Great numbers of people migrated from Poland to the United States between 1850 and 1900. Those immigrants from Prussia and other areas that were once Poland made significant contributions to the U.S. economy and culture, so it is no surprise that many family historians are seeking new materials for their research. Having spent thirty years on my own investigation, I have compiled a list of some excellent resources that others may want to use for their own projects.

Polish Roots: Korzenie Polskie by Rosemary Chorzempa is the most significant and helpful book for Polish researchers. This one volume contains a wealth of information, plus addresses for all of the province and regional archives and all the Catholic archives in Poland. Chorzempa includes information on Germans, Jews, Dutch, Russians, Bohemians, and other groups in Poland, an outline of Polish history, information about maps and gazetteers, an extensive chapter on using church records, and a letter-writing guide. An important point she makes is stressing the great value in locating civil records, which may contain more details than church records. I found most helpful the Latin and Polish glossaries of words found in vital records and also the chapter on Polish, Ukrainian, German, and Jewish naming customs. It made a difference to my research to know that Catholic children were named for a saint whose feast day was the closest to their baptismal day.

Another significant resource is Polish Surnames: Origins and Meanings by William "Fred" Hoffman. In it, Hoffman has condensed about 30,000 of the most common Polish surnames into a single book. He includes all names borne by more than a thousand Poles and as many as possible of those borne by four hundred or more people. His book includes information on the development of surnames, the use of suffixes, the derivation and meaning of Polish surnames, the number of people in Poland in 1990 with a specific surname, and details on Czech, German, Hungarian, Jewish, Lithuanian, and Ukrainian surnames. Another work by Fred Hoffman and George W. Helon is First Names of the Polish Commonwealth: Origins and Meanings, published by the Polish Genealogical Society of America in 1988. His books are especially helpful in locating the appropriate spelling for an ancestor's name.

Researchers who are new to Polish genealogy will want to read "Resources for Polish-American Genealogical Research" by Edward Reimer Brandt, in Heritage Quest Magazine of March/April 1996, Issue 62. This nine-page article includes genealogical guides, bibliographies, books about obituaries, church and parish records, gazetteers and maps, languages, Polish-American genealogical societies, and much more. Researchers might also want to check for his 1995 publication, Where to Look for Hard to Find German-Speaking Ancestors in Eastern Europe. If new researchers need assistance in locating a town, they should read "Locating Your Family's Ancestral Town," by Rafael Guber, in the Ancestry Magazine from September/October 1998, Vol. 16, No. 5.

Three other volumes deserve mention as valuable aids in locating towns where churches existed in Poland. The Latin Church in the Polish Commonwealth in 1772: A Map and Index of Localities by Stanislaw Litak includes maps by Zofia Zuchowska. Polish Roman Catholic Parishes in the Polish People's Republic in 1984 by Lidia Mullerowa also has maps by Zofia Zuchowska. Once the town in Poland is located, these maps can assist in finding the nearest Catholic church where records might be located. This can be a key technique to finding the appropriate microfilms to rent from a Family History Center™.

It is worth noting that in many towns where only a Catholic church existed, the priest kept records for all the people in town. I have seen Lutheran and Evangelical records in some parish registers.

Once the appropriate records are found, Polish Parish Records of the Roman Catholic Church: Their Use and Understanding in Genealogical Research, by Gerald A. Ortell, will be a great aid in understanding the information.

For those seeking Jewish ancestors in Poland, Jewish Roots in Poland: Pages from the Past and Archival Inventories by Miriam Weiner will be a fine resource for them. This work is an inventory of surviving Jewish primary source records in Poland, including tax rolls and Jewish community records. It contains hundreds of photographs of Polish villages and cities, and a town-by-town list of civil archive holdings. Actually, this work can be helpful to anyone searching for records in Poland. Those investigating Jewish surnames will also find assistance in A Dictionary of Jewish Surnames from the Kingdom of Poland, by Alexander Beider. His history and analysis of surnames is a valuable addition to the resources available.

