Memorial Website Opens Door to Find Living Russian Family

Russian Genealogy blog that passes along useful genealogy websites (Russian, Ukrainian) and provides tips to their use!

Letter From Olivier – #Genealogy, #Polish, #Russian

Olivier, first thanks for reading/writing the blog …

I’ve been reading your genealogy blog for a year now and I’ve found some nice infomration from and a lot of good humour as well, thank you and good job.

I trying to research my in-law’s side of the family. They come from Lomza and Grajewo region of Poland, I believe it is the Podlaskie District. The names are Bruszkiewicz and Jurkowski, and Trepanowski (a cousin).

I registered with GenBaza.pl and genetyka.pl and metryki but it doesn’t look as easy as how you made it look in your blog stories to find available scans. And then when I go to the Polish State Archives, well the short of it is I don’t read Russian (and I don’t read Polish either but I can read indexes, I can’t in Russian) and I don’t know how to spell Bruszkiewicz in Russian. So when I am faced with an index or i’m looking at a page of 4 birth certificates, i don’t even know what I’m looking at.

Then I will need to find help with translations.

Do you have any tips on how to translate a Polish family name into how it would be spelled in Russian? And written by hand in a civil register?

As anyone indexed these parishes?

Any encouragements or tips would be welcomed if possible 🙂 The whole thing feels like a brick wall!

Thank you for any help, and good job on the blog!

Best, Olivier

Ok let me see in what ways I can help you:

1. First I am self taught in Russian and Polish from books written by William F. Hoffman and Jon Shea. So I’d recommend purchasing & reading their books, “In Their Own Words …” .  Volumes I & II.
2. Also it is helpful to know Polish and learn the families and village names in Polish as this will help when you learn to read Russian. Translating names back & forth between Polish & Russian is more art than science.  So knowing family names  before tackling helps. Lets try a few names: Eliasz became Elijasz under Russian (1868-1918) in Russian-Poland partition. So I was expecting to see: елиашь  or элиашь but was surprised to see it as: елияшь  or элияшь in Russian/Cyrillic. So learn the Cyrillic “alphabet”  and the sounds of those letters so you can transliterate Polish/English/Latin letters into Russian/Cyrillic.  SteveMorse.org has a good English-to-Russian (and vice-versa) tool at:   http://stevemorse.org/russian/eng2rus.html

So if we try, “Bruszkiewicz”, we get (try the first one, but keep in mind that you are liable to see any below):

Брушзкивич, Брюшзкивич, Бружзкивич, Брюжзкивич, Брушжкивич, Брюшжкивич, Бружжкивич, Брюжжкивич, Брушзкиевич, Брюшзкиевич, Бружзкиевич, Брюжзкиевич, Брушжкиевич, Брюшжкиевич, Бружжкиевич, Брюжжкиевич

3. You are correct about Lomza/Grajewo current wojewowdztwo. Both appear to be indexed in Geneteka. You can try the website: http://www.ksiegi-parafialne.pl/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=236&Itemid=331
4. Grajewo is in Szukajwarchiwach (1890-1912): http://szukajwarchiwach.pl/5/525/0/str/1/15?sort=4&ps=True#tabJednostki . Have you read my documentation for using Szukajwarchiwach?
5. Let’s see what “Bruszkiewicz” looks like in 1890 index in Cyrillic cursive writing: … ok I could not find Bruszkiewicz in a handful of years that I searched in both Grajewo and Lomza. Perhaps you need to verify the locale.
6. So I went back to Geneteka and found a Bruszkiewicz in the index that I could locate online. I wanted to show you what it looks like in cursive Cyrillic:

 

Wordless Wednesday — Romanov Family — #Royal #Genealogy

The Romanov Family Tree

There are quite a few distinct DNA combinations involved here …

German, English, Danish, Greek, as well as Russian (possibly some Polish too).

 

The lower right, is Prince Phillip Mountbatten [no picture], the husband of Queen Elizabeth II (the present Queen of England).

