Helpful Books for Polish Genealogy

If you're looking for more Polish genealogy guidance, here are some recommended books that can help with your research.

Going Home: A Guide to Polish-American Family History Research

Polish Roots

Polish Surnames: Origins & Meanings

Following the Paper Trail: A Multilingual Translation Guide

In Their Words: A Genealogist's Translation Guide to Polish, German, Latin, and Russian Documents

A Translation Guide to 19th-Century Polish-Language Civil-Registration Documents

Polish Customs, Traditions and Folklore

Forgotten Doors: The Other Ports of Entry to the United States

Polish Research

Are you looking for ancestors in Poland? Here are few sites to help you get started.

FamilySearch
Begin by searching for indexed records on the Poland Research Page. Continue your search with digitized microfilm and books in the card catalog.

State Archives
Search over 35 million digitized civil registers and government documents from the State Archives of Poland.

Geneteka
Searchable digitized images of birth, marriage, and death records. The database contains records from every Polish province and also includes parts of the Ukraine, Belarus, and Lithuania.

Don't forget to look for resources for specific regions:

BaSIA
Created by volunteers, this database indexes transcriptions of vital records mainly from the province of Wielkopolska.

GenealogiawArchiwach
A collection of digitized vital records from the provinces of Kujawsko- Pomorski, Pomorski, Warminsko-Mazurskie, and Wielkopolskie. Records go back to the seventeenth century.

Lubelskie Korzenie
An index of Lubin parish registers. Many of the records include scanned images.

Pomeranian Genealogical Association
Search for transcriptions of christening, marriage, and death records from Pomerania.

Poznan Project
Transcriptions of 19th century marriage records from the Prussian province of Poznan. Digital copies of the records can be obtained with a donation to the site.

Visit the Polish Genealogical Society of America in Chicago for more resources and research help!

Polish Genealogy Tours

Travel with the Polish Genealogical Society of America next year! PGSA has announced their 2019 genealogy tour schedule.

Research in Polish archives, visit beautiful towns, and discover Polish history and culture with PGSA. You can also schedule pre- or post-tour individual genealogical services. Next year's tours focus on Prussian Poland or Austro-Hungarian Galicia.

Polish Genealogical Society of America Workshops

The Polish Genealogical Society of America is hosting a workshop on Saturday, May 20 at the NIU Naperville Meeting and Conference Center.

Tadeusz Pilat will broadcast live from Warsaw and will discuss notary records and land survey maps. Information found in these resources cannot be found in church parish registers. Jason Kruski will be at the conference covering how to find a village of origin using online records. He will also examine updates from various Polish digital archives. PGSA volunteers will be available to answer genealogical questions and to help with translations.

For more information and to register for the workshops, visit the PGSA website.

Polish Pioneers in Illinois

Every good Chicagoan will tell you that Chicago has the largest Polish population outside of Warsaw. It's no secret that the area has welcomed a large number of Polish immigrants throughout the twentieth century but it's pre-1850 Polish immigration that interests James D. Lodesky.

Polish Pioneers in Illinois, 1818-1850 by Lodesky attempts to account for all of the earliest Polish settlers in Illinois. He believes that about 325 Poles lived throughout the state before 1850.

Lodesky discusses reasons for early Polish immigration and Polish history in Illinois and elsewhere. He examines Polish populations in Chicago and several counties throughout the state and also provides genealogies of some early families.

Indispensable history for Illinoisans with Polish roots!

Local Genealogy Societies

If you're looking to join a genealogical society this year or want to plan ahead for upcoming genealogy programs, here's a roundup of nearby societies and their 2015 events calendars:

North Suburban Genealogical Society
Northwest Suburban Genealogy Society
Chicago Genealogical Society
Lake County Genealogical Society
McHenry County Illinois Genealogical Society
Illinois State Genealogical Society

And don't forget to put the DuPage County Genealogical Society's annual meeting on your calendar!
Or if you're willing to travel, the National Genealogical Society's Family History Conference will be held in St. Charles, MO!

And for ethnic genealogy:

Jewish Genealogical Society of Illinois
Polish Genealogical Society of America
Irish American Heritage Center
Afro-American Genealogical and Historical Society of Chicago
Czech & Slovak American Genealogy Society of Illinois
Swedish American Museum
Balzekas Museum of Lithuanian Culture
National Hellenic Museum
Casa Italia

About Polish Archives

Church institutions were the source of Polish archival materials from the late 12th century. 

A subsequent repository was the Crown Archives, from the mid-14th century. 

Later, various archives were formed from collections of judicial, district, municipal, and family records.  Prussian archives had branches in Poznan and Gdansk.  Russian archives had ten branches in Poland, although some were transferred to St. Petersburg. the Galician Archives were mainly in Lwow and Krakow. 

