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=== Poland Research Strategies  ===
[[File:Ask the Community Button New Version.jpg|link=https://community.familysearch.org/s/group/0F93A000000Lj91SAC/poland]] '''At any point in this process, if you need assistance, this button will lead to a community of volunteers with experience in Polish research. They would love to answer your questions and help you.
==Finding the Town of Origin==
[[File:Blue check.png|25px]] '''Use a wide variety of home, church, state, and U.S. records to find the name of the exact town in Poland your ancestors lived in. Also find out the name of the first immigrant, approximate dates of their life events, and their religion.'''<br>
Before you can begin to search in the records of Poland you must find that one record that gives the name of his or her hometown. You must also know enough about the ancestor to positively identify him in the records. Dates (even if they are approximate), places, and familial connections are key to helping you decide if a person you find, who has the same name as your ancestor, really is your ancestor.


*[[Poland Getting Started|Getting Started]]
*Do you know the name of his parents?
*[[Poland What's the Next Step?|What's the Next Step]]
*Do you know his birth, marriage, or death date or can you calculate an approximate range of years to search for his birth, marriage, or death?
*[[Poland Finding Your Ancestor in the Records|Finding Your Ancestor in the Records]]
*Do you know the name of his wife? Did they marry before or after coming to the United States?<br>
*[[Poland Online Genealogy Records|Online Genealogy Records]]  
*Do you know the names of any of his siblings?
*[[Poland Determining a Place of Origin|Determining a Place of Origin]]
*Do you know the names of any children born in Poland?
*[[Poland Gazetteers|Gazetteers]]  
====[[Poland Locating Town of Origin]]====
To find these important facts, there are a variety of home, church, state, and U.S. records you can search. Instructions for locating these records and in many cases, links to online databases of these records are found in the Wiki article [[Poland Locating Town of Origin|'''Poland Locating Town of Origin.''']]


=== Poland Research Tips ===
==Geographic Details==
===Find the Voivodeship (Province)===
[[File:Blue check.png|25px]]'''Use maps and gazetteers to locate the town in Poland.'''<br>
At this point, you need to find out the general location of the town. Genealogical records are organized and maintained by geographical jurisdictions.  To proceed further you need to find out the '''voivodeship''' (Polish:województwo) or '''province''' of the town. Later, you will find more details.  But to use the gazetteers that will give you those details, you need to know the province. You will see why in a minute. Here are some options for quickly finding the province:
*[https://www.wikipedia.org/ '''Wikipedia''']<br>
If the town is large enough, it will show up in [https://www.wikipedia.org/ '''Wikipedia!'''] A Wikipedia article should name the current province and might give the history of former provinces the town belonged to.
*[http://mapa.szukacz.pl '''Mapa.Szukacz.pl'''] shows the town on a map, its jurisdictions, population, and postal code. It names the current province.
{|
|-
|style="padding-right:75px"|
'''Enter the name of your town''' <br>
'''in the "place" field on the right.'''<br> 
[[File:Dynow1.png|200px]]
|'''In addition to the map, this infobox appears.'''
[[File:Dynow2.png|300px]]
|}
*'''Spis Gazetteer'''
This gazetteer is simple to search.  It is alphabetical. It lists jurisdictions and location of civil registration offices. At this point you need it most to find the Województwo/Province, marked with  [[File:X mark.png|25px]]. This will give you the 1968 province. Provinces changed in 1999.  However, this is the province you need to use when looking for records in the FamilySearch Catalog.  On the [[Poland Genealogy|'''Poland Genealogy''']] main page, you will find a map that shows the two sets of provinces for comparison.  The [[Spis Gazetteer of Poland|Spis Gazetteer of Poland Wiki Article]] gives abbreviations.
*[https://dcms.lds.org/delivery/DeliveryManagerServlet?dps_pid=IE9541645 '''Spis Gazetteer, Volume 1''']
*[https://dcms.lds.org/delivery/DeliveryManagerServlet?dps_pid=IE13546665 '''Spis Gazetteer, Volume 2''']
<br>
<center>'''Translated Headings for Spis Gazetteer'''</center>
<br>


*[[Poland Tips for Beginners|Tips for Beginners]]  
{| width="100%" border="1"
*[[Poland Tips for Polish American Researchers|Tips for Polish American Researchers]]
|-
| Nazwa i rodzaj miejscowości
| Gromada (osiedle-osied.) (miasto-m.)
| Siedziba PRN
| [[File:X mark.png|15px]]Województwo
| Poczta
| Stacja, przystanek kolejowy
| Urząd stanu cywilnego
|-
| Name and type of locality
| Next larger admini-strative unit
| County Seat
| [[File:X mark.png|15px]]Province
| Post Office
| Railroad Station
| Vital Records Office
|}
===Austria, Prussia, or Russia===
[[File:Blue check.png|25px]]'''Determine whether the town was in Austrian, Russian, or Prussian Poland.'''<br>