The Fourth Partition

A few days ago Stanczyk put forth his framework for discussing Polish genealogy, by enumerating the various eras of the many territories that had ever come under the aegis of  a Polish nation of some kind of government.  This blog tends to a focus upon “Polish” genealogy … in the greater ecumenical, greater geographic and greater ethnicity sense.  As I said, when you start upon Polish genealogy, “they” always say you need to learn about the three partitions of Poland. “They” mean the partitions imposed by the neighboring empires: Prussia, Austria, and Russia in the years, 1772,  1793, and 1795.

Over the years the phrase, “The Fourth Partition” has come to mean any annexation/occupation of Polish territories by outside nations. The years are long and getting longer still day by day. So the Fourth Partition can now be used to mean any of a good many events in history. But today I wanted to speak about Napoleon.

I have written with some fondness on the little, French, coffee drinking Emperor. What I most liked about him (besides the coffee drinking) was the suffrage and enfranchisement that he was able to bring about AND the fact that Codex Napoleon specified in detail how vital records were to be recorded and all of us genealogists benefited from his wisdom.  The Emperor had held out the hope of restoring the Polish condition, but alas, he used Poland as his pawn for his own ambitions, so Poland would languish for more than a century longer after Napoleon was ultimately defeated.

However, whilst Napoleon was having his madcap adventure upon the European continent, he inadvertently, partitioned “Poland” a fourth time. As a result of Napoleon’s early military victories, he was able to wrest wide swaths of Polish lands and fashion out a French protectorate, he named, The Duchy of Warsaw (notice he did not call it Poland). He carved this duchy out of territories on which the three Empires: Prussia, Austria, and Russia had previously partitioned three times already. So in effect, Napoleon manifested a Fourth Partition that lasted for the years 1807-1815, until the treaty of the Congress of Vienna in 1815 which broke the Duchy of Warsaw up into the Cracovian Republic and Congess Kingdom of Poland (under the hegemony of the Russian Empire). The CracovianRepublic was an independent city-state and included Krakow and some lands surrounding Krakow and this land was not returned to the Austrian Partition, called Galicia until it was folded into Austrian-Poland’s Galicia Crownland in 1846 after much upheaval in the 31 years of the CracowRepublic’s lifetime.

Stanczyk had never seen a map showing the original three partitions and then juxtaposing the Duchy of Warsaw (less the CracowRepublic) upon those areas. So I took an existing map and created a new map to see what it must have looked like. So today’s blog is about the Fourth Partition (by Napoleon) and the resulting  map. This jester would like to mention that the 8 years of the Duchy of Warsaw existence had negated the three Empires’ resolution to never have Poland reappear. Of course, after World War I Poland (2^nd Republic) did reappear (and after World War II and in 1989 after throwing off the yoke of the Soviet Union, giving rise to the 3^rd Republic). Enjoy the map!

Genealogy Journals / Magazines – AVOTAYNU — #Polish, #Jewish, #Genealogy

Stanczyk is always seeking out high quality resources that provide context for understanding and/or to provide ideas for new avenues of research. One of the great resources since about 1985, has been Avotaynu. Besides their journal of the same name which is the largest circulation magazine of Jewish Genealogy, they also publish many reference books for Eastern Europe that are of aid Jewish and Non-Jewish researchers alike.

