Poland
HISTORY
1829 DESCRIPTION OF THE KINGDOM OF POLAND
The Kingdom of Poland is bounded N. by the Prussian provinces of East and West Prussia; E. by the Russian provinces of Bialystock, Grodno, and Vohlynia; S. by Galacia [Galicia] and the free city of Cracow; and W. by the Prussian provinces of Posen and Silesia. It approaches to the form of a square of 200 miles, nearly in the middle of which stands Warsaw, the capital. The area is estimated at 48,730 square miles, and the populationat 2,793,000, of which number more than 200,000 are Jews.
Cracow.--- Cracow is situated in lat. 50 deg. N. and long. 20 deg. E. in an extensive plain, at the confluence of the Rudowa with the Vistula, 128 miles S. S. W. of Warsaw. In 1812, by an act of the Congress of Vienna, Cracow, with a small territory adjacent, was constituted a free stateunder the protection of Russia, Prussia and Austria. The whole territory included the new state, contains 430 square miles, and 61,000 inhabitants. The form of Government is a democracy.
Diversions and Domestic Customs of the Poles:
The diversions of the Poles are warlike and manly; vaulting, dancing, and riding the great horse; hunting, skating, bull and bear baiting. They usually travel on horseback. A Polish gentleman will not travel a hundred yards without his horse; the Poles are so hardy, they will sleep on the ground, without bed or covering, in frost and snow. They never lie above stairs, and their apartments are not united: the kitchen is on one side, the stable on the other, the dwelling house on the third, and the gate in front. They content themselves with a few small beds; and, if any person lodges at their houses, they must carry their bed with them. When the nobles sit down to dinner or supper, they have their trumpets and other music playing, and a number of gentleman to wait on them at table, allserving with the most profound respect: for the nobles who are poor, frequently find themselves under the necessity of serving those that are rich; but their patron usually treats them with civility, and permits the eldest to eat with him at his table with his cap off; and every one of them has his peasant boy to wait on him, maintained by the master of the family.
At an entertainment the Poles lay neither knives, forks, nor spoons, but every guest brings with him; and they no sooner sit down to dinner, than all the doors are shut, and not opened till the company return home. It is usual for a nobleman to give his servant part of his meat, which he eats as he stands behind him, and to let him drink out of the same cup as himself.
To form an idea of the grandeur and equipages of the Polish nobility, the reader may figure to himself an idea of all that is fastidious, ceremonious, expensive, and showy in life, to have and conception of their way of living. They carry the pomp of their attendance, when they appear abroad, even to ridicule; for it is not unusual to see the lady of a Polish grandee, besides a coach and six, with a great number of servants, attended by an old gentleman usher, an old gentlewoman; and if it be night her carriage is surrounded with a great number of flambeaux.
The inns of Poland are a kind of long stables, built with boards and covered with straw, without furniture or windows: there is a chamber at one end, but none can lodge there on account of the flies and vermin, so that strangers generally choose rather to lodge among the horses. Travelers are obliged to carry provisions with them: and when foreigners want a supply, they make application to the lord of the village, who very readily provides them with necessaries.
Of the Salt-Mines of Poland:
The wonderful mountains and salt-mines form the principle curiosities of Poland. The salt-mine of Wielitska [Wieliczka] is the largest in the world, and has been worked more than 600 years. It is nearly eight hundred feet below the surface of the earth: eleven hundred feet in breadth, and seven thousand feet in length. The mines exhibit a spacious plain, with lofty vaulted roofs, supported by columns of salt, which have been left standing by the workman.
Here are many public lights continually burning for the general use; and the blaze of these, reflected from every part of the mine, which appears bright and clear as crystal, or tinged with the colors of the rainbow, presents the most dazzling prospects. The eye is bewildered in the immense and glittering scene, which exceeds the most brilliant exhibitions of art, and all that has been fabled by the writers of romance.
In various parts of this plain the huts of the miners and their families are erected; some standing single, and others in clusters, like villages. These poor people have very little communication with the world aboveground, and many hundreds of them are born and spend their lives there. Through the midst of the plain, the great road passes to the mouth of the mine, and is generally crowded with carriages bringing masses of salt, which look like prodigious gems. The drivers are generally very merry, and sometimes make excursions to the upper world; but the horses, which are very numerous, when once let down, never see day-light any more.
Source: _Geographical View of the World embracing the Manners, Customs and Pursuits of Every Nation founded on The Best Authorities_. By Rev. J. Goldsmith, 2nd Edition, 1829.
