The Prussian Partition of PolandA General Review of Research Methodology
In connection with the pages on my own Bielawa family research, I provide here a general overview of research methodology in the Prussian (also known as German) Partition of Poland. Since Prussia was an entirely different country than the Austrian Empire, it is obvious that the research strategy should be somewhat different than my other pages dedicated to Galician research.
For an overview of the Prussian Partition of Poland, visit Wikipedia. Gazetteer Information
Meyers Orts- und Verkehrs-Lexikon des Deutschen Reichs You can also view this gazetteer through the Brigham Young University's
online Family History Archives:
Gemeindelexikon
für das Königreich Preussen
Although it's in the old style German writing, known as fraktur, the gazetteer is in an easy-to-read column format. www.KartenMeister.com
Maps
mapa.szukacz.pl
(Contemporary Poland) Polish Military
Institute of Geography. Maps covering the interwar period,
1919-1939 Polish Mapster (Select different map types with the drop down arrow)
The Poznan Marriage Project Łukasz Bielecki created and maintains a wonderful database of marriages in the Poznan (German name Posen) region of Poland. This incredible database allows the researcher the opportunity to search for his family throughout the entire region, which is especially crucial for those researchers who have not yet found their ancestral village or town. The website is continually being updated by an aggressive team of volunteers who painstakingly go through marriage records, parish by parish, in order to create an index. It's free to use and offers an English language interface. Introductory Page: http://bindweed.man.poznan.pl/posen/project.php Searching the Database: http://bindweed.man.poznan.pl/posen/search.php
The Pomeranian Marriage Project The Pomeranian Genealogical Association in Poland has created a similar database of for searching marriages in Pomerania, the area north of Poznan. Visit and search them at http://www.ptg.gda.pl/index.php/certificate/action/searchM/
German Civil Registration As vital records are vital to a genealogist, it's important to know about Civil Registration records. In 1874, Civil Registration was set up in the Poznan (Posen) region. For the genealogist, this is GREAT news! Before 1874, the church records were the only official vital record source. But after 1874, one can search for both church records and the civil records. More good news....the Family History Library has covered the Poznan region quite well, so many microfilms are available! Check the Family History Library's Catalog at www.familysearch.org today! Note that Civil Registration Districts were different from Parish boundaries. Therefore, it's important for you to know both the parish your ancestral village or town belonged to, AND the civil registration district it belonged to. One can learn these districts by using the Prussian gazetteers listed above. Since it is a purely German source, the records are obviously in German...and not just any German, but in fraktur script. But don't panic! As with everything else in genealogy, take your time and have patience. You'll be surprised how you will be able to read the records with practice! For more information on German Civil Registration, visit the wonderful FamilySearch Resource site.
Polish Vital Records Online The Polish Genealogical Society, based in Warsaw, is building a a massive database of indexes (and even images) of vital records. As of today, there are already over 2 million entries of birth, marriage and death records! Search for your family and ancestral parishes at http://www.geneteka.genealodzy.pl/
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