Parish censuses, such as this one from the Dabrowa Bialostocka parish in Wesolowo, Poland, contain key information about parishoners.
While home sources, US census records, maps, gazetteers, and church records are crucial to conducting your research, using them is just scratching the surface of learning about your Polish, Czech, or Slovak ancestors. A bevy of resources you might not have considered can answer your research questions and flesh out the ancestors you’re investigating. While these “genealogical gems” may not be accessible by a few clicks of the mouse and may take some digging to find, the family history payout can be huge if you find your ancestors in a book, periodical, cemetery, list, telephone directory, or other document. In this chapter, I’ll discuss some lesser-known resources and records available to Eastern European researchers.
Though more and more records are available online each day, don’t overlook nineteenth-and twentieth-century sources that were originally available in print, especially those you can access from North America.
The website Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers <chroniclingamerica.loc.gov> (a joint project of the Library of Congress and National Endowment for the Humanities) provides a bibliography of all US newspapers, including those in states with large Polish, Czech, and Slovak immigrant populations. Search results on this site include the names and dates of publication for the newspapers and also what repositories have copies (paper or microfilm) of parts or all of the paper’s run.
Other newspapers have been digitized as part of the Google News <news.google.com/newspapers> project. While you are not likely to find Polish, Czech, or Slovak press offerings here, it is worth checking for newspapers covering those Polish, Czech, or Slovak “cluster communities” discussed in previous chapters. Many of these old newspapers have been scanned and placed online where they are keyword-searchable. You can find an overview of American ethnic newspapers on Readex <www.readex.com/content/american-ethnic-newspapers>.
If you are lucky, you might come across a compiled genealogy of your family. While Polish, Czech, and Slovak families may not have done this as frequently as the English, the Germans, or other ethnic groups, you could find your ancestors mentioned in genealogical societies’ publications.
Most genealogical and historical societies in North America and in Poland, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia publish periodicals—usually in the form of magazines and newsletters. The articles often include
The Family History Library (FHL) has some collections of genealogical material for Polish, Czech, and Slovak families. These may include published and unpublished collections of family histories and lineages as well as periodicals. For general searches in the FamilySearch Catalog, search by Place, then look under GENEALOGY—PERIODICALS or GENEALOGY—PERIODICALS—INDEXES.
Copies of periodicals are available from the local societies that publish them. Major archives with genealogical collections have copies of some periodicals, particularly those representing the area they serve.
The Periodical Source Index, known as PERSI, is the leading index for English-language magazines and journals relating to genealogy. Most of PERSI’s articles come from periodicals covering the United States and Canada, which will help with your Polish, Czech, or Slovak research on this side of the ocean. PERSI is crucial in identifying research, records, and transcriptions you might not find in any other print or online source, as well as locating “orphan” data—information relating to locations distinct from the periodicals they appear in. It’s a good idea to obtain the entire article for any additional information it includes, such as notes and sources, related family data, and important background and contextual information.
You can search PERSI via Findmypast <www.findmypast.com> or at a library. Note that PERSI doesn’t have the actual articles—rather, it has the title, date, and other information that will help you find the article of interest. Findmypast is working with the Federation of Genealogical Societies <www.fgs.org> to make the digital images of articles in PERSI accessible. If the articles you would like to study are not yet available online, try searching your local library’s online catalog or searching WorldCat <www.worldcat.org> to generate a list of libraries near you that own a particular item you would like to access. You also can order a copy of a PERSI periodical article by completing an Article Request Form through the Allen County Public Library’s Genealogy Center <www.acpl.lib.in.us/database/graphics/order_form.html>.
Collections housed in local libraries can contain “one-of-a-kind” books, documents, photographs, postcards, compiled genealogies, local histories, and other ephemera. In some communities, you could discover that some local government records, such as school censuses or voting records, may have been deposited in these collections. College and university libraries (especially those with master’s and doctoral programs in Slavic languages) often contain excellent Polish, Czech, or Slovak materials in their collections. While it is unlikely that there will be dedicated genealogical materials in these collections, it’s still worth exploring them for books or resources on Slavic topics. A simple Google search can help you locate them. Specialty libraries, such as the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh <www.carnegielibrary.org>, may have material as well.
