[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] name question

[Jerry Frank]

At 05:14 PM 15/01/2002 -0500, Jodie Grissom wrote:
>Hi,
>
>I have a question about the Polish Church Records.  I am researching my German
>ancestors who moved from Pommern to Poland in the early 1800's, and then on to
>Volhynia in the early 1830's.  I was wondering if I could expect their names
>to be written in German if they have been recorded in the Polish Records, or
>if the spelling of their surname would have been changed by the preist
>recording the religious events to a polish spelling.  The names I am
>researching in Poland are Baerwald, Wilsdorf, Depner, and Frederking.  All of
>these families are Lutheran.  If anyone could help with this please write to
>me.  Also if the Surnames are written different in Polish does anyone know how
>they would be spelled in Polish, or where I could find out how they are
>spelled in Polish.


In most cases you can expect their names (especially surnames) to be 
written in their original Germanic spelling.  This would be especially true 
for Lutheran records where the pastor was probably German and would enter 
the Germanic spelling.  Some given name variations are easy enough to 
understand - Peter = Piotr;  Georg = Jeorg;  Marcin = Martin.  Others are 
more like translations - Gottlieb = Boguslaw.

You can find links for additional help at 
http://www.sggee.org/TranslationHelps.html but understand that while these 
lists are extensive, they may not be complete.

In support of Gary Warner's message last week, we would encourage you to 
join SGGEE to access its extensive database and receive its Journals.  The 
research you are anticipating in Poland may have already been done, at 
least in summary form that will make more detailed research easier.




Jerry Frank - Calgary, Alberta
jkfrank at shaw.ca