'''Census Records. &nbsp;&nbsp;'''Censuses (counts and descriptions of populations) have been taken by the various governments of Poland, primarily for population studies, taxation, or military purposes. &nbsp;[[Poland Census|Poland Census Records]]
*Poland was divided up among Prussia, Russia, and Austria from about 1815-1918/1945.  In the maps and gazetteer above, you have found either the current province (voivodeship) or the 1967 province. '''Look at these maps and determine whether your province was in Austria, Prussia, or Russia.'''
<br>


'''Civil Registration. &nbsp; '''Birth, death and marriage records. &nbsp;[http://www.usc.pl/zasieg Office to locate Poland civil registrations]  
{|
|-
| style="vertical-align:top"|
<center>A.  Modern Voivodeships</center><br>
[[File:Poland_map_with_English.png|300px]]
 
|style="vertical-align:top"|
<center>B.  1967 Voivodeships: '''Use these for FamilySearch Catalog.'''</center><br>
[[File:Poland 1967 map.png|300px]]
 
|style="vertical-align:top"|
<center>C. Poland 1815-1918: Poland was <br>divided among Austria, <br>Prussia, and Russia.</center><br>
[[File:Poland_1815-1918.png|400px|right]]
|}
<br>
*This affects the starting date of civil registration records, the language used in the records, and the format of the records. '''Now study this chart to see how your genealogy will be affected by the country of your province from 1815-1918/45:'''
{|
|-
! style="vertical-align:top; padding:8px; border:1px solid black"|
Country
! style="vertical-align:top; padding:8px; border:1px solid black"|
Use church<br> records alone:
! style="vertical-align:top; padding:8px; border:1px solid black"|
'''Civil <br>registration <br>starts:
! style="vertical-align:top; padding:8px; border:1px solid black"|
Language
!style="vertical-align:top; padding:8px; border:1px solid black"|
Reading aid:<br>
What the records look like.
|-
|style="vertical-align:top; padding:8px; border:1px solid black"|
Austria
|style="vertical-align:top; padding:8px; border:1px solid black"|
Up until 1914
|style="vertical-align:top; padding:8px; border:1px solid black"|
1914
|style="vertical-align:top; padding:8px; border:1px solid black"|
Before 1784: Latin or German<br>
1784-1918: Latin<br>
1918-Present: Polish<br>
|style="vertical-align:top; padding:8px; border:1px solid black"|
*[http://www.halgal.com/birthrecord.html Austrian Latin Baptismal/Birth Record]
*[http://www.halgal.com/marriagerecord.html Austrian Latin Marriage Record]
*[http://www.halgal.com/deathrecord.html Austrian Latin Death Record]
*[[Polish Civil Registration Reading Aid]]
 
|-
|style="vertical-align:top; padding:8px; border:1px solid black"|
Prussia
|style="vertical-align:top; padding:8px; border:1px solid black"|
Before 1874
|style="vertical-align:top; padding:8px; border:1px solid black"|
1874 to the present
|style="vertical-align:top; padding:8px; border:1px solid black"|
1874-1918 or 1945: German<br>
1918 or 1945-Present: Polish
|style="vertical-align:top; padding:8px; border:1px solid black"|
*[https://blogs.ancestry.com/ancestry/2016/06/03/civil-registrations-search-nearly-3-million-brand-new-german-records/ German Civil Registration]
*[[Polish Civil Registration Reading Aid]]
|-
|style="vertical-align:top; padding:8px; border:1px solid black"|
Russia
|style="vertical-align:top; padding:8px; border:1px solid black"|
Before 1808-1815
|style="vertical-align:top; padding:8px; border:1px solid black"|
1808-1815
|style="vertical-align:top; padding:8px; border:1px solid black"|
1808-1868: Polish<br>
1868-1918: Russian<br>
1918-Present: Polish
|style="vertical-align:top; padding:8px; border:1px solid black"|
*[[Polish Civil Registration Reading Aid]]
*[[Russian Poland Civil Registration Reading Aid]]
|}
 
===Town Details===
Depending on the size of the town or village where your ancestors lived, it might have had its own parish church. It might have been too small, and people attended church (and had their records kept) in a nearby larger town. The same thing applies to civil registry offices.  So now you need to do a little more geographic reference work to find out the names of those larger towns, if necessary.
 