Be on the lookout for books dedicated to Polish, Czech, and Slovak immigrants or focused on the areas where they settled—for example, History of Czechs in America by Dr. Jan Habenicht (1996) and History of Slovaks in America (2007) by Konstantin Culen, both published by the Czechoslovak Genealogical Society International. In addition, a number of photographic histories chronicling Czech, Polish, and Slovak communities in the United States have been compiled by local authors and published in the Images of America Series by Arcadia Publishing. Search the catalog at <www.arcadiapublishing.com> to find a complete current listing.
Also, Google Books <books.google.com> and the Internet Archive <www.archive.org> have unique publications. For example, the Internet Archive provides access to digital versions of Praktiný slovensko-anglický tluma (Practical English Slovak Dictionary) by Paul K. Kadak (G. Klein & Son, 1905) <www.archive.org/details/praktinslovens00kadauoft>.
Aside from libraries, a number of ethnic organizations and institutions have ethnic archival and book collections. The Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and the Immigration History Research Center (IHRC) in Minneapolis have been mentioned in previous chapters, but there are other organizations and societies that focus on Polish, Czech, and Slovak materials.
Polish researchers will want to explore the Polish Museum of America in Chicago <www.polishmuseumofamerica.org> and the Central Archives of Polonia at the Polish Mission located in Orchard Lake, Michigan <www.polishmission.com>. Smaller Polish-centric archives focus on specific organizations or time periods (mostly post-WWII). These include the Polish Falcons of America in Pittsburgh <www.polishfalcons.org> and the Polish collection of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University in California <www.hoover.org>, along with the Józef Piłsudski Institute of America <www.pilsudski.org>, and the Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America <www.piasa.org>, which has archival materials from the Polish Army Veterans Association of America <www.piasa.org/archivesabroad/swap.html> in New York City.
Polish researchers interested in the Hoover Archives’ WWII–era Polish archival collections housed at Stanford University can now access more than 1.5 million pages of digitized documents online thanks to Poland’s National Digital Archives (Narodowe Archiwum Cyfrowe) <www.szukajwarchiwach.pl>. Consult the finding aid at <www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf1489n4nr>.
In addition, for those seeking information on Polish Jews, the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research <www.yivo.org> in New York City holds more than twenty-four million documents, photographs, recordings, posters, films, videotapes, and more, as well as the largest collection of Yiddish-language materials in the world. The Senator John Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh <www.heinzhistorycenter.org> and the Pember Library & Museum <www.thepember.com> in Granville, New York, are examples of other institutions with exhibits and information on various Slavic groups.
Czech and Slovak researchers have a museum dedicated to celebrating their cultures—the National Czech and Slovak Museum located in Cedar Rapids, Iowa <www.ncsml.org>. The museum’s multilingual library collection includes books, periodicals, and multimedia and archival materials. While the items are noncirculating, it could be worth planning a research trip to explore the materials in person if you find something of interest in the online catalog.
In addition, the Czechoslovak Society of Arts & Sciences (SVU) <www.svu2000.org> is an independent nonprofit international cultural organization bringing together people from around the world who have an interest in the Czech Republic and/or Slovakia, their histories, peoples, and their cultural and intellectual contributions. While SVU doesn’t have a physical library (the SVU Archive was acquired by the IHRC in 2002), its website has a plethora of information, including links to the Czech & Slovak American Archivalia <www.svu2000.org/archivalia>.
Other Czech and Slovak collections include the Czech Center Museum in Houston <www.czechcenter.org>, the Czech Heritage Project at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln <www.unl.edu/czechheritage/home>, and the Slovak Institute in Cleveland <www.slovakinstitute.com>.
Genealogical societies may offer some of the more unique resources related to your Polish, Czech, or Slovak heritage and can help connect you with others who may be researching the same surnames or localities.
Membership in these societies typically provides a good value for your money due to benefits such as “members-only” access to unique record sets, databases, publications, and message boards, plus discounts on society-published books or registration fees for conferences and workshops. Many also offer online and offline networking opportunities with members around the world.
