[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Records in the city of Warszawa 1808-1825

[Albert Muth]

Several weeks ago, I reported that records
for the Warszawa Evangelical and Evangelical-
Reformed churches were online at
http://szukajwarchiwach.pl/72/181/0/-/str/1/#tab2 and
http://szukajwarchiwach.pl/72/182/0/-, respectively.

These records were also filmed by LDS: 17 microfilms
of the Evangelical church and just 2 microfilms for
the Evangelical-Reformed. The filmed
records begin in 1827 and run till 1862.
Whether digitalized online or on microfilm, there
are a few gaps (that is, years not available).

Since we know from the history of the church
that it was founded in 1777, I have always wondered
how to account for records in the time frame
of 1777-1827.

Regarding the history, you may consult online, either in English
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Trinity_Church,_Warsaw
or a much abbreviated account in German at
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreifaltigkeitskirche_(Warschau).
One can also consult Eduard Kneifel's monograph titled
*Die evangelisch-augsburgischen Gemeinden in Polen
1555-1939 : Eine Parochialgeschichte in Einzeldarstellungen.
*Unlike his other publications, which you can download in PDF
format at http://www.eduardkneifel.eu , this one was not included
there. Fortunately, I see that I can consult it cheaply on
LDS microfiche #6000812. I know what gift to ask the
Easter Bunny to bring me this year!

Thanks to a document at the website of the Evangelical
church (Parafia Ewangelicko-Augsburska Świętej Trójcy)
http://trojca.waw.pl/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=85&Itemid=48
(to read the original text in Polish, click on the hyperlink
on the word *tutaj* at the bottom of the text),
I can now explain how to find records for 1808-1825.

The good news is that they are complete. The year
1808 marks the start of civil registration in Poland; all
religions were recorded together (Catholic, Protestant,
and Jewish). The bad news is that from LDS, you
will need to order 157 microfilms for the city of
Warszawa. That is, unless you know which of
the 8 districts (Cyrkuł) that your ancestor
lived in.

Egad. In case you missed it, that was one hundred
fifty-seven microfilms.  The director at my Family History
Center would kill me if I ordered all of these.

I have found a map online from the year 1832 (which
requires having downloaded the djvu plugin) that
shows the “circles”. You may download it at
http://ebuw.uw.edu.pl/dlibra/docmetadata?id=643&from=pubstats
Its bilingual title (Polish and French) is
“Plan ogólny miasta stołecznego Warszawy z
wyszczególnieniem cyrkułów, ulic i
znacznieyszych zabudowań =
Plan général de la ville de Varsovie avec
la designation des Arondissements des
rues, et des principaux edifices.”

If you already know a street address, then
I found someone at a Polish language
genealogy forum who names the streets
in each Warsaw “circle”: see
http://genealodzy.pl/PNphpBB2-printview-t-2192-start-0.phtml
(perhaps 2/3 of the way down the page).

Realistically, we may need to wait for
the VOLUNTEER indexing crew at
geneteka.genealodzy.pl<http://www.geneteka.genealodzy.pl/>
to index all these books of records. The records
have not been digitalized yet at the Archiwum
Państwowe m.st. Warszawy, but since this
archive is one of the few participating in the
Beta project at the szukajwarchiwach website,
well, maybe we will be able to see them unindexed
in the coming future.

Al Muth

P.S.  Volunteers are ALWAYS welcome to index
records.  For SGGEE, this often involves copying a
list of names and page numbers from a pre-existing
index on the film.  This is not hard!

P.P.S.  Folks, if you don't get involved in indexing,
you may NEVER learn where grampa came from.
Don't expect www.ancestry.com or www.familysearch.org
to place the records of German Lutherans from Russian
Poland on their high priority list.  That just ain't gonna
happen.