Generations of ancestors surround me while I work on my family history this winter. Some are on the floor, or inside two new storage ottomans, or next to me on the couch in the living room. Others are on the dining room table. Many more are upstairs in my office. They are on index cards, in pages of notes, in file folders, and in three-ring binders. A select few have made safe passage to a new database on my laptop.
I am devoting as much time as possible these days to genealogy—specifically, my own Polish ancestors. The French Canadians, Swedes, Scots, and Revolutionary War era Americans who occupy the paternal side of my children's family tree are on hold for the foreseeable future.
In 2010, I expanded my family research to include DNA testing, a variety of heretofore-untapped databases, and some much-needed background reading on Polish history. This new input has led me to re-examine what I knew, or thought I knew, from my past 15 years of research. A couple of DNA tests, a handful of new records, and suddenly the earlier generations of my family are shifting into new configurations, introducing new surnames, and living in parishes outside the pale of my past explorations.
All this reorganization and reassessment takes a lot of time, and a lot of thought. I fall asleep at night wondering about my ancestors. Where did Anna Mosiejko's family live? (Not in Szczuczyn parish where her own children were later baptized, and not in any of the surrounding parishes I usually search, so maybe Kamionka or Ostryna?) Is that szlachta Prokopowicz clan in Lack parish related to my maternal peasant Prokopowicz family nearby in Iszczolna? Why were my paternal Prokopowiczes baptized, married, and buried from at least five different parishes when they lived in the same village, Poleckiszki, for a couple hundred years? The marriages are understandable (couples were usually married in the brides' parishes, not the grooms'), but the other events puzzle me.
Celebrating individuals through index cards
Each one of my ancestors is an individual unique in their particular combination of physical appearance, personality traits, talents, and life experiences. All I know of them, however, is when they were born, baptized, married, had children, and died (from "fever," more often than not). The most direct observation I have of any one of them is when I view and print out the documents of such life passages.
Curiously, these long-ago family members come to life for me on the index cards I use for extracting the important details from their vital records. There is something compelling about creating a card for each event and paper-clipping all those cards together. Is it the act of writing that ancestor's name, or of physically handling the index cards? Holding the pen, touching the paper—this is a tactile process, my own little celebration of an ancestor's individuality. Typing the same information into a computer simply does not give me this same feeling of closeness and connection. The electronic database is handy and useful, of course. Just not emotionally satisfying.
Even more gratifying is my ceremony of laying out all the index cards potentially connected to a particular ancestral line. As I study them, patterns emerge. I shift the cards around to form family groups. Even the minor cast members here play a part in the drama; persons repeatedly serving as godparents or marriage witnesses tantalize with clues to other relationships waiting to be revealed.
Baptismal records from the 1700s and early 1800s typically omit the mother's maiden name. The parents may be identified, for example, as "Michal Rusc and Rozalia." But over the years, one Hayduk or another serves as a godparent for this couple's children. Perhaps Rozalia is a Hayduk? More research will tell, either through the eventual discovery of the couple's marriage record, or through baptisms of children born a decade or so later, when mothers' maiden names became part of the church record.
Genealogy software might generate the same kinds of clues about possible relationships. But would seeing these connections in Arial 10 point on a computer screen make me as happy as moving index cards around, identifying a new family group, and setting them together on their own corner of the dining room table as if I were building them their own little house? For me, the answer is obviously no. This is one aspect of genealogical research in which I am unabashedly old-school and loving it.
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Friday, December 24, 2010
In 2010, my genealogical research trumped my genealogical blogging
After a very long absence from Basia's Polish Family, I'm back, with no apologies for my absence, but with an explanation: instead of blogging, I've been researching. Genealogy has reclaimed its rightful position as the major passion in my life. As a result, I have a lot of new information about my ancestry, which I am excited about sharing here in 2011.