WHY OUR ANCESTORS LEFT POLAND
More than four million people left Poland between 1870 and 1914. Some of the reasons for this migration were the human need for a better life, the view of the United States as a land of opportunity, famines, and the European population growing faster than agricultural technology. Poland’s geographic location made it a crossroads between Europe and Asia. Because of this, Poland was a huge target for war and occupation. The people of Poland were always fighting Germany to the West and Russia to the East.
Poland did not exist as an independent nation at any time during the 19th century. It was partitioned amongst Prussia, Russia and Austria in 1773 and again in 1791, and finally in 1795, when Poland ceased to exist. After these partitions, the Poles found themselves heavily taxed to fund wars. The men were conscripted into military service. Catholic churches were persecuted, peasant troublemakers were sent into exile in Siberia, and villages were burned. Land was taken from the Poles and they soon found themselves with farms too small to support their families. The Polish language was prohibited. By the mid 1800’s, the Poles were fed up and left for greener pastures.
Factories in Cleveland attracted Polish immigrants. In 1856 the first iron mill was established in Cleveland. The demands of the Civil War brought Poles to the iron mills. Since 1865, there was a settlement of Poles in Berea. They worked at the sandstone quarries. The Polish population grew rapidly in the early 1870’s. By 1873 enough Poles lived near the mills in Cleveland to establish a Polish Catholic parish. St. Stanislaus was that parish. They began their services in St. Mary’s on the Flats Church. They then moved to St. Joseph’s German Catholic Church on Woodland Avenue. Finally, St. Stanislaus was built at Tod St. (E. 65th) and Forman in 1881. This community was known as Warszawa.
By 1890 the Warszawa community grew to include the following boundaries: Morgana Ravine and Heisley Street on the North, E. 55th on the West, Broadway on the East, and Gertrude and Fullerton on the South.
Source: Why Our Ancestors Left Poland, by Larry Plachno
POLISH NATIONAL CATHOLIC CHURCH
The Polish National Catholic Church was founded in 1906 by Rev. Francis Hodur of Scranton Pennsylvania. The Church was an integral part of the daily life of the Poles in the United States. At the turn of the century there were nearly 200 Polish parishes scattered throughout the United States. The Roman Catholic Church was either unwilling or unable to create enough Polish parishes to keep up with the demand. There were no Polish bishops and the Poles asserted that the Irish-German hierarchy had little concern for their welfare.
They could not establish a church of their own without securing the bishop's approval and they had to accept the pastor he appointed. When the houses of worship they had erected in the new country through toil and sacrifice were declared to be the sole possession of the bishops of the various dioceses, they were outraged. They particularly resented orders to give up teaching the Polish language and culture in their parish schools. Discontent turned into revolt in some cities.
In Scranton, Pennsylvania, a parish delegation of Polish anthracite miners and factory workers, who made up the congregation of the large and imposing Sacred Heart Church to which they had contributed hard-earned funds, requested lay representation in parish affairs. They were refused. A group then tried to block entrance of the priest into the church. The diocesan bishop called the police and a riot developed. Within weeks, the alienated groups organized a new parish and a few months later purchased land for a new church. They invited a young Polish-born priest, Father Francis Hodur, to accept leadership. On March 21, 1897, he celebrated Mass for them in the basement of the unfinished structure that was to become St. Stanislaus, mother church of the new movement. Two hundred fifty families united with the new parish.
The movement spread through the Pennsylvania anthracite fields. In April 1897 Father Hodur, a believer in the power of the press, started; weekly paper and in it poured out advice and encouragement, In February, 1898, he went to Rome and sought a recognition of American-Polish problems which he could not get from the American hierarchy. He was unsuccessful and the result was complete severance between Scranton and Rome. Father Hodur and the Scranton Parish were excommunicated.
On Christmas Eve, 1900, the walls of the now completed St. Stanislaus Church resounded for the first time to Mass sung in the Polish language. Other Polish parishes followed suit. Four years later, in September, 1904, the first Synod of the new Polish National Catholic Church was held in Scranton with 147 clerical and lay delegates representing two dozen parishes and 20,000 adherents in five states. Father Hodur was chosen Bishop-elect and administrator of the new church.
