Vital Records Tour-
Examples of Marriage Records

Standard Marriage Format

In this sample, pay particular attention to the wealth of information included on the bride.  In many cases, the priest will include details, such as previous spouses, parents, place of birth, residence and occupation.  This record is a nice example of such additional helpful information.  However, you must be careful with the Latin and/or Polish endings of words to decipher the various names.  In the bride's "name column", there are three different last names.  One of them is her married name, one is her maiden name (=father's surname) and one is her mother's maiden name.

Here's another example:

"Maria Kawalko de Czeremosznia filia p.d. Pauli Lechowski et Mariae agricolarum in Zulice vidua post d. Michaelum Kawalko."

"Maria Kawalko from <the village of> Czeremosznia, daughter of the deceased Paweł Lechowski and Maria, farmers in Zulice, widow of the deceased Michał Kawalko."

Just a little Latin can yield much more information from the record:
          post = after
          delictus = deceased (male)
          delicta = deceased (female)

This tells us that the bride's father Paweł is deceased at the time of the marriage.  Also, that the bride was living in the village Czeremosznia at the time of the marriage, but her parents were from Zulice, which is an important clue as to the village of her birth.

Additional Surnames - Former Marriages

Sometimes we get lucky and a record will include more information.  In the record below, we have a woman getting married for the third time.  And fortunately, the record includes all previous married names.  But be careful to watch the Latin and the word endings to make sure you record the right names in the right order.

from the village of Usznia, Roman Catholic parish of Biały Kamień, 1870.

Ah, Youth

The youngest age I could find in the marriage records is 14!  If you come across a record with someone younger...send it along to me!  Gerald A. Ortell in his book Polish Parish Records of the Roman Catholic Church: Their Use and Understanding in Genealogical Research writes: "Polish common law was quite different in many respects to English common law.  The normal prescribed age for marriage appears to have been 16 years.  In a few isolated examples, however, I have seen marriages involving 15- and even 14-year-olds."

from the village and Roman Catholic parish of Podkamień, 1842.
 

Translation Notes:

Lab. (abbr. for "Laboriosus") = worker, in a generic sense (male) 
fil. (abbr. for "filius") = son
Casimiri (genitive case = "of Casimirus".  Polish is Kazimierz)
Magdalenae (genitive case = "of Magdalena")
Piłatów (Polish genitive plural "of the Piłat's" or "of the Piłat family")
rust. (abbr. for "rustici") = farmers

Lab. (abbr. for "Laboriosa") = worker, in a generic sense (female)
fil. (abbr. for "filia") = daughter
Fabiani (genitive case = "of Fabianus".  Polish is Fabian or Fabjan in archaic spelling)
Franciscae (genitive case = "of Francisca".  Polish is Franciszka)
rust. (abbr. for "rustici") = farmers

Note the spelling of the names is phonetic and not necessarily in "proper" modern-day Polish.
Casimirsz is "properly" spelled Kazimierz.  The "C" is influenced by Latin.
Grabarsz is "properly" spelled Grabarz
 

Nobility and Example of a Double Name...and yet a Triple Name!

from village of Strzeliska, Roman Catholic parish of Podkamień, 1848

Translation Notes:

Dmus (abbr. of "Dominus") = Lord (title for nobility)
Dna (abbr. of "Domina") = Lady (title for nobility)
Nob. (abbr. of "Nobilis") = Noble
Mag. (abbr. of "Magnificus") = Magnificent (title for nobility)
Obywatel = Citizen.  <I like how the priest wrote this word in Polish, while everything else was in Latin.>

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