It seems that most bloggers post entries every day. My approach is very different. Professionally, I am a journalist. I have always believed that good journalism is based in providing new information—new facts and new insights that are hopefully helpful in understanding and navigating through life. My career as a newspaper reporter and editor disciplined me to make every word count. As a blogger, I don't write if I don't have something new to say. Last January I realized that I needed to do a lot more research before I could continue to share my family story in a way that was satisfyingly meaningful to me.
Here are some highlights of my adventures in genealogy in 2010, with a promise of blog posts to come. It's been a great year!
Y-DNA testing
In one of my early blog posts, I noted that I am descended from two Prokopowicz families. All my life, I had wondered whether my father's Prokopowicz family was related to my mother's Prokopowicz family some generations back. Now I have a definitive answer, thanks to Y-DNA testing made possible by graciously contributed saliva samples from some direct-lineage male Prokopowicz descendants. Related or not? The answer, the process, the details, the implications for future research, I will reveal all in coming weeks. All except the men's identities, of course, for privacy's sake.
mtDNA testing
After much research into different companies for the Y-DNA tests, I also did a new test of my own maternal mitochondrial DNA. Do I know more as a result than what I had learned through my original test by Oxford Ancestors nearly a decade ago? Yes and no.
Subscription databases
Did I ever mention I was weaned on shopping at Filene's Basement and Spag's, or that my parents never bought anything they hadn't researched first in Consumer Reports, or that I feel like the Great Polish Huntress brandishing coupons and bargain-hunting at stores like Marden's and Ocean State Job Lot? (If you're not a New Englander, you may have to Google these retail references.) Bottom line, I'm thrifty.
I have always made heavy use of free resources for genealogy, whether online, at libraries and archives, or at workshops and conferences. Those resources are vast, but as we know, not everything is online, and not all records are available for free. In 2010, I subscribed to a few paid database sites. Were they worth the money? Will I renew them in 2011? I'll let you know before they run out this spring.
I ♥ Listservs
I've been active on various genealogy Listservs since 1996 and the era of excruciatingly slow e-mail over 9.6 kb modems. The lists have been invaluable to my research. Though I'm still subscribed to over a dozen, a couple in particular have emerged as my clear favorites. Every year the relationships and the quality of help shared have grown deeper and richer. If you're doing Polish/Lithuanian research in today's Belarus and/or Lithuania, you may benefit from them too.
Accessible archives
Prospects for obtaining some family records from the Grodno archives—officially, the National Historical Archives of Belarus in Grodno—seem good. If all goes well, I will have some previously unattainable documents in hand this spring. Woo-hoo!!!
Meanwhile, back at the microfilm ...
After a lapse of several years, I am again immersed in scrolling through church records microfilmed by LDS (aka the Mormons). There are new films for the Roman Catholic parishes of the Lida area—pretty exciting! But I also have reason to re-examine films I used years ago.
I have a very organized system for working with the baptismal, marriage, and death records I find in the 18th-19th-century European church registers. However, my research got interrupted a few years ago due to home and family matters and various writing projects. My notes, index cards, and file folders lay abandoned. My software got outdated. Several computers and operating systems later, I'm using a new brand of software to create a new GEDCOM from scratch. (Thankfully, out in the garage, I still have an old PC with an A drive that reads 3.25-inch disks. I just may need that sometime.)
Finally, Facebook
This has been my major foray into the social media. I don't expect to be Tweeting my great-great-great-grandmother's baptismal date anytime soon ... but who knows? What prompted me to join Facebook, what I initially expected, what I've actually gotten from it, and how I hope to use it for genealogy in coming months—as it turns out, these are all very distinct categories in my experience.
Goals for 2011
The final week of 2010 is the obviously perfect time to look ahead. There is much I hope to accomplish in 2011. The more I discover about my family's past, the more fascinated I am by the generations that came before me. More research, more travel, more contact with kindred spirits worldwide lie ahead. I hope you'll join me in my journey through the past.
