Dee Semon has vast credentials on Polish genealogical research, so when I arrived at the Cholla meeting room I shouldn't have been surprised, it was standing room only. I managed to grab one seat left in the front row and settled in to learn.
Although my last name is Bartkowski, my interest in Polish genealogy is for my children. Thank goodness I asked my father-in-law as much as I did before 1985. He did not have a lot of information but I have saved it. I need to start my Polish research from scratch with these notes from twenty-seven years ago. Here are same quick things I heard from Dee to get me started:
- Castle Garden is the place to google for entries prior to 1870
- Contact the Polish genealogical societies such as FEEFHS and EES, review their newsletters for relevant background and history
- Research Polish gazetteers such as Slownik Geograficzny, Meyers Orts under Verkehrs Lexikon lists West and East Prussia, and Najnowszy Skorowidz via Google
- Google town name and .pl (for Poland) and use other abbreviations for Austria, Czechoslovakia, Latvia, etc.
- Polish words use diacritic marks and the alphabetic order of the marks must be taken into consideration when searching records
Additional web sites to visit are:
I'm taking a short break from the workshops. Looking forward to the banquet tonight.
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