Letters like these is what makes it feel very rewarding when we help others find their families. I hope you all have the same success. Tina
From: Omagrooman@aol.com
To: PolandBorderSurnames-L@rootsweb.com
Date: February 11, 2003
Hello to all my helpful friends,
I am here to offer words of encouragement and advice to those of you who are researching ancestors in perhaps the most complicated part of the world. I have been pursuing genealogical research for 23 years. I was looking for paternal grandparents in Germany. Surprise. I needed to be researching Poland. (I am probably the only German name on this wonderful list.) In the last few months I've had great success. Perhaps some of my story will help you.
I will begin at the end. When I finally found a SS# for my grandfather, which was not on the SS Death Index, I paid for a copy of his application. There was the true place of his birth. Orlowo, Lipno, Poland. The internet and encouraging friends led me to the Archium Panstwowe w Toruniu, Oddzial we Wloclawku. I had heard horror stories of Archives taking your money and not coming up with anything, but I gambled. I'm so glad I did. Researchers in Archives went above and beyond my request, and found more material than I had dared hope for. I paid $35 for their initial research. They sent me a list of names and dates they had found and included price list for whatever documents I wanted copied.
I sit here telling you I have 16 pages of documents pertaining to my grandfather, his father, and his grandfather. (Of course I need translations, but that's the least of my worries.) I'm on cloud nine. What brought me to this euphoric state? Persistence. I'm not qualified to tell you what websites to search. I was led to a particular site, sent a letter of inquiry, received a note outlining what documents were available, and
instructions for forwarding money for research. It worked.
Steps I followed. I went to my local bank. The Archives had requested $65 for all the information they had. The bank wrote a check with proper reference to Archive account. I paid bank $65. No fee. Two months have passed. I have my documents.
Regarding correspondence to Archives. I read somewhere the Archives accepts letters written in English but will respond in Polish. True. I sent my request using format for Polish request. I also included a note in English asking if they could tell me where to write for records re my paternal grandmother. (I also told them how much I appreciated what they had done on my behalf. I believe thank-you is appreciated in any language.)
In today's mail I received copies of my documents, as well as a typewritten letter telling me where I can write for records pertaining to my paternal grandmother.
Some of you have questions regarding cost, time, accuracy, etc. I am here to say that when I started research so many years ago it was reaasonable to spend $5 for copy of a document, if you were fortunate enough to know where the document should come from. This recent sucess of mine cost me a total of $100 which is not to be sneezed at. On the other hand I have been spending much more than that in reviewing microfilm I have rented simply because it sounded as though it might be from an area of the world I was researching.
How did I come to this success? I signed on to many lists, found great support with PBS, listened to Tina, checked out websites, and here I am. I, personally, cannot offer you more advice. I encourage you to check out websites, read your mail, and keep going. If this Prime Timer can succeed, anyone can. There is light at the end of the tunnel.
Barbara Grooman
Researching Heise, Schirmer, Duve, Manthei
From: millersbr@cox.net
To: PolandBorderSurnames-L@rootsweb.com
Subject: [PBS] Thanks!
Date: Mon, 11 Mar 2002 08:22:04 -0600
Good morning Tina -
I wanted to say thanks to you and the folks on this webline who have been incredibly helpful and fast with their responses.
I signed onto the webline only this past Saturday morning. By that evening, I already found someone in France who helped me decipher my Polish grandmother's baptismal record.
Just last evening, I located someone in the UK who was fluent in both Russian and Polish and they helped me decipher some inscriptions on a photo of my mother's godmother.
With just a little more luck and time, I hope to track down some information on my grandfather (Jan Szymanski).
Thanks again and regards,
Dick Miller
From: Klmdw5@aol.com
To: po_family@hotmail.com, surnames_pbs@hotmail.com
Subject: Thank you
Date: Sun, 18 Mar 2001 15:53:04 EST
Tina and Catherine,
I want to let you know that because of the Poland Border Surnames website you maintain, we have been reconnected to a part of my husband's family. A member of the family from Warsaw found the site by accident and reviewed the names. Much to his surprise, he found the family name and our e-mail address in the United States. He contacted us immediately and we have since exchanged names and information. It turns out the family split around 1800, with some going to the south of Poland (his side of the family) and the other half staying in central Poland (my husband's side). So he is a distant cousin, but still a direct descendant, and the only other person my husband has ever met with the same last name.
Thank you for the website and for all the hard work you put into it.
Karen Dunin-Wasowicz
On Thu, Jul 24, 2008 at 5:56 PM, Claudia & Steve wrote:
I am back from 5 weeks in Poland, and I wanted to express my thanks for the help and support of the Poland Border Surnames group. Because of your recommendations for researchers, my quest to find documents and relatives was a success!
Michal Marciniak of Polgenresearch (office@polgenresearch.com) was instrumental in phoning the Lesko Civil Records office to determine that my grandfather Alexei Krawiec and siblings' birth certificates were located there. He was able to fill in general information about my 4 surnames, and confirmed Dennis' prediction that the Greek Catholic church would indeed be Monasterzec. This turned out to be true. I also had success with Tad Wysocki at rootspoland.com, who by many phone calls was able to locate a Krawiec family living in my grandfather's birthplace of Lukawica.
For the visit to this remote town, I needed a researcher who would be near the area, who could interpret Polish, drive her own car and who was experienced in researching the archives. Aleksandra Kacprzak (alex@genoroots.com) proved to be a fantastic find (thank you!) She picked us up at the train station in Tarnow, and drove down to the Bieszczady mountains in a comfortable new Volvo station wagon. She quickly made contacts, found the relevant documents in Lesko and Sanok, and put the Krawiec family at their ease while extracting maximum genealogical data. By the 4th day, we found the key piece of information: we share the same great great grandfather, Andrei Krawiec, who originally was from Bachorzec northwest of Sanok. And then we found out the true meaning of Polish hospitality - food, hugs, big kisses, and wonderful memories.
She worked from dawn until dusk, was a careful driver, a skilled negotiator and communicator, in English, Polish, even some Russian and Slovakian. She also was meticulous at recording all the hundreds of datapoints in Excel spreadsheets at night, and even made us 2 music CD's with the Polish "theme song" that she had recorded for us. She also gave us CDs with all the many photos she took documenting our reunion, old photos, documents, maps. Now that we are home, we have received physical copies she made of all the birth certificates, etc. So, it was a completely satisfying experience for me and my sister Gail.
If anyone is curious to hear the whole story, I wrote it to send to our 84-year old mom. Just send me a personal e-mail, and I'll send it to you. The experience moved me to tears (of joy).
There were a lot of sad things that had happened to people living in that area of Poland. My great-grandfather Karlicki's town Jawirnik was obliterated after the Ukrainian uprising, and 10 members of the Hudoba family were deported to Ukraine in 1944-45. Now it looks like I'll have to go there to pursue my roots studies further! If anyone has information about their current whereabouts, I would love to receive it at cjh367@attglobal.net.
Once again, thank you for all the many helpful hints, recommendations and websites you sent my way, even during the time I was in Poland. Great country! Great people, too.
Claudia Krawiec Hansen
P.S. To all of you researching, these family names were in the archives associated with our family: Krawiec, (C)hudoba, Karlicki, Surgent, Szewcryk, Turek, Pelechowicz, Gerbisz, Grabik, Kukura, Pancio, Mynga, Szuba, Dacko, Oriszczak, Jarusinski, Sleczkowski, Kruczek, Maly, Pyszkow, Kordan, Boyko, Ulczak, Dobrowolski, Wlatanyszyn, Sopirika, Wiesniewski. |
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