Finally, I have left for last a most significant work for Polish research. The main reason for this is that the work is in Polish, which may make it challenging for some people. The gazetteer, Slownik geographiczny królestwa polskiego i innych krajów slowianskych (Geographical Dictionary of the Polish Kingdom and Other Slavic Lands), covers most of the villages in Poland in the time period around 1880. I have used this work repeatedly for information about the towns where my ancestors lived, and I have then posted translations on appropriate Web sites. This fifteen-volume work is available on microfilm through Family History Centers™, and some Centers might have a microfiche edition in their permanent collection. Despite the challenges of the Polish language, I would encourage researchers to investigate this collection and then seek assistance with translations. It is well worth the effort.

These resources are essential additions to the research of Polish ancestry today. Some may want to add other works to this list. But for those who have not used these volumes, I recommend that they seek them out at local libraries, genealogical resource centers, Family History Centers™, university libraries, or through interlibrary loan. These references will provide indispensable assistance to any research effort. Until next time, "Na Razie!"

Bibliography
Beider, Alexander, A Dictionary of Jewish Surnames from the Kingdom of Poland, (Teaneck, NJ: Avotaynu Inc., 1996 http://www.avotaynu.com/).

Brandt, Edward Reimer, "Where to Look for Hard to Find German-Speaking Ancestors in Eastern Europe"
(http://pages.prodigy.net/brandtfam/geneal/).

Chorzempa, Rosemary, Polish Roots: Korzenie Polskie, (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1993).

Hoffman, William "Fred," Polish Surnames: Origins and Meanings, (Chicago: Polish Genealogical Society of America, 2nd Ed., 1998 http://www.pgsa.org/books.htm#Books).

Hoffman, William "Fred" and George W. Helon, First Names of the Polish Commonwealth: Origins and Meanings, (Chicago, IL: Polish Genealogical Society of America, 1988 http://www.pgsa.org/books.htm#Books).

Litak, Stanislaw, The Latin Church in the Polish Commonwealth in 1772: A Map and Index of Localities, includes maps by Zofia Zuchowska (Chicago, IL: Polish Genealogical Society of America, 1990 http://www.pgsa.org/books.htm#Books).

Mullerowa, Lidia, Polish Roman Catholic Parishes in the Polish People's Republic in 1984, includes maps by Zofia Zuchowska (Chicago, IL: Polish Genealogical Society of America, 1995 http://www.pgsa.org/books.htm#Books).

Ortell, Gerald A. Polish Parish Records of the Roman Catholic Church: Their Use and Understanding in Genealogical Research, (Chicago: Polish Genealogical Society of America, 1996 http://www.pgsa.org/books.htm#Books).

Sulimierski, Filip, Slownik geographiczny królestwa polskiego i innych krajów slowianskych [Geographical Dictionary of the Polish Kingdom and Other Slavic Lands] (Warsaw: 1880-1902)
LDS Family History Library Catalog
http://www.familysearch.org/Search/searchcatalog.asp
(Subject Headings: Poland - Gazetteers; Belarus - Gazetteers; and Ukraine - Gazetteers).
Also see the following online resources:
Polish Roots: Slownik Geograficzny—Translated Entries Index
http://www.polishroots.com/slownik_index.htm
Polish Roots: Slownik Geograficzny—Translation Guide
http://www.polishroots.com/slownik_geograficzny.htm

Weiner, Miriam, Jewish Roots in Poland: Pages from the Past and Archival Inventories, (New York: YIVO Institute and the Miriam Weiner Routes to Roots Foundation, 1998 http://www.rtrfoundation.org/).

Joseph F. Martin is a De La Salle Christian Brother at Lewis University near Joliet, IL. His research in Poland includes cities and towns around Poznan, Bnin, Sroda and Nekla in the province of Wielkopolski. His article "Locating My Schultz Family: Overcoming the Posen Brick Wall" appeared in the January/February 2000 issue of Everton’s Genealogical Helper. He regrets that his university responsibilities and his personal research prevent him from responding to requests for assistance.