Poland GenWeb has good information about obtaining Polish records.

JewishGen also has extensive information about vital records in Poland.

More Help With Polish Genealogy

Looking for Help to Find Your Polish Ancestors? 

Members of the Polish Genealogical Society of America (PGSA) are available on Wednesdays from 10 a.m. until 1 p.m. at the PMA library to help with your research challenges. However, if you are unable to stop by, you can e-mail an inquiry to PGSAQueries@pgsa.com or go to http://www.pgsa.org/ , Click on "How To...." in the side bar and access "Frequently Asked Questions" , where you will find answers to the most often asked questions. In fact, visiting FAQ's first might save you having to send that e-mail.

Jewish Records Indexing--Poland

Jewish Records Indexing (JRI) is a searchable online database of Jewish vital records of Poland. It contains 4 million records from more than 500 Polish towns.

Galician "Yellow Pages"

The Schematyzm Galicyjski [Galician Schematism] is a potential source of genealogical information, and can be browsed online.

The equivalent of today's Yellow Pages, the Schematyzm Galicyjski was published from 1782 to 1914. Every issue was arranged according to the administrative divisions in effect at that timel and includes an index containing the names of localities and surnames.

The Schematyzm Galicyjski is available on the website of the Malopolskie Genealogical Society, and was digitized from the collections of the Jagiellonian Library in Krakow.

[This information is from the Fall 2010 issue of Rodziny, the journal of the Polish Genealogical Society of America. p.3]

Genealogy Saturdays

Are you researching ancestors from Poland? do you want some hands-on guidance in a place brimming with amazing genealogical resources?

Genealogy Saturdays take place the 3rd Saturday of each month, from 10 to 1p.m., at the library of the Polish Museum of America. 984 N. Milwaukee Ave. in Chicago.

Knowledgeable members of the Polish Genealogical Society of America help you start your research, or find solutions when you are really stuck.

The Polish Texans

New genealogy book at the Glenview Public Library:

The Polish Texans by T. Lindsay Baker.
R976.4 BAK GENEALOGY

Thousands of Texans trace their roots back to Poland. Most of them came during the early 1800s when their homeland was divided and ruled by others, and they played an active role in the Texas War of Independence. Later, farmers from Upper Silesia in Southwestern Poland settled at Panna Maria, Bandera, and San Antonio. They founded the earlies Polish colonies, the first Polish churches, and the first Polish school in America.

This book covers the history of Poles in the early history of Texas; founding the first Polish colonies in America; first years on the frontier; expansion of Silesian settlement; the Civil War years; reconstruction for the Silesian Poles in Texas; coming to East Texas; Soldiers from Mexico; Polish life in 19th century Texas; business and commerce; and Polish Texans in the 20th century.

There is a reading list, and the text is illustrated with many great photos and documents.

New Book: "Going Home: a Guide to Polish American Family History Research

This comprehensive reference book covers all facets of research that you will need to successfully trace your Polish-American family history.

Its author is Jonathan D. Shea, A.G., Reference Archivist for the Polish Genealogical Society of Connecticut and the Northeast, whose other books are owned by the Glenview Public library. This book is brand new, and updates the classic by Rosemary Chorzempa, Polish Roots, which was published in 1993.

Going Home begins with an introduction to the Polish language, including letter sounds and correct pronunciation.

Chapter 2 provides a capsule history of Poland and worldwide Polonia. It discusses emigration and settlement patterns to different countries , and ethno-cultural groups in Poland.

Chapter 3 details the sources on this side of the ocean, how to use them, and where to obtain them. Examples include local and state sources, vital records, church sacramental records, city directories, yearbooks, newspaper sources, probate and other court records, school records, fraternal organization records, records of organizations of incarceration such as hospital and police, town reports, voting records, state census records, etc..

Chapter 4 covers federal U.S. records such as census, passenger arrivals, alien registration files, passport records, military records, social security applications, consular records, etc..

Chapter 5 discusses geographical resources such as gazetteers, information about former territorial designations, church directories, etc..

Chapter 6 discusses vital records in Poland, historical background about them, the languages in which they are found, how to access them, letter-writing guides, etc.

Chapter 7 tells about additional Polish and european sources such as sacramental registers, revision lists, estate inventories, parish censuses, Nazi concentration camp records, notary and court records, nobility documents, uniquely Jewish records, archives, etc..

Chapter 8 discusses Polish names in Europe and America, including patronymic and matronymics, topographical and geographical surnames, suffixes, alterations, etc..

Appendices include lists of polish parishes in the U.S., internet links, contact addresses for archives. and an extensive bibliography.

There are pictures, reproductions, and illustrations on nearly every page.

Find Going Home on the shelf at 929.3438 SHE. There is a second copy in the Reference Room.