It seems that most bloggers post entries every day. My approach is very different. Professionally, I am a journalist. I have always believed that good journalism is based in providing new information—new facts and new insights that are hopefully helpful in understanding and navigating through life. My career as a newspaper reporter and editor disciplined me to make every word count. As a blogger, I don't write if I don't have something new to say. Last January I realized that I needed to do a lot more research before I could continue to share my family story in a way that was satisfyingly meaningful to me.
Here are some highlights of my adventures in genealogy in 2010, with a promise of blog posts to come. It's been a great year!
Y-DNA testing
In one of my early blog posts, I noted that I am descended from two Prokopowicz families. All my life, I had wondered whether my father's Prokopowicz family was related to my mother's Prokopowicz family some generations back. Now I have a definitive answer, thanks to Y-DNA testing made possible by graciously contributed saliva samples from some direct-lineage male Prokopowicz descendants. Related or not? The answer, the process, the details, the implications for future research, I will reveal all in coming weeks. All except the men's identities, of course, for privacy's sake.
mtDNA testing
After much research into different companies for the Y-DNA tests, I also did a new test of my own maternal mitochondrial DNA. Do I know more as a result than what I had learned through my original test by Oxford Ancestors nearly a decade ago? Yes and no.
Subscription databases
Did I ever mention I was weaned on shopping at Filene's Basement and Spag's, or that my parents never bought anything they hadn't researched first in Consumer Reports, or that I feel like the Great Polish Huntress brandishing coupons and bargain-hunting at stores like Marden's and Ocean State Job Lot? (If you're not a New Englander, you may have to Google these retail references.) Bottom line, I'm thrifty.
I have always made heavy use of free resources for genealogy, whether online, at libraries and archives, or at workshops and conferences. Those resources are vast, but as we know, not everything is online, and not all records are available for free. In 2010, I subscribed to a few paid database sites. Were they worth the money? Will I renew them in 2011? I'll let you know before they run out this spring.
I ♥ Listservs
I've been active on various genealogy Listservs since 1996 and the era of excruciatingly slow e-mail over 9.6 kb modems. The lists have been invaluable to my research. Though I'm still subscribed to over a dozen, a couple in particular have emerged as my clear favorites. Every year the relationships and the quality of help shared have grown deeper and richer. If you're doing Polish/Lithuanian research in today's Belarus and/or Lithuania, you may benefit from them too.
Accessible archives
Prospects for obtaining some family records from the Grodno archives—officially, the National Historical Archives of Belarus in Grodno—seem good. If all goes well, I will have some previously unattainable documents in hand this spring. Woo-hoo!!!
Meanwhile, back at the microfilm ...
After a lapse of several years, I am again immersed in scrolling through church records microfilmed by LDS (aka the Mormons). There are new films for the Roman Catholic parishes of the Lida area—pretty exciting! But I also have reason to re-examine films I used years ago.
I have a very organized system for working with the baptismal, marriage, and death records I find in the 18th-19th-century European church registers. However, my research got interrupted a few years ago due to home and family matters and various writing projects. My notes, index cards, and file folders lay abandoned. My software got outdated. Several computers and operating systems later, I'm using a new brand of software to create a new GEDCOM from scratch. (Thankfully, out in the garage, I still have an old PC with an A drive that reads 3.25-inch disks. I just may need that sometime.)
Finally, Facebook
This has been my major foray into the social media. I don't expect to be Tweeting my great-great-great-grandmother's baptismal date anytime soon ... but who knows? What prompted me to join Facebook, what I initially expected, what I've actually gotten from it, and how I hope to use it for genealogy in coming months—as it turns out, these are all very distinct categories in my experience.
Goals for 2011
The final week of 2010 is the obviously perfect time to look ahead. There is much I hope to accomplish in 2011. The more I discover about my family's past, the more fascinated I am by the generations that came before me. More research, more travel, more contact with kindred spirits worldwide lie ahead. I hope you'll join me in my journey through the past.
