Hi Mark: I think we've had this discussion before. I wonder if you are talking about the original German area of Pomerania because according to the map Pomerania included some German areas? The area where my relatives come from was first Poland and my family's name in the 1600s through 1800 was a Polish spelling (Cyman), then Germany invaded in the 1800s and tried to close down the Catholic Church and forced everyone to speak German, and German became the standard language and not even stores could contain Polish spelling. Imagine older folks who spoke Polish their whole lives now needing to learn a new language. My relative's name was changed to Zieman, the German spelling and this German occupation was the reason for their immigration in 1868. When they got to the US, they changed their name back to Cyman and built churches where they could no longer be persecuted. Imagine the difficulty in finding my relatives church records in the old country because I was looking for Cyman; only after I did some research did I learn that their name was changed to the German spelling--along with the town names from Polish to German. But just because their last name was changed to a German spelling doesn't mean they were German. They were always Polish, even under German occupation. On 5/10/2011 9:49 AM, Mark F Rabideau wrote: > Hi Lorene > > The records are German.. the area was mostly German before it was > ethnically cleansed at the end of WW2 > > You may read a brief history here: > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomerania > -- Lorene Seman, MBA Assistant Administrator Department of Anesthesiology School of Medicine and Public Health University of Wisconsin 600 Highland Ave, B6/319 CSC Madison, WI 53792-3272 Voice: (608)265-0588 FAX: (608)263-8111 lmseman@wisc.edu

Hi Lorene You asked about the province and its ethnicity... I simply offered a link which gives some pretty accurate data. As for your family's history, I am certain your research indicates it happened as you say. Neither of these points are in conflict with each other, they are simply what happened. -- 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> Reply-to: prussia-roots@rootsweb.com To: prussia-roots@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [PRUSSIA-ROOTS] New Pommern document collection LDS Familysearch Date: Tue, 10 May 2011 10:51:41 -0500 Hi Mark: I think we've had this discussion before. I wonder if you are talking about the original German area of Pomerania because according to the map Pomerania included some German areas? The area where my relatives come from was first Poland and my family's name in the 1600s through 1800 was a Polish spelling (Cyman), then Germany invaded in the 1800s and tried to close down the Catholic Church and forced everyone to speak German, and German became the standard language and not even stores could contain Polish spelling. Imagine older folks who spoke Polish their whole lives now needing to learn a new language. My relative's name was changed to Zieman, the German spelling and this German occupation was the reason for their immigration in 1868. When they got to the US, they changed their name back to Cyman and built churches where they could no longer be persecuted. Imagine the difficulty in finding my relatives church records in the old country because I was looking for Cyman; only after I did some research did I learn that their name was changed to the German spelling--along with the town names from Polish to German. But just because their last name was changed to a German spelling doesn't mean they were German. They were always Polish, even under German occupation. On 5/10/2011 9:49 AM, Mark F Rabideau wrote: > Hi Lorene > > The records are German.. the area was mostly German before it was > ethnically cleansed at the end of WW2 > > You may read a brief history here: > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomerania >

Lorene Pomerania was under either Swedish or German (Brandenburg Prussia) control from the early 1600s up to 1945. So your comment about a German invasion in the 1800s doesn't make sense in connection with Pomerania (Pommern). As regards the population: "During the Thirty Years War (1618-1648) Pomerania, lost two thirds of its population due to military raids, plague, famine and criminal violence." (Wikipedia). The region had to be re-populated and people from western Germany were given tax breaks etc to move east. It was the descendents of these Germans who were ethnically cleansed by Stalin in 1945. So I'm at a loss to understand your comment "then Germany invaded in the 1800s". Which invasion are you talking about? Or are you talking about Pomerelia (Pommerellen) as opposed to Pomerania (Pommern)? Pomerelia was annexed by Prussia in the 18th century (ie not the 1800s) and became part of West Prussia. This happened in the "First Partition of Poland" in 1772. The second and third partitions occurred in 1793 and 1795 respectively extinguishing Polish independence. David Armstrong Maylands, Western Australia ----- Original Message ----- From: Lorene Seman To: prussia-roots@rootsweb.com Sent: Tuesday, May 10, 2011 11:51 PM Subject: Re: [PRUSSIA-ROOTS] New Pommern document collection LDS Familysearch Hi Mark: I think we've had this discussion before. I wonder if you are talking about the original German area of Pomerania because according to the map Pomerania included some German areas? The area where my relatives come from was first Poland and my family's name in the 1600s through 1800 was a Polish spelling (Cyman), then Germany invaded in the 1800s and tried to close down the Catholic Church and forced everyone to speak German, and German became the standard language and not even stores could contain Polish spelling. Imagine older folks who spoke Polish their whole lives now needing to learn a new language. My relative's name was changed to Zieman, the German spelling and this German occupation was the reason for their immigration in 1868. When they got to the US, they changed their name back to Cyman and built churches where they could no longer be persecuted. Imagine the difficulty in finding my relatives church records in the old country because I was looking for Cyman; only after I did some research did I learn that their name was changed to the German spelling--along with the town names from Polish to German. But just because their last name was changed to a German spelling doesn't mean they were German. They were always Polish, even under German occupation.