum, > ...mark (Mark Rabideau) > > ManyRoads Family Genealogist (Rabideau-Henss Family) > *Visit us at: http://many-roads.com * > *Snail mail at: *711 Nob Hill Trail - Franktown,CO USA - 80116-8717 > *phone:*+1.303.660.9400 *fax:*+1.303.660.9217 > *member:* Association of Professional Genealogists & National > Genealogical Society > _____________________________________________________________________ > *"It’s always useful to know where a friend-and-relation is, whether > you want him or whether you don’t."* > Rabbit, Pooh’s Little Instruction Book (Winnie the Pooh) > > > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > *From*: Lorene Seman <lmseman@wisc.edu > <mailto:Lorene%20Seman%20%3clmseman@wisc.edu%3e>> > *To*: genealogy@eirenicon.org <mailto:genealogy@eirenicon.org>, > prussia-roots@rootsweb.com <mailto:prussia-roots@rootsweb.com> > *Subject*: Re: [PRUSSIA-ROOTS] Fw: Polish Archives > *Date*: Tue, 04 Jan 2011 11:29:48 -0600 > > Hi Mark: Thanks for the info. So, to clarify, you are uploading just > German information on these sites? But what does that mean? > Information on people who were truly German, who spoke German and came > from Germany and relocated to Prussia? > > My family--Polish name Cyman for centuries living in Prussia was later > forced to change their name to Zieman because of the German invasion; so > even though they lived in "Germany" (which was originally Poland) and > had a "Germanized" name, they spoke Polish so I call them Polish and > they left Podjass, Poland in 1868 due to religious persecution by the > Germans. I'm looking for any information I can get to show me where > they lived; I would like to go visit the farm where they lived. I don't > know if this would be found in German records or Polish records, given > that at the time, Polish language was abolished by the German > controlling party. Polish people were not allowed to speak Polish or > have store signs in Polish and the official language taught in schools > was German. So, where would I find such records? In German archives or > Polish archives? Addressbooks or church records would be helpful. I've > searched the Pomeranian database and found one church record because not > all years have been digitized. > > On 1/4/2011 10:31 AM, Mark Rabideau wrote: > > Hi Lorene, > > > > Doubtful you will find census records, so far as I know almost none were > > ever taken. Property records were largely destroyed with the damages of > > WW2 and the ethnic cleansing of the region twice in the early to mid > > 1900s. I find textbooks, maps, addressbooks and church records to be > > reasonably helpful and as close to complete as you will get. The > > archives I pointed everyone to are being organized by the Polish > > University system and a exceptionally useful albeit incomplete and in > > development. > > > > If you are fluent in Polish you could also try Polish civil archives... > > I, however, am not looking for Polish ancestors, so I am unfamiliar with > > those document sources. All my relatives were Germans (protestants at > > that... a completely extinct brand of person these days). I have been > > gathering everything I can find and placing it on my website in > > electronic/ digitized libraries (I have almost 20GB of information as of > > today). Almost all of it is free for people to access and use. > > > > If you are unfamiliar with the history of the area and time your family > > lived in the region, I recommend you start by reading wikipedia and from > > there you can try reading some of the materials I have gathered: > > > > http://www.many-roads.com/libraries/prussia-histories/adressbucher/ > > http://www.many-roads.com/libraries/maps/ > > http://www.many-roads.com/libraries/prussia-histories/ > > > > If you need additional links these may be useful: > > http://www.many-roads.com/link-directory/ > > > > Have fun! > > > > > > >