The purpose of this article is to show readers an example of one original old world record that a lucky descendant found among her family possessions, along with examples of typical family records that can be found by researchers in the State Archives, local Registry Offices, and local Churches in southeast Poland. While a great many old world records can be viewed as microfilmed copies at LDS Family History Centers throughout the US, that experience, while always memorable, pales in comparison with the sense of connectiveness one gets with their ancestors from seeing and touching original records that village priests made of family events in their lives so many years before. Perhaps readers will share that same feeling as they view some of the records shown here.

Note that there is an unbelievably large volume of original old world records still on hand in Poland, in spite of the destruction wreaked on the country by two world wars and the backwardness suffered by the country in its 50-odd years of communist rule. Note also that there is a gold-mine of family information contained in those records, compared to similar records available in this country. Birth and marriage records in particular provide not just the names of parents, but of grandparents and sometimes even of great-grandparents along with the names of the villages where they lived and their occupations. In addition, birth records usually give the names of god-parents and that of the midwife who delivered the child, so even one single record can provide a wealth of information for a family tree.

Readers should also be aware that in almost all cases the archives and registry offices holding the records do not permit researchers to copy the records themselves but will make photocopies for $10/copy but sometimes for less, depending on the number of copies. Although the priests at parishes are generally more accommodating, similar rules may apply there. Sometimes one gets lucky, though, and is permitted to photograph some records. That was so on occasion in my case and the resulting digital photographs of those records are shown here.

Birth Certificate from St. Michael’s in Pielgrzymka

This image is a digital photo of the birth record of Anna Popowczak, from Mayfield, PA that was provided by her daughter, Agnes Tomcavage of Mayfield. Anna’s first husband, Jan Kiechardt of Mayfield, requested this record by letter from Fr. Joannes Myszkowski, the parish priest of St. Michael’s in Pielgrzymka. The certificate is dated 2 January 1903, about 13 years after Jan and Anna came to this country.

Note that the certificate says that Anna was born 22 December 1872 in house #2 in Huta Samokleska, was Greek-Catholic and of legitimate birth; that her father and mother were Joseph and Maria Popowczak, and that Joseph was a farmer from Huta Samokleska. Note also that the certificate gives the names of Anna’s grandparents and the surnames of her great-grandparents.

The certificate also provides the name of the midwife who delivered Anna, Helena Fundalewicz, and those of her godparents, Joannes Pawlak and Theodosia, the wife of Michael Pawlak, a farmer.

Birth Record from the Parish in Samokleski

Samokleski is the village in which the landlord lived who owned two of the villages included in this website, Pielgrzymka and Folusz. Samokleski is located only 1½ miles east of Pielgrzymka.

Records like this, along with marriage and death records, are made chronologically by priests in Parish record books that are kept by the church or diocese. A second copy of each record, required by the government, is made by the priest or a government clerk, and is the record usually found at the State Archives and Registry Offices. The birth record shown is that of my grandfather, Andrew Kiehart also of Mayfield, who was born in 1877 and lived in Huta Samokleska in the mountains, just south of Pielgrzymka and Samokleski in the valley. This record page was photographed at the parish house in Samokleski and provides much the same information as the birth certificate from St. Michael’s in Pielgrzymka shown previously. The parish priest required the rest of the names on this record page to be covered for the photograph.

Typical Marriage and Death Records at the State Archives and Registry Offices

This record page shows marriages performed by Fr. Joannes Myszkowski at St. Michael’s in Pielgrzymka in the year 1898. The columns left to right on the page record the date of the marriage, husband’s information, wife’s information, and marriage witnesses. Note that columns 2 and 3 show the couple's ages, and family information, including village, house number, parents names, and maternal grandparents' surnames. As mentioned earlier, records like this at the archives and registry offices are a second copy of the original made by the priest so this copy was stamped with the church seal and signed by the priest at the bottom to verify its authenticity.

This next record page shows death records made by the parish priest in Samokleski in the year 1901. Two of the deaths occurred in Mrukowa and one in Huta Samokleska. Note that the date of death and burial are recorded, along with house number, family information, age at death and cause of death. Note also that along with the age at death this particular priest also recorded the person's date of birth, which is somewhat unusual.

1821 Property Inventory

The record example provided here is a page from an 1821 inventory of the property of the noble who owned the villages of Samokleki, Pielgryzmka, Huta, Folusz, Klopotnica, Mrukowa, Czekaj, and Zawadka. The inventory is written in difficult to read old script, in both Polish and some Latin, and was conducted by order of a noble's court in Tarnów, probably to settle the owner’s estate.

The genealogical value of the record is that it provides the names of the heads of households living in those villlages at the time, the annual rent each household paid to the landowner, and classifies each household as Kmiecie (peasants with land holdings), Zagrodnicy (peasants with gardens, i.e., smaller land holdings), and Komornicy (peasants with no land). In addition, the inventory provides the names of the village leaders who certified the accuracy of the inventory, along with their office titles, and a statement swearing their villages’ allegiance to the owner of the villages.

In addition to the page from the inventory shown here, a table is also included which shows the names of the heads of the households living in each house in two of the villages, Pielgrzymka and Huta Samokleska. Houses are listed consecutively as they were recorded in the inventory. House numbers were not shown in the inventory. Note that in almost all cases, 2-4 families lived in each of the houses.

Inventory Page 44

This page of the inventory lists the names of eight of the fourteen families that lived in Huta Samokleska and the rents they paid to the owner of the village lands at that time. Person #10 on the list is my great-great-great-great-grandfather, Jakob Kichard, and the annual rent he paid was 2 days labor/week, cash of 2 Zlotys, 6 Grosze, and 1 piece of Oprawa (untranslated). Note that the Komornicy (no land) paid their rent only in labor of 12 days/year since they had no farmland from which they could earn an income.

Table of Households in Huta and Pielgrzymka from the Inventory

As stated earlier, the table provided gives the names of the heads of households living in each house in the villages of Pielgrzymka and Huta at the time of the 1821 property inventory. In Pielgrzymka there were 122 families living in a total of 79 homes at that time.

A.J. Smith