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Michal Prokopowicz marriage record 1886
 |
| Michal Prokopowicz of Poleckiszki (Ejszyszki parish) and Maryanna Kurowska of Pohorodno were married 16 February 1886 in the Ossow parish church, north of Lida. Iwan Szwed is listed among the witnesses. His name appears in column three, line 15. The family surname of Michal's mother, Rozalia, puzzles me. Any interpretations? In other records for this family, it is listed as Janonis (with varied endings). |
Monday, January 18, 2010
Soleczniki Wielkie (Słownik Geograficzny translation)
In the chronicles of the Teutonic Knights, Salseniken or Saletzniken, town and estates on the Solcza River (tributary of the Mereczanka), Wilno district, in the 5th police precinct and the 7th district court, Soleczniki gmina, along the highway from Wilno to Lida, at 42½ wiorsts from Wilno and 46¼ wiorsts from Lida, has 520 inhabitants.
In the year 1866, there were 31 houses here, 459 inhabitants (9 Orthodox, 316 Catholic, and 134 Jews). The folwark in that year had 35 inhabitants (30 Catholics and 5 Evangelical Protestants); a glass-works, a mill on the Solcza, and a distillery. It possesses a wooden Catholic parish church, a Jewish house of prayer, a Protestant chapel in the churchyard burial ground, and a postal station.
The population of the town, except for the rural peasants of Soleczniki Wielkie, [are] the pastor of the church service, the caretaker and keepers of the mail, the police guard, several classes of Jewish families, [those] working at the tavern-keepers’ trade, poor handcrafters and small shopkeepers, and residents of inns and of ten cottages built on landlords' property.
Catholic church dedicated to St. Peter the Apostle, established in the 14th century, endowed by Jan Hlebowicz in the 16th century (according to the rubrics established in the year 1523 by Jan Chodkiewicz), enlarged by Alfons Lack, chamberlain of Wilno, in 1622; today well maintained, the endeavor of the local pastor by contributions from parishioners. Catholic parish, Raduń deanery, has 4,104 faithful. Branch in Soleczniki Mały, chapel in Montwiłowszczyzna.
The estates have 291 desiatyns of cultivated land and 2,730 desiatyns forest. Formerly the property of Hlebowicz, in the 16th century [they] passed to Chodkiewicz, in whose possession they remained to the year 1824; today they are the property of Wagner.
(Słownik, v. XI, p. 49)
In the year 1866, there were 31 houses here, 459 inhabitants (9 Orthodox, 316 Catholic, and 134 Jews). The folwark in that year had 35 inhabitants (30 Catholics and 5 Evangelical Protestants); a glass-works, a mill on the Solcza, and a distillery. It possesses a wooden Catholic parish church, a Jewish house of prayer, a Protestant chapel in the churchyard burial ground, and a postal station.
The population of the town, except for the rural peasants of Soleczniki Wielkie, [are] the pastor of the church service, the caretaker and keepers of the mail, the police guard, several classes of Jewish families, [those] working at the tavern-keepers’ trade, poor handcrafters and small shopkeepers, and residents of inns and of ten cottages built on landlords' property.
Catholic church dedicated to St. Peter the Apostle, established in the 14th century, endowed by Jan Hlebowicz in the 16th century (according to the rubrics established in the year 1523 by Jan Chodkiewicz), enlarged by Alfons Lack, chamberlain of Wilno, in 1622; today well maintained, the endeavor of the local pastor by contributions from parishioners. Catholic parish, Raduń deanery, has 4,104 faithful. Branch in Soleczniki Mały, chapel in Montwiłowszczyzna.
The estates have 291 desiatyns of cultivated land and 2,730 desiatyns forest. Formerly the property of Hlebowicz, in the 16th century [they] passed to Chodkiewicz, in whose possession they remained to the year 1824; today they are the property of Wagner.
(Słownik, v. XI, p. 49)
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Beniakony / Bieniakonie & Butrymańce (Słownik Geograficzny translation)
Bieniakony, a gmina in Lida district, numbers 237 houses, 3,305 peasants of both sexes. Gmina administration in the town of Bieniakonie. The gmina encompasses 4 rural precincts: Gajcieniszki, Wronowo, Bolcieniki, and Sokoleńszczyzna, and numbers 49 villages.