[[File:Blue check.png|25px]] '''Use maps and gazetteers to determine these important facts about the town:'''
*the location of the Lutheran or Catholic parish for the town
*the location of the civil registration office for the town
<br>
 
Watch the online course, [https://familysearch.org/ask/learningViewer/712 '''Poland Historical Geography'''] '''The second half of this lesson will demonstrate several gazetteers.'''<br>
Links to those gazetteers, and more instructions, can be found in the article [[Poland Gazetteers|'''Poland Gazetteers'''.]]
 
==[[Poland Finding Aids]]==
[[File:Blue check.png|25px]] '''Use finding aids to find out whether records exist covering the parishes and civil registry of the town.'''<br>
Poland  finding aids have been created by a variety of state, church, society, and private organizations.  Their goal is to inform what records exist and the repositories that hold them. Each finding aid has a different focus--a particular religion or geographical area or archive or collection.  Be sure to search all that apply to your ancestors. Remember that churches often produced civil registration records. The church records might have been destroyed, but copies had been sent to the government and still exist. So we search for both church records  and civil registration records.
*[[Poland Finding Aids|'''Poland Finding Aids''']]
 
==Searching Civil Regiistration and Church Recxords==
[[File:Blue check.png|25px]]'''Read these articles to learn about church records and civil registration.'''
The vast majority of the research you do will be in just two types of records: church records and civil registration records.  Study these two wiki articles to learn about these records and what information they contain:
*[[Poland Civil Registration|'''Poland Civil Registration''']]
*[[Poland Church Records|'''Poland Church Records''']]
 
[[File:Blue check.png|25px]]'''Search those records by one of these methods.'''
*online databases
*microfilmed records
*correspondence with archives
*correspondence with local churches
*correspondence with local civil registration offices
[[File:Blue check.png|25px]] '''Use the instructions and links provided in the Wiki specific to the voivodeship where your ancestors lived.'''
There is a page for the voivodeship of your ancestors' town which specializes is research for that voivodeship. Here you will find the specific links you need to finding aids, online databases, FamilySearch records, state archives addresses, church archives addresses, and parish and civil registry office addresses.
{{columns-list|4|
*[[Greater Poland Voivodeship, Poland Genealogy|'''Greater Poland''']]
*[[Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, Poland Genealogy|'''Kuyavia-Pomerania''']]
*[[Lesser Poland Voivodeship, Poland Genealogy|'''Lesser Poland''']]
*[[Łódź Voivodeship, Poland Genealogy|'''Łódź''']]
*[[Lower Silesian Voivodeship, Poland Genealogy|'''Lower Silesian''']]
*[[Lublin Voivodeship, Poland Genealogy|'''Lublin''']]
*[[Lubusz Voivodeship, Poland Genealogy|'''Lubusz''']]
*[[Masovian Voivodeship, Poland Genealogy|'''Masovia''']]
*[[Opole Voivodeship, Poland Genealogy|'''Opole''']]
*[[Podlaskie Voivodeship, Poland Genealogy|'''Podlaskie''']]
*[[Pomeranian Voivodeship, Poland Genealogy|'''Pomerania''']]
*[[Silesian Voivodeship, Poland Genealogy|'''Silesia''']]
*[[Subcarpathian or Podkarpackie Voivodeship, Poland Genealogy|'''Subcarpathia or Podkarpackie''']]
*[[Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, Poland Genealogy|'''Świętokrzyskie''']]
*[[Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, Poland Genealogy|'''Warmia-Masuria''']]
*[[West Pomeranian Voivodeship, Poland Genealogy|'''West Pomerania''']]
}}
[[File:Blue check.png|25px]]'''Follow this search strategy as you compile records about your family.'''
*Search for the relative or ancestor you selected. When you find his birth record, search for the births of his '''brothers and sisters'''.
*Next, search for the '''marriage of his parents.''' The marriage record will have information that will often help you find the birth records of the parents.
*You can '''estimate the ages''' of the parents and determine a birth year to search for their birth records.
*Search the death registers for all known family members.
*Repeat this process for both the father and the mother, starting with their birth records, then their siblings' births, then their parents' marriages, and so on.
*If earlier generations (parents, grandparents, etc.) do not appear in the records, search neighboring parishes.
 