Organized Polish genealogical societies began in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The first were started in Illinois, Texas, Michigan, and Connecticut, and others were subsequently established in Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, Wisconsin, and California. Each of these organizations operates independently and separately. Some of these societies have their own dedicated projects ranging from cemetery indexing to society and union records. See appendix H for a list of societies.
Here’s a list of other ethnic genealogical societies that may provide helpful resources:
One benefit, in particular, is surname lists. Genealogical societies often have surname lists or projects. You also may find lists published by individual researchers or other groups. The PolishOrigins website <www.polishorigins.com> is one example where you can search for people whose forefathers had the same surnames as your ancestors. You can add your own surnames by registering on the site for free. There is also a surnames database on The Polish Genealogy Project <www.polishgeno.com>. The SVU has links to Czech and Slovak surname lists and sites online at <www.svu2000.org/publications/genealogy/c5gd1list8.htm>. The Slovak Pride Database <www.slovakpride.homestead.com>, run by Helene Cincebeaux, has more than twenty-five thousand surnames and villages. Learn more about how to research your ancestors’ surnames in chapter 7.
In addition to scouring stateside resources, you also can turn to your ancestor’s homeland to learn more about his life and times. Check out these sources from Europe, as well as resources online.
As discussed in chapter 9, religion was a crucial part of our ancestors’ lives, having a tangible role from their birth to their death. Most Christians belonged to a church, and some of these institutions conducted their own parish censuses. While civil records might not have survived (as they largely didn’t in Poland, for example), parish censuses (image A) can be great resources if you can find them. At minimum, they recorded the name and age of the parishes heads of the household and the names and ages of the residents in his house (including servants and farmhands). Some of these schedules even included birth, marriage, and death dates or accounts of military service or immigration. You can’t find parish censuses in either ecclesiastical or state archives, depending on your ancestor’s location and whether the records survived.
Parish censuses, such as this one from the Dabrowa Bialostocka parish in Wesolowo, Poland, contain key information about parishoners.
In some European countries, such as Poland, the government required its citizens to register their place of residence, and these records can provide your ancestor’s name, birth date and birthplace, family relationship, parents’ name, and marital status. Many of these registers are still in local offices, but you can search online databases to find records that have survived. The Polish archives system has such a resource in the ELA database <baza.archiwa.gov.pl/sezam/ela.php?l=en>, though the ELA simply lists what registers are available and does not contain individual records. These kinds of records were less centralized in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, so check with individual records offices or consult a professional researcher to see if registers exist for your ancestor’s community.
Land records are one of the next best sources. The primary advantage of using land records is that they go back further in time than the parish registers of births, marriages, and deaths. Often, the same land was passed from generation to generation, so it is possible to assemble much of your family tree from viewing land records. Land records may be deposited in various archives (e.g., at the national or regional archives or at the town level). These more local records are not uniform, however, so you should check with the archivist to make sure you’re searching in the correct places. Try perusing the FamilySearch.org online collections, or search the FamilySearch Catalog under Place (Poland, the Czech Republic, or Slovakia), then click on Land and Property. You also can go to the FamilySearch Wiki pages <www.familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Main_Page> for each country to learn more about land. A database of land records from 1450 to 1889 from the Czech Republic is available at <www.familysearch.org/search/collection/1918632>.
Just as we do, our ancestors paid taxes, and documents left behind by the taxation process are another potential source of ancestor information. In Poland, you will find revision lists that contain personal data on household members. Consult with individual archives to see if any other records are available. Austrian tax records (Berní ruly) were first compiled in 1654, then again in 1684, 1746, 1757, and 1792. These tax lists include only the heads of families who own taxable property or have a trade, and they are helpful when an ancestor is known to have been in a taxable status. Tax lists are in various archives but not readily available to researchers. The FHL has a collection of unindexed tax lists, written in Czech. Search the FamilySearch Catalog under Czech Republic—Land and Property or Slovakia—Land and Property for more specifics on available records.
Before there were telephone books (and before most people had telephones!), city directories were the best year-by-year compilations of residents in urban areas. Both Ancestry.com <www.ancestry.com> and Fold3 <www.fold3.com> have US city directories as part of their subscription packages. Also check with the libraries and historical and genealogical societies noted earlier in this chapter. Others can be located using the Online Historical Directories Website <www.sites.google.com/site/onlinedirectorysite>.
For city directories across the pond, consult the Library of Congress website (European Reading Room) for indexes and digitized versions of European address/telephone directories <www.loc.gov/rr/european/tel.html>; click the link for Poland or Former Czechoslovakia. PolishRoots.org <www.polishroots.org> has information on Polish city directories, as does the Polish Genealogy Project <www.polishgeno.com>.
Individual towns or villages may also have published histories (images B and C). Search for the town or village name on Google, as your ancestors’ names could be mentioned in these narratives. While it could be a challenge to obtain a copy if you don’t have any living relatives in the town or village, you can always try contacting the local historian or perhaps the mayor of the town. For example, my maternal grandfather’s family is mentioned in a book (Dejiny Osturne) about Osturňa, Slovakia, that was published by historians there. I was able to obtain a printed copy of this book from another genealogist who had organized a tour to the village in 2006. Look for local histories stateside as well as those from the American town where your immigrant ancestors settled, some of which are available at the FHL.
Find unique resources such as this 1905 publication Praktiný slovensko-anglický tluma (The Practical English Slovak Dictionary) on the Internet Archive.
With a little digging, it is possible you could locate a book published about your ancestral town. This letter from the book Dejiny Osturne mentions one of my Figler ancestors.
Researchers should also be aware of scholarly organizations or learned societies in Poland, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia. These organizations are typically composed of both academicians and history buffs from various fields of learning, and their mission is to fully document and record the history of their region. Many of these societies issue journals, but they are typically written in the native language (sometimes containing summaries in English or other languages) and most likely will not be available in US libraries. To locate websites and other information for learned societies, search Towarzystwo naukowe (Polish), genealogická společnost (Czech), or Slovenske ucene tovarisstvo (Slovak).
Because Polish, Czech, or Slovak families tended to be large, it’s likely your immigrant grandmother or great-grandfather left behind a sibling or two when immigrating to America. Those siblings’ descendants—your distant cousins—could help you fill in the blanks in your family tree. A Polish, Czech, or Slovak telephone directory is probably your best tool for trying to find currently living (close or distant) family members. Start with directories listed on PolandGenWeb <www.rootsweb.com/~polwgw/wp.html> or in the Czech Telephone Directory <phone.fin.cz>, Phonebook of the World <phonebookoftheworld.com/czechrepublic>, and Search Czech <www.search-czech.com/people/czech-phone-directory.html>. Slovak researchers can consult the Slovak Telephone Directory (Telefónny Zoznam SR) found on Infobel to look up phone numbers for individuals or companies in modern Slovakia <www.infobel.com/en/world/WorldTeldir.aspx?page=/eng/euro/sk&qSelLang=EN>. If online searches come up empty, look for a printed telephone book (both larger provincial or county-wide and smaller ones) covering your ancestral region—most libraries have them—and write to people with your surname. Because of privacy laws and language or formatting issues, you may wish to consult with a native-language speaker or professional researcher for assistance when using foreign telephone directories.
In addition to indexed cemetery lists published by societies or organizations, you can search online for and post photos and information about your ancestors’ burial places. Some sites to explore include
Just as local libraries in the United States or Canada serve as repositories of articles, artifacts, books, manuscripts, photographs, and more, the same holds true for libraries in Poland, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia.
The Informator o Bibliotekach i Ośrodkach Informacji (A Guide to Polish Libraries and Information Centers) <mak.bn.org.pl> lists more than two thousand libraries in Poland and identifies the features of their collections, subject area strengths, and the total number of volumes the library possesses (including microfilm, microfiche, and CDs). You can also search library databases on Biblioteka Narodwa <mak.bn.org.pl/fidkar>.
Czech researchers can get a listing of libraries in the Czech Republic at <www.expats.cz/prague/directory/libraries> and at Cyndi’s List <www.cyndislist.com/czech/libraries>, while those looking for libraries in Slovakia can check Cyndi’s List or the website of the Slovak National Library (Slovenská národná knižnica) <www.snk.sk/en>. The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has a National Bibliography of Czech and Slovak on its website <www.library.illinois.edu/spx/webct/nationalbib/natbibczechslovak2.html>.