(Słownik, v. I, p. 133)
See Beniakony. Town, Lida district, in the 2nd administrative precinct, property of Pań Rymsza, at a distance of 47 wiorsts from Wilno, 43 from Lida. Inhabitants, of both sexes, total 63. The wooden Catholic parish church of St. John the Baptist was founded in 1634 by Jan Czapliński. Catholic parish, Raduń deanery, has 4,370 faithful. Branch in Butrymańce.
The Bieniakonie rural precinct, Lida district, has a population of 2,840, that is, 1,436 male and 1,404 female. The land in the district is flat, with woods and marshes, a great deal of fallow [land]; rivers Solcza and Żyżma.
(Słownik, v. I, p. 218)
(See v. I, p. 133, Beniakony, and v. I, p. 218, Bieniakonie). A small town on the River Solcza, Lida district, 2nd police precinct, Bieniakonie gmina, 43 wiorsts from Lida, 47 wiorsts from Wilno, 63 inhabitants (in the year 1865). Belongs to the Gajcieniszki estate of Rymsza. Catholic parish church, dedicated to St. John the Baptist, built of wood in the year 1634 by Jan Czapliński, rebuilt in 1810. Parish, Raduń deanery, 4,808 faithful; branch church in Butrymańce; gmina administration, water mill. Lies near the border of Oszmiana district.
(Słownik, v. XV, p. 144)
Butrymańce
2.) Village, Lida district, has a Catholic church, St. Michael’s, built of wood by Baron Schrotter, branch of Bieniakonie [parish].
(Słownik, v. I, p. 484)
(Słownik, v. I, p. 133)
See Beniakony. Town, Lida district, in the 2nd administrative precinct, property of Pań Rymsza, at a distance of 47 wiorsts from Wilno, 43 from Lida. Inhabitants, of both sexes, total 63. The wooden Catholic parish church of St. John the Baptist was founded in 1634 by Jan Czapliński. Catholic parish, Raduń deanery, has 4,370 faithful. Branch in Butrymańce.
The Bieniakonie rural precinct, Lida district, has a population of 2,840, that is, 1,436 male and 1,404 female. The land in the district is flat, with woods and marshes, a great deal of fallow [land]; rivers Solcza and Żyżma.
(Słownik, v. I, p. 218)
(See v. I, p. 133, Beniakony, and v. I, p. 218, Bieniakonie). A small town on the River Solcza, Lida district, 2nd police precinct, Bieniakonie gmina, 43 wiorsts from Lida, 47 wiorsts from Wilno, 63 inhabitants (in the year 1865). Belongs to the Gajcieniszki estate of Rymsza. Catholic parish church, dedicated to St. John the Baptist, built of wood in the year 1634 by Jan Czapliński, rebuilt in 1810. Parish, Raduń deanery, 4,808 faithful; branch church in Butrymańce; gmina administration, water mill. Lies near the border of Oszmiana district.
(Słownik, v. XV, p. 144)
Butrymańce
2.) Village, Lida district, has a Catholic church, St. Michael’s, built of wood by Baron Schrotter, branch of Bieniakonie [parish].
(Słownik, v. I, p. 484)
Hermaniszki (Słownik Geograficzny translation)
3.) Town [in the] Oszmiana district, on the Żyżma River, in the 3rd administrative precinct, at 49 wiorsts in a northwest direction from Oszmiana and 4 wiorsts from Woronów; possesses a wooden Catholic parish church named Holy Trinity, endowed in 1686 by Brzostowski, the bishop of Wilno; numbers 155 inhabitants. The class-5 parish of Hermaniszki, Lida deanery, has 2,540 faithful.
Hermaniszki belongs to Baron Lefort. In the year 1866, Hermaniszki had 182 inhabitants.