They maintain an index of their published issues (1985-2008) here (http://www.avotaynu.com/indexsum.htm). It is broken down by various countries. This material can also be found in back issues, libraries, and they offer a CD covering the entire 24 year span. This jester sat down to produce a Polish Index for Polish Genealogists of all stripes (Enjoy!):

#	Title / Description	ISSUE	YEAR
1	Jewish records at the Genealogical Society of Utah	II/1/03	1986
2	Index to Polish-Jewish records at Genealogical Society of Utah	II/1/05	1986
3	Book review: The Jews in Poland and Russia–Biographical Essay	III/1/38	1987
4	Origin of Russian-Jewish surnames	III/2/03	1987
5	Breakthrough in access to Polish-Jewish records	IV/1/10	1988
6	Book review: Jews of Posen in 1834 and 1835	IV/2/26	1988
7	Update on project to microfilm Jewish records in Poland	IV/3/12	1988
8	Doing research in the Polish State Archives	IV/3/21	1988
9	Jewish Historical Institute in Poland	V/2/07	1989
10	Jewish genealogical research in Poland	V/2/08	1989
11	Trip to Poznan: The Poland that was not	V/3/16	1989
12	Professional genealogists in Poland	V/4/04	1989
13	List of former Jewish residents of Lodz	V/4/15	1989
14	Caricatures in Polish vital statistic records	VI/1/16	1993
15	Polish trip for Jewish genealogists planned	VI/1/41	1993
16	Using Prussian gazetteers to locate Jewish religious and civil records in Poznan	VI/2/12	1993
17	Sephardic migrations into Poland	VI/2/14	1993
18	A genealogical tour through Poland	VI/3/16	1993
19	Program Judaica to document Jewish history	VI/3/19	1993
20	Jewish researcher in Poland	VI/3/39	1993
21	Jews in Poland today	VI/4/63	1993
22	Polish maps available in the U.S.	VIII/1/58	1993
23	Weiner discusses developments in Poland and Ukraine	VIII/3/64	1993
24	A 1992 research trip to Poland	VIII/4/12	1993
25	Survey of Jewish cemeteries yields results	VIII/4/17	1993
26	Cites Polish “rip off”	IX/1/65	1988
27	Asks why survey of Polish cemeteries does not include all regions	IX/1/67	1988
28	Polish-Jewish genealogical research–A primer	IX/2/04	1988
29	More on the survey of Polish cemeteries	IX/2/13	1988
30	Book review: Korzenie Polskie: Polish Roots	IX/2/61	1988
31	Polish-Jewish heritage seminar planned for July in Krakow	IX/2/65	1988
32	Asks for clarification (of Polish-Jewish records)	IX/3/66	1988
33	Stettin emigration lists found	IX/3/67	1988
34	Head of the Polish State Archives clarifies policies	IX/4/04	1988
35	Book review: Jews in Poland: A Documentary History	IX/4/69	1988
36	More on Polish-Jewish Genealogical Research	X/1/12	1994
37	Directory of Polish State Archives	X/1/14	1994
38	Archives of the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw	X/1/41	1994
39	Jewish genealogical research in Polish archives	X/2/05	1994
40	Jewish surnames in the Kingdom of Poland	X/2/15	1994
41	Polish sources at the Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People	X/2/21	1994
42	Success in dealing with Polish archives	X/2/48	1994
43	Gleanings from a symposium on bibliographies of Polish Judaica	X/4/56	1994
44	Polish name lists sought	XI/1/67	1995
45	Nineteenth-Century Congress Documents and the Jews of Congress Poland	XI/3/24	1995
46	Polish Vital Records for the Very Beginner: The Polish Language Challenged	XI/4/29	1995
47	Alternate surnames in Russian Poland	XII/2/15	1996
48	Census records and city directories in the Krakow Archives	XII/2/27	1996
49	Book review: The Jews in Poland and Russia: Bibliographical Essays	XII/2/63	1996
50	Alternative research sources in Poland	XII/2/65	1996
51	Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw	XII/3/51	1996
