RE: [Ger-Poland-Volhynia] indexed records of Evangelical Tomaszów Mazowiecki

[Loretta Houben]

Hi Albert,

Thanks so much for these interesting links. One of my great grandfathers was Polish, so I am interested in finding his family roots. 
My hope is to trace his family tree back as far as possible. I understand this is like looking for a needle in a haystack, but this first step for me, of joining this wonderful group, has greatly inspired me! I am amazed at how much information can be found on the Internet today. It's simply thrilling!

I borrowed a very good history book from the library on Ukraine by Paul R Magocsi. It's very interesting reading with a lot to chew on!
I didn't realize how complex Ukraine's history is, but there are many maps in this book which are so helpful. I'm beginning to get an overview of the country my great grandparents came from. I would love to know where they lived before they moved to Volhynia. One day I would dearly love to visit this land.

I also borrowed a good DVD by Rick Steves on Eastern Europe so I could get a bit of the flavour of that great land. I've never visited that part of the world, and it fascinates me. It is so full of history and I just love history!

Thanks to all of you who post such interesting links, so that I am able to find more needles in haystacks!

Loretta
House of Houben 
The Bleu Manoir 

-----Original Message-----
From: ger-poland-volhynia-bounces at eclipse.sggee.org [mailto:ger-poland-volhynia-bounces at eclipse.sggee.org] On Behalf Of Albert Muth
Sent: July 22, 2012 5:51 PM
To: Ger-Poland-Volhynia
Subject: [Ger-Poland-Volhynia] indexed records of Evangelical Tomaszów Mazowiecki

In the past, I have mentioned other websites that hold indexed.records of interest to all of us. One of them, http://geneteka.genealodzy.pl/,  a project of the Polish Genealogical Society (Polskie Towarzystwo Genealogiczne), keeps sneaking in new stuff so often, that it is hard to keep up with everything.

What I am talking about today may be of particular interest to VOLHYNIANS, since one rarely knows their prior residence. Sometimes, you luck out because you can find the family in other databases that are being assembled. But for the gubernias to the South and Southeast of Łódź, namely Piotrków, Kielce and Radom, records have either not been catalogued or have not been filmed. The best map that I know showing gubernias is the 1907 “Podział Królestwa Polskiego na gubernie i powiaty” found in the Polish wikipedia at http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gubernia.  It is the right side, the last map at the bottom. Download it, it is a JPG file that should be in your research materials. Be sure you keep track of the reference (Thou shalt not plagiarize!).

One of the new indexed collections is for marriages 1853-1864 and deaths
1833-1853 for the parish of Tomaszów Mazowiecki. Of special interest are the marriage records, for this is the time period preceding the mass migrations to the Lublin region and Volhynia. There are over 900 marriages!

It is not clear to me if these are marriage records, banns or alegata.
Pradziad, the index to church records and civil registation records found in the Polish State Records, informs us that there are alegata, inne and zapowiedzi. I do not see the word for marriages (małżeństwa). Still, in what is indexed, you can see the name of the groom and bride. Take it from there.

The Pradziad website is: http://baza.archiwa.gov.pl/sezam/pradziad.php?l=en

I checked the holdings of The State Archive in Lodz (webpage is at http://www.lodz.ap.gov.pl/e_index.html);  from here, it took me to SEZAM, which researchers with longer experience may recall as the one we used before PRADZIAD. It is surprisingly more informative. To make a long story short (I am skipping some steps), I found the inventory of what the Archive has for Evangelical Tomaszów Mazowiecki at
http://baza.archiwa.gov.pl/sezam/sezam.php?l=en&mode=show&zespoly_id=39510

Copy that entire URL and paste in the left side box at http://translate.google.com/ . Directly above the box, set the languages (from Polish to ______). I chose English. Then, on the right side, click on the URL that you see there. Now you can read and get some understanding out of the holdings.

At Geneteka, there are also records for a filial parish of Radomsko that I did not know about at Zapolice.

To find these records:

Go to the geneteka website at http://geneteka.genealodzy.pl/.
Click on Łódzkie province on the map (in the center).
In the drop-down box labelled

KSIĘGA 'book', selected Tomaszów Mazowiecki p. ewang. augsburs.  M stands for marriage.  Z stands for deaths.

At the bottom right, find the drop-down box labeled POZYCJI NA STRONIE 'items per page'.  Change the number to 50--this allows you to see all the records.

Do not type a surname in the box labelled NAZWISKO.  You never know how you will find your name written.  It is better to see their raw indexing.
Good Luck!  And, please, if you discover a marriage of your ancestors at Tomaszów, tell us!

Al Muth
Michigan
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