==Reading the Records==
[[File:Blue check.png|25px]] '''Use language lessons, vocabulary lists, and reading aids to learn how to read the records.'''
===Research Tutorials===
*[https://familysearch.org/ask/learningViewer/90 '''Reading Polish Handwritten Records''']
**Lesson 1: Polish Letters
**Lesson 2: Polish Words and Dates
**Lesson 3: Reading Polish Records
*'''Reading Russian Handwriting'''
**[https://www.familysearch.org/ask/learningViewer/76 Lesson 1: The Russian Alphabet]
**[https://www.familysearch.org/ask/learningViewer/77 Lesson 2: Russian Words and Dates]
**[https://www.familysearch.org/ask/learningViewer/78 Lesson 3: Reading Russian Records]
*'''Reading German Handwritten Records'''
**[https://www.familysearch.org/ask/learningViewer/38 Lesson 1: Kurrent Letters]
**[https://www.familysearch.org/ask/learningViewer/39 Lesson 2: Making Words in Kurrent]
**[https://www.familysearch.org/ask/learningViewer/40 Lesson 3: Reading Kurrent Documents]
*'''Old German Script'''
**[https://familysearch.org/ask/learningViewer/375 Part 1]
**[https://familysearch.org/ask/learningViewer/377 Part 2]
**[https://familysearch.org/ask/learningViewer/426  Part 3 (German Church and Civil Records)]
*[https://www.familysearch.org/ask/learningViewer/374 '''Latin for Genealogists]
 
===How-to Guides===
*Reading Polish Birth Records - [[Media:1-Poland_Birth_Records_in_Paragraph_Format-Instruction.pdf|Instruction]], [[Media:2-Poland_Birth_Records_in_Paragraph_Format-Assignment.pdf|Activity]], [[Media:3-Poland_Birth_Records_in_Paragraph_Format-Answer_Key.pdf|Answer Key]]
*Reading Polish Marriage Records - [[Media:1-Poland_Marriage_Records_in_Paragraph_Format-Instruction.pdf|Instruction]], [[Media:2-Poland_Marriage_Records_in_Paragraph_Format-Activity.pdf|Activity]], [[Media:3-Marriage_Records_in_Paragraph_Format-Answer_Key.pdf|Answer Key]]
*Reading Polish Death Records - [[Media:1-Poland-Death_Records_in_Paragraph_Format-Instruction.pdf|Instruction]], [[Media:2-Poland-Death_Records_in_Paragraph_Format-Activity.pdf|Activity]], [[Media:3-Poland-Death_Records_in_Paragraph_Format-Answer_Key.pdf|Answer Key]]
 
For areas of Poland that were once part of '''Russia''':
*Cyrillic Alphabet - [[Media:1-Russian_Alphabet_Instruction.pdf|Instruction]], [[Media:2-Russian_Alphabet_Assignment.pdf|Activity]], [[Media:3-Russian_Alphabet_Answer_Key.pdf|Answer Key]]<br>
*Cyrillic Script - [[Media:1-Russian_Script-Instruction.pdf|Instruction]], [[Media:2-Russian_Script-Assignment.pdf|Activity]], [[Media:3-Russian_Script-Answer_Key.pdf|Answer Key]]<br>
* Reading Russian Birth Records - [[Media:1-Russia_Birth_Records_in_Paragraph_Format-Instruction.pdf|Instruction]], [[Media:2-Birth_Records_in_Paragraph_Format-Activity.pdf|Activity]], [[Media:3-Birth_Records_in_Paragraph_Format-Answer_Key.pdf|Answer Key]]
* Reading Russian Marriage Records - [[Media:1-Russia_Marriage_Records_in_Paragraph_Format-Instruction.pdf|Instruction]], [[Media:2-Russia_Marriage_Records_in_Paragraph_Format-Activity.pdf|Activity]], [[Media:3-Russia_Marriage_Records_in_Paragraph_Format-Answer_Key.pdf|Answer Key]]
* Reading Russian Death Records - [[Media:1-Russia_Death_Records_in_Paragraph_Format-Instruction.pdf|Instruction]], [[Media:2-Russia_Death_Records_in_Paragraph_Format-Activity.pdf|Activity]], [[Media:3-Russia_Death_Records_in_Paragraph_Format-Answer_Key.pdf|Answer Key]]
 
==Writing for Records==
[[File:Blue check.png|25px]]'''Use the Poland Letter Writing Guide to write letters in Polish for the correspondence searches you need.'''
You can write or email offices and churches to requent copies of their records.  It is both courteous and more efficient if you write in Polish.  The [[Poland Letter Writing Guide|'''Poland Letter Writing Guide''']] gives you Polish translations for all the sentences and questions you might want to use in your letter.


[[Category:Poland Research Strategies]]
[[Category:Poland Research Strategies]]
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