52	Director General of the Polish State Archives dies	XII/3/55	1996
53	An interview with the new Polish State Archivist	XII/4/03	1996
54	On-site Jewish genealogical research in Poland: an overview	XII/4/04	1996
55	The Jewish cemetery in Warsaw	XII/4/56	1996
56	Book review: Polish Countrysides: Photographs and Narrative	XII/4/81	1996
57	German and Polish Place Names	XIV/2/33	1998
58	List of More than 300,000 Polish Holocaust Survivors Received by USHMM In Wash. DC 19th- and 20th-Century Polish Directories as Resources for Genealogical Information	XIII/1/25	1997
59	Hamburg Passengers from the Kingdom of Poland and the Russian Empire	XIII/2/63	1997
60	Lw¢w Ghetto Records Being Indexed	XIII/3/66	1997
61	Cites Location of Polish Directories	XIII/4/98	1997
62	Jewish Roots in Poland: Pages from the Past and Archival Inventories; And I Still See Their Faces: Images of Polish Jews; Guide to the YIVO Archives; Luboml: Memorial Book of a Vanished Shtetl	XIV/1/63	1998
63	Comments on Jewish Roots in Poland	XIV/2/65	1998
64	Report on Jewish Communities in Poland Today	XIV/2/65	1998
65	How I Found a New Ancestor in Krak¢w, Poland	XIV/4/65	1998
66	18th-Century Polish Jewry: Demographic and Genealogical Problems	XV/4/9	1999
67	Tips on Translating Entries from Slownik Geograficzny	XVI/3/49	2000
68	The Polish Concept of Permanent Place of Residence	XVI/3/12	2000
69	More About Polish Books of Residents’ Registration	XVI/3/14	2000
70	Can Jewish Genealogists Successfully Research 18th-Century Poland?	XVI/3/16	2000
71	History Book Illuminates Jewish Life in Poland	XVI/3/40	2000
72	Book Review: History of the Jews in Poland and Russia	XVI/3/65	2000
73	Book Review: In Their Words: A Genealogist’s Translation Guide to Polish, German, Latin and Russia Documents. Volume 1: Polish	XVI/4/87	2000
74	Breaking New Ground: The Story of Jewish Records Indexing-Poland Project	XVII/1/7	2001
75	Documenting the Fate of the Jews of Ostrow Mazowiecka	XVII/3/19	2001
76	German and Polish Archival Holdings in Moscow	XVII/4/11	2001
77	Internet Site Names Polish Towns	XVII/4/79	2001
78	Researching Pre-1826 Vital Records in Congress Poland	XVIII/2/19	2003
79	Book Review: Jewish Officers in the Polish Armed Forces, 1939-1945	XVIII/3/62	2003
80	Ashes and Flowers: A Family Trek to Jewish Poland and Romania	XVIII/4/11	2003
81	Two Polish Directories Online	XVIII/4/91	2003
82	Polish Passport Policy 1830-1930: Permits, Restrictions and Archival Sources	XIX/1/21	1998
83	Book Reviews: Zród a archiwalne do dziejów Żydów w Polsce	XIX/3/65	1998
84	Jewish Surnames in Russia, Poland, Galicia and Prussia	XIX/3/28	1998
85	Using Polish Magnate Records for Posen	XIX/3/25	1998
86	Avotaynu Online Database Lists Nobility Archives	XIX/4/21	1998
87	Hidden Jews of Warsaw	XX/1/47	2004
88	Polish archives in Bialystok, Knyszin and Lomza	XX/2/50	2004
89	Polychromatic Tombstones in Polish-Jewish Cemeteries	XX/2/39	2004
90	Tracing Family Roots Using JRI-Poland to Read Between the Lines	XX/2/15	2004
91	Biographical lexicon of Polish rabbis and admorim	XX/3/47	2004
92	Flatow Jewish Cemetery Tombstones Discovered	XX/4/79	2004
93	Polish City Directories Now Online	XXI/3/67	2005
94	Morgenthau Mission to Poland to Investigate the 1919 Pogroms: A Genealogical Resource	XXII/2/14	2006
95	What Can We Learn from Slownik Geograficzny?	XXII/2/31	2006
96	Spiritual Genealogy: A Look at Polish Notary Documentation	XXII/2/38	2006
97	Notes Polish Book and Magnate Records	XXII/3/63	2006
98	Exhibit of the Jews of Poznán, 1793–1939	XXIII/1/71	2007
99	Strategies for Assigning Surnames to Early JRI-Poland Records	XXIII/2/22	2007
100	Book Review: Posen Place Name Indexes	XXIV/1/51	2008