The Hermaniszki rural precinct in Siedliszcze gmina counts within its limits the villages Porubiszki, Markowszczyzna, Romaszkańce, Nowosiady, Dziejnowo, Tusumańce, Darkszany, Łoszaki, and Miluńce, and the zaścianki Wołodkiszki, Markowszczyzna, Nowosiady, and Petrymany.
(Słownik, v. III, p. 61)
Hermaniszki belongs to Baron Lefort. In the year 1866, Hermaniszki had 182 inhabitants.
The Hermaniszki rural precinct in Siedliszcze gmina counts within its limits the villages Porubiszki, Markowszczyzna, Romaszkańce, Nowosiady, Dziejnowo, Tusumańce, Darkszany, Łoszaki, and Miluńce, and the zaścianki Wołodkiszki, Markowszczyzna, Nowosiady, and Petrymany.
(Słownik, v. III, p. 61)
Woronów / Werenów (Słownik Geograficzny translation)
Also spelled Werenów, town and folwark on the Błoczanka (Bołotianka) River, a tributary of the Żyżma, Lida district, in the 2nd police precinct, Bieniakonie gmina (11 wiorsts distance), Woronów rural precinct, at 32 wiorsts north of Lida, on the highway to Wilno (59 wiorsts distant) and 20 wiorsts from Ejszyszki.
The town has 42 houses, 18 Orthodox inhabitants, 117 Catholics, 333 Jews, a Catholic parish church, a synagogue, a Jewish house of prayer, 2 tanneries, 12 shops, a postal station, a water mill, markets every Sunday, and fairs four times a year. The obwarzanki [i.e., seeded bread twists, like bagels] baked here are renowned. The folwark has 100 Catholic inhabitants, 18 Evangelical Protestants, 8 Jews, and a brewery. The wooden Catholic parish church, dedicated to the Redeemer [Saviour], has stood here since it was built by Aleksandrowicz in the year 1705. Catholic parish, Raduń deanery, 1,738 faithful.
Within the composition of the rural district come the villages Bojary, Bolcienikiele, Byryły, Kletkienniki, Kodzie, Łazarzyszki, Muchladziszki, Ramuty, Ściłguny, Sztaniszki, Towzginiany, and the szlachta neighborhood Towzginiany; all in all, in the year 1865, 240 revision souls [who were] enfranchised peasants and 9 jednodworce.
Formerly the property of the Gasztołd family, who died out, subsequently of the Scypios, among whom, Jan, castellan of Smolensk, starosta of Lida, endowed a Piarist college and school here before the year 1738. By order of the board of education, these schools were subsequently moved to Lida. At present Woronów belongs to Zarzecki.
(Słownik, v. XIII, p. 955)
The town has 42 houses, 18 Orthodox inhabitants, 117 Catholics, 333 Jews, a Catholic parish church, a synagogue, a Jewish house of prayer, 2 tanneries, 12 shops, a postal station, a water mill, markets every Sunday, and fairs four times a year. The obwarzanki [i.e., seeded bread twists, like bagels] baked here are renowned. The folwark has 100 Catholic inhabitants, 18 Evangelical Protestants, 8 Jews, and a brewery. The wooden Catholic parish church, dedicated to the Redeemer [Saviour], has stood here since it was built by Aleksandrowicz in the year 1705. Catholic parish, Raduń deanery, 1,738 faithful.
Within the composition of the rural district come the villages Bojary, Bolcienikiele, Byryły, Kletkienniki, Kodzie, Łazarzyszki, Muchladziszki, Ramuty, Ściłguny, Sztaniszki, Towzginiany, and the szlachta neighborhood Towzginiany; all in all, in the year 1865, 240 revision souls [who were] enfranchised peasants and 9 jednodworce.
Formerly the property of the Gasztołd family, who died out, subsequently of the Scypios, among whom, Jan, castellan of Smolensk, starosta of Lida, endowed a Piarist college and school here before the year 1738. By order of the board of education, these schools were subsequently moved to Lida. At present Woronów belongs to Zarzecki.
(Słownik, v. XIII, p. 955)
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