POLISH NATIONAL CATHOLIC CHURCHES IN CLEVELAND:
1. 1913 – Sacred Heart of Jesus on West 14th in Kantowa
2. 1914 - Our Lady of Czestochowa (not St. Mary’s) in Barbarowa
3. 1931 – Church of the Good Shepherd on St. Clair in Poznan
4. 1940 – Holy Trinity on Broadway in Warszawa
5. All Saints on E. 59th
PROTESTANT POLISH CHURCHES IN CLEVELAND
1. 1910 – Trinity Baptist Church – E. 71st and Lansing
2. 1930’s – Trinity Church at Broadway and Fullerton
3. 1943 – Trinity Baptist Church was sold to the Catholic Diocese and became Transfiguration Church (in Warszawa)
4. Polish Baptist Church at E. 71st and Gertrude
SOURCES:
http://web.ulib.csuohio.edu/ebooks/polish/
Polish Americans and Their Communities of Cleveland by: John J. Grabowski, Judith Zielinski-Zak, Alice Boberg & Ralph Wroblewski
Polish Roots by Rosemary A. Chorzempa
POLAND RESEARCH OVERVIEW
Here is some useful information for doing research in Poland. Because of changing political situations, there have been times in history when towns in what is Poland today were controlled by the Germans or Prussians. Therefore, many towns in Poland today had a German spelling for their town name.
YOU KNOW THE GERMAN NAME AND NEED TO FIND THE POLISH NAME:
Go to this site, scroll down and type in the German name.
http://www.kartenmeister.com/preview/databaseuwe.asp
NOW THAT YOU HAVE THE POLISH NAME
Go to the following website:
1. On the right side of the page under "Szukaj w sieci" type the name of a village and click on SZUKAJ. You will be presented with a list of websites. Some of these sites might show photos of your village.
2. If you type the village name under "Miejscowos~c~" and click on POKAZ you'll be presented with a map. To the right of the map will be the new woj., powiat and gmina information.
There are three governmental divisions in Poland: The Woj., powiat, and gmina. You could compare these to the State, County, and City Hall in the United States. Generally the powiat and gmina will have remained the same through time. The only time when they may not have remained the same could be when a gmina was burned down. In tt event, the gmina would be moved to a nearby village, but generally, the powiat and gmina would stay the same through the years, even if the woj. changed.
The Gmina is where the Urzad Stanu Cywilnego (USC) office is located. The USC has civil vital records for birth, marriages, and deaths. The gmina basically compares to the city hall or county offices here in the United States. It is more like a city hall except that the gmina has control over several villages and the United States city halls don’t keep vital records. Civil records for the last 100 years are located in the Gmina. Records older than 100 years are located at the State archive.
The powiat may handle tax records, census record and land records. In genealogy research, we wouldn’t deal much with the powiat until we would be ready to do detailed historical and biographical work on our ancestors.
CHURCHES AND DIOCESE
How do you go about finding out what church served your town? One tip is to take a look at an atlas and follow the roads from the village to the nearest churches in every direction.
HOW TO FIND THE DIOCESE:
There is a book called “Roman Catholic Parishes in the Polish People’s Republic in 1984” written by Lidia Mullerowa. This book is for sale at http://www.pgsa.org, or you might be able to find a copy at a library near you.
In this book, you’ll find that each parish is listed and next to it is the diocese (diecezja) and deanery (dekanat). The diocese could have changed throughout the years, but the records are not moved, so they will be in the old diocese if there is one. So, look up your town name and see what diocese it was in.
HOW TO FIND THE DIOCESE ADDRESS:
Go to the following website:
http://www.opoka.org.pl/struktury_kosciola/diecezje/index.html
Send an email or letter to the Archdiocese and ask them which parish the village of (insert your village) was in. Be sure to mention the powiat and gmina so that they will base their answer on the correct town. You should write in Polish. An excellent resource for composing letters in Polish is “Polish Roots” by Rosemary A. Chorzempa. You can find sentences in this book to help you compose a letter in Polish.
PRADZIAD
State Archive of Poland
https://www.nac.gov.pl/en/digital-archive/szukajwarchiwach-pl-search-the-archives/
You can go to the above website and type in your town name (if you get no results, try the gmina name). You will see what records are available at the State Archive of Poland (both church and civil records). You can then write to BOTH the main archive and the regional archive to get research information. The commune listed is actually the gmina.
MAIN ARCHIVE ADDRESS:
Naczelna Dyrekcja Archiwów Pa?stwowych
ul. D?uga 6
00-950 Warszawa
skrytka pocztowa 1005
telefon: (22) 831-32-06 do 08
fax: 831-75-63
e-mail: ndap@archiwa.gov.pl
www.archiwa.gov.pl
OTHER SOURCES:
Geographic Dictionary of the Kingdom of Poland and Other Slavic Countries (Gazetteer)
Slownik geograficzny Krolestwa Polskiego i innych krajow slowianskich
15 Volumes, 1880-1902
The Sl~ownik Geograficzny went on line recently.
http://dir.icm.edu.pl/pl/Slownik_geograficzny/
How to use the Slownik Geograficzny (Follow directions for the DIR version)
http://www.halgal.com/slownik.html
Another online source:
http://www.mimuw.edu.pl/polszczyzna/SGKPi/ (This site requires DjVu or Linux download)