Ukase – Decree … #Genealogy, #History, #Russian, #Polish

This jester thanks my Slavic readers from: Poland, Russian Federation, Czech Republic, Ukraine, Latvia, Belarus, Slovakia, etc and of course their American emigres and American born of that heritage. This is after all predominantly a blog of genealogy that focuses on its Slavic Heritage and especially the heritage of Stanczyk‘s paternal grandparents who were born, married, had children and emigrated from Poland … Russian-Poland also known as Congress Kingdom of Poland and to a lesser degree, Vistulaland (a collection of ten gubernia in the czarist Russian Empire). Poland was occupied and partitioned between three Empires: Prussian (German), Austrian (Austro-Hungarian / Hapsburg), and Russian from 1792-1918. As such, in the Russian partition, they were subject to the Czar’s ukases (decrees).

A UKASE (указ) is formally an “imposition” , usually by the czar, but possibly by an Orthodox Patriarch. But ukase is usually translated as decree or edict.

My ancestors were from the Russian-Poland partition, but just across the Vistula (Wisla) river from the Austrian-Poland partition — which had, to me, a surprising number cross-Empire interaction in vital records. The Russian-Poland nominally a fiefdom of the Russian Czar, who was also titled as King of Poland, as well as Russian Emperor.

There were many Ukases from each czar/czarina. So many so, that Czar Nicholas in 1827 ordered a collation of these edicts (a kind of codification Russian law). The result was a 48 volume collection of ukases. Some notable ukases …

• Created (1791) and others amended the Pale of Settlement
• 1821 Territorial waters off Alaska (affecting British Empire and a young America)
• 1861 Freeing the Serfs
• 1868 Decreed that vital records in the Kingdom of Poland be recorded in Russian

Stanczyk is fascinated by the last one. It is said that it is in the Polish DNA to be multi-lingual. Certainly, my grandmother was capable of four languages (Polish, Russian, German, and finally English). But how did the Catholic priests do this? Switching from recording vital records in Polish to recording them into Russian? The year of the switch-over was 1868. The records start out in Polish but switch during the year to being in Russian ??? Admittedly, the Russian in most cases was a bit … uh “problematic”.

Can you imagine that happening in America? Most of the world thinks of the USA as being linguistically challenged. This jester is fluent only in English. I did receive much French tutelage and can read French. With my genealogy, I have been self taught in Polish, Russian and Latin. Thankfully, Google provides the Google Translator, flawed as it is, for Polish. Still as it was, I was able to use it communicate with a distant cousin in Poland who could not speak any English and my ability to write Polish was so very limited. Yet we overcame and I was blessed with the gift of my grandparent’s marriage record from Biechow church and a civil record of their marriage from a local USC office.

And it was a good thing my cousin sent me both. As the USC mistranslated the Russian language church record on my grandmother’s age. They had accidentally added five years to my grandmother’s age, which I would not have known if I did not have the original church record in Russian (which apparently the local USC could not read as well as I could).

So here is Stanczyk’s UKASE …

All Polish Genealogists must be able to read Latin, Polish, and Russian. (Who can read that German handwriting?)

Post Office Department – Stanczyk’s Mailbag

From the Post Office Department

From my Mail Bag …

 

FROM:   MaryAnne
MaryAnne asked about “readability” of the blog,

REPLY:

The format of the blog/website is due to wordpress (my blogging software and website provider). Their programs/widgets dictate the “style” which I have very little control over. I will try and write using a bigger “format” (ex. Heading 4 instead of paragraph). I cannot write in all bold as that will actually make things harder to read for more people.

