Polish Genealogical Resources

Comprehensive Sites
1.
http://www.cyndislist.com

Extensive research topics for Poland are listed here – alphabetically search for Poland in list of topics (and any other subjects in which you are interested).
2.
http://www.polishroots.org

General information about Poland, its history, & research tips, etc.
3.
http://www.newpoland.com/genealogy.htm

Resource of links regarding Polish genealogical research.
4.
http://jove.prohosting.com/~guczy/

Good list of topics with updated research links.
5.
http://polishproject.hypermart.net/

General list of links and information about doing Polish genealogical research.
6.
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Estates/6587/Poland.html

Many links for doing Polish genealogical research – and everything Polish. Everything from a history of Poland to Mrs. T’s Pierogies!
Immigration
7.
http://www.ellisislandrecords.org/

New website that offers a search of the ship passenger list records for the port of New York. Finding someone on a ship passenger list can reveal (among other things) the area in Poland from which the individual came.
Historical Information
8.
http://www.polishworld.com/polemb/english/poland_history.html

One of sites that offer a history of Poland.
Names
9.
http://www.pgsa.org/nazw_index.htm#m

Good resource for the study of Polish surnames, found through the website of the Polish Genealogical Society of America.
Maps
10.
http://www.jewishgen.org/shtetlseeker/loctown.htm

Great tool to locate an area in Poland.
11.
http://www.pgsa.org/galizien.htm

A list of the administrative districts, another tool of the PGSA.
12.
http://www.2poland.com/InteractiveMap/default.htm

Great interactive map of Poland, where you can choose areas of interest.

Using General Search Engines

Tip: I used
www.dogpile.com
as a search engine tool, entering various terms to find results. Knowing that my great grandfather worked in oil fields in Poland and first came to South America to continue the trade before meeting his wife and children in America provided a good basis to start a search. Dogpile is a metasearch engine – it searches many other search engines and gives you results broken down by these engines. It is sort of a “one-stop shopping” technique for finding information.