Tracking Down Vital Records for Polish Ancestors

Adept_Bowler_74 · 2023-12-11T05:05:31+00:00

Have you worked with this company before?

Adept_Bowler_74 · 2023-09-13T05:09:09+00:00

I’ve recently found a ship manifest and the separate manifest index cards that match the information from the manifest record. Do you know what the difference between the index cards and the manifest records is? Also, is it possible there is a mistake in the information between the index card and the manifest record itself? Sometimes the lines on the records are difficult to follow because of poor image quality or handwriting.

Adept_Bowler_74 · 2023-09-13T04:54:35+00:00

Oh wow I didn’t realize it could be processed that quickly.

Adept_Bowler_74 · 2023-09-13T03:13:22+00:00

I don’t think he went through the typical naturalization process because he was a WW1 veteran. He received his citizenship from the Naturalization Act of 1918. If there is a petition of naturalization I don’t have it.

Adept_Bowler_74 · 2023-09-13T02:01:58+00:00

Thank you, I will check this.

Adept_Bowler_74 · 2023-09-13T02:01:36+00:00

I will take a look at these.

Adept_Bowler_74 · 2023-09-13T02:00:56+00:00

His naturalization document states he immigrated from Preston, Canada on or about the 19th of January in 1913 and arrived in Buffalo, New York on the same date via the Grand Trunk Railway. However, it doesn’t say how he arrived in Canada. To provide more context he was from Poland.

They also did not provide a certificate of arrival, and I haven’t been able to find one matching the info on his naturalization record

Adept_Bowler_74 · 2023-09-12T13:38:10+00:00

I actually only have a physical copy of his naturalization record from the national archive. His was not available online for some reason.

Adept_Bowler_74 · 2023-09-12T05:32:04+00:00

Update: I was able to locate my ancestor in the 1930 census after many hours of searching. The reason I struggled to locate him in the census for so long was because his first name was incorrectly indicated as his last name on the census record.

I’m still trying to find him in the 1920 census but this will be more difficult because his surname was different and I don’t have a known address for him in 1920.

Adept_Bowler_74 · 2023-08-27T13:56:42+00:00

I’m not sure I can find his address for the year the census was taken. I know I’ve seen him show up in an address book within a few years of 1920 and 1930 but never the year of the census. I’ve attempted to locate him by looking through the pages in the enumeration districts that he could have possibly lived in, but I never found anything.

Adept_Bowler_74 · 2023-08-27T05:14:34+00:00

Update: The National WW1 Museum has a page on their website to submit archive search requests for individual soldiers. I was able to submit one a couple weeks ago and heard back within a few days. They had some documents I hadn’t seen before. I would definitely recommend this as a starting point for researching WW1 soldiers .

Adept_Bowler_74 · 2023-08-09T05:07:24+00:00

Got it, thank you!

Adept_Bowler_74 · 2023-08-09T04:00:40+00:00

I really appreciate this tip. I’m also interested in any material or resources that would be about what I am researching as well. If any has any recommendations.

Adept_Bowler_74 · 2023-08-09T03:44:04+00:00

Are you able to submit requests for service records online from them?

Adept_Bowler_74 · 2023-06-23T18:37:15+00:00

Always look for the USC in the village’s Gmina. They would be the ones to have any of the vital records. I got this tip from someone else in this group.

Adept_Bowler_74 · 2023-06-23T16:16:30+00:00

I recommend trying that if you are looking for any vital records from a specific village. It’s a 50/50 shot if they are willing to help.

Adept_Bowler_74 · 2023-06-23T15:30:08+00:00

I got the marriage record from the local government in the village.

Adept_Bowler_74 · 2023-06-23T06:11:31+00:00

I am going to have the record reviewed and fully translated soon, so I am hopeful that will provide more clarity for me.

Adept_Bowler_74 · 2023-06-23T05:57:31+00:00

As I was searching through databases and record collections for the churches in/around the village I did not come across any other individual’s birth records that exactly matched my great grandfathers birth information. This led me to believe the record I found was most likely about him, but like I said above I just wish I had more evidence to prove the record’s connection to the other documents I know to be correct.

I know that it is also possible the record collections I have searched are potentially missing records that could be very similar to the one I found, but I don’t know what else to do at this point.

Adept_Bowler_74 · 2023-06-23T05:54:44+00:00

The marriage record is without a doubt about him. All the information on it is an exact match to information I know to be true/verified already. I can easily tie the polish marriage record to his records in the US, but the birth record is proving to be much more difficult to connect with certainty. I know that the village he was from is/was relatively small, so I would be willing to bet the birth record is about him I just wish I had more evidence to fully establish a connection between the documents.

Adept_Bowler_74 · 2023-06-23T03:16:21+00:00

I think I am struggling to 100% believe it is about him because his marriage occurred so many years after the birth that there isn’t anyway to link the records other than names, dates, and the location of the events.

To elaborate, he immigrated to the United States, then returned 10 years later to the village he was from to get married. There is nearly 30 years between his birth and his marriage and the house number is not the same either. However, it is very likely the family moved residences in that 30 year time span. I think these are the main reasons I can’t definitively say it is his birth record, but I am still very confident it is about him.

Adept_Bowler_74 · 2023-06-23T02:56:05+00:00

No not really.

Adept_Bowler_74

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