But I suspect the problem is really your browser. Fortunately, most browsers now allow a “zoom” feature. I can give you help with either Internet Explorer or Firefox(Mozilla) browsers.

In Internet Explorer (popular in Windows computers), you would hit ‘Alt-X’. That is press and hold the ‘Alt’ key next to spacebar, and while still holding down the ‘Alt’ key press ‘x’. Hence Alt-x. This will bring up a “contextual” menu near the top of your browser window. “Zoom” is the third choice. It will bring up a list of zoom-levels. I recommend 125% or 150% for you. That should improve the readability for you.

In Firefox, you press “Ctrl-Shift-+” to zoom in and “Ctrl–” That is Control-plus to zoom in and Control-minus to zoom out. As with the “Alt” key, the “Ctrl” key must be pressed and held down while you type the other key(s).

Let me know if you use another browser. I do have Safari for Windows (sadly Stanczyk is making do with a Windows computer instead of his beloved MAC).

If the “zoom” feature improves your ability to read my blog, then I will not make any changes. You may also want to have someone to adjust the contrast/color on your monitor for you too. I know I had to really tinker with these Windows computers to get the colors to give me the proper contrast. This was something I took for granted in the MAC world.

Stanczyk too has “very aged” eyes from years of working on computers. Thanks MaryAnne!

 

—————————-

FROM: Jonathan

Jonathan asked about Pacanów and Kłoda, his Pytko family,  and how hard it is to read “Old Russian”.

REPLY:

Jonathan, thanks for writing. As for emails – you can send me A church record and I will be happy to read it for you and send you a translation of the “Old Russian” (pre-1918 reforms). You can write to me at: Stanczyk@eliasz.com . OK?  Any pictures you send me via email may or may not be used in the blog as part of the answer [fair use].

As for Pacanów, the LDS have four microfilm of the Pacanów(Busko-Zdroj) in Kielce(old woj.). There are a few Kłoda villages. Is yours the one near Radom? That Kłoda has parish of Magnuszew (no microfilm for this parish). Here are the four microfilm (1875-1884) for Pacanów(Busko-Zdroj):

Akta urodzeń, małżeństw, zgonów 1875 – FHL INTL Film [ 1192351 Item 10 ]
Akta urodzeń, małżeństw, zgonów 1876-1877 – FHL INTL Film [ 1192352 Items 1-2 ]
Akta urodzeń, małżeństw, zgonów 1878-1881 – FHL INTL Film [ 1807621 Items 8-11 ]
Akta urodzeń, małżeństw, zgonów 1882-1884 – FHL INTL Film [ 1807622 Items 1-3 ]

Akta urodzeń, małżeństw, zgonów = Birth, Marriage, Death records.

I have seen Pytko/Pytka in Pacanów and Świniary parishes.

–Stanczyk

#Polish #Genealogy – The Biechow Clergy 1326-1919 r.

Today, I wanted to follow up with the images of the list of priests of the parish of Biechow (parafii Biechów). Please read yesterday’s post for the web link (URL) to image of the digital book I used.

Stanczyk cobbled together the “digital” pages 27-29 into a single GIF image, so you my faithful reader could examine for yourself.

Yesterday we were looking at a Latin paragraph image of a birth/baptism from 1674. The priest was indeed Jozef Walcerz as I read from the priest’s own handwriting (to verify that I could read the handwriting accurately).

Father (Ks.) Michal Krolikowski’s service from 1852-1900 put him on many of the images of Stanczyk’s family. Those were mostly from the years of Russian-Poland occupation (and language mandate/ukase), so I have his signature upon Russian/Cyrillic church records. Because the records for Biechow are extensive, I am able to confirm many of the priests on this list, so this book confirms my church records and the church records confirm this book’s scholarly research.

So we have Latin records, then Polish records, then Russian records (1868-1918) and finally Polish again.

I added this cross-research because I was trying to add a context for my ancestor’s lives to my family history to pass on to my ancestors. It was also a good exercise in verifying my ability to read the old style handwriting (whatever langauage) you see in church records.

Below I would like to share Father Michal Krolikowski’s signature upon the happy day and event of my great-grandfather Tomasz Leszczynski ‘s   marriage to his second wife and my great-grandmother, Aniela Major (pronounce My-Yore). It seems I have a family history of short Polish names that do not look Polish because they are short and vowel filled. This signature was upon an allegata describing the marriage and happily providing my great-grandmother’s birth information. No need to rub your eyes, the signature and seal are in Russian (a Cyrillic “alphabet”).

For those who do not read Russian …

Biechow October  5/17 th day 1885 th year

Father Michal Krolikowski

?-title (NastoJatel  — not in my Russian-English dictionary, probably ADMINISTRATOR) of Biechow

[NOTE: there are two day numbers (double-dating) because Russia was still using the Julian calendar while Poland had long since switched to the modern Gregorian calendar that we use today. Notice that in 1885 the difference was 12 days. Knowledge of this may help you decipher the date when you can only read one date. Starting sometime in 1900 the difference would grow to 13 days. Russia did not switch from the Old Style dates to the Gregorian calendar until january 31st,  1918 (thus eliminating the need for double-dating).]

Ancestral Villages – Poland, Kielce (old woj.), Stopnica (pow.)

Stopnica Pas 47 Slup 32 Wojskowy Instytut Geograficzny 1938 (scale 1:100,000)

This picture is a map of the villages that Stanczyk’s ancestors were from. The river in the South-East corner of the map is the Wisla / Vistula river. To the South-central area are a few more villages that could not be shown: Oblekon and also Szczucin (across the Vistula). North of the Vistula, was the Russian-Poland partition. South of the Vistula was the Austrian-Poland partition. These partitions arose from Austria (aka Austrian-Hungarian Empire), Prussia, and Russia colluding in 1772, 1792, and finally in 1794 to divvy up the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth until Poland had vanished from the map of Europe for about 125 years, until it reappeared in 1918. Between 1797 and 1815 various ex-expatriate Polish legions fought along side Napoleon, so the final boundaries of the three partitions continued to evolve until 1815 when Napoleon was finally defeated for good. It is ironic to me that this region on the map above changed hands so many times and that I had ancestors in two kingdoms who would marry across parishes (and indeed national boundaries).

So it was not really surprising to me that my Busia (grandmother) spoke: Polish, Russian and German and most Catholics prior to Vatican II did know a smattering of Latin since church masses were often in Latin. Indeed, my father related to me that my grandmother was fluent enough to make money during the Great Depression by translating letters to/from English to/from  Polish/Russian/German for Americans to be able to carry on correspondences in the old country.

Stanczyk remembers my grandmother speaking to me as a child in perfect English (with the lovely/charming Central European accent). I also vividly remember that after her stroke, she could only speak Polish (her native language). I would converse with my dad acting as translator between us in her kitchen over percolated coffee (ye gads — has it been nearly a half century of coffee drinking for me) from when I was about five or six years old.  My dad laughingly relates how when he was a boy, my grandmother would chastise him that his Polish was no good and that he should speak to her in English. Obviously his Polish was good enough that years later,  the three of us could chit-chat over coffee quite comfortably.

Stanczyk’s remembrances have caused me to digress. The point of this map was to list the villages where I have found vital records / church records for my Eliasz / Leszczynski / Wlecialowski / Kedzierski families. So here is my list (anyone else from here?):

Biechow (parish) – Biechow, Piestrzec, Wojcza, Wojeczka, Chrzanow

Pacanow (parish) – Pacanow, Zabiec, Kwasow

Various Other Parishes/Villages – Zborowek, Ksiaznice, Swiniary, Oblekon, Trzebica, Szczucin and I am sure many of the rest of villages surrounding these villages, but I have yet to see or connect the records to main branches of the family tree.

Now excuse me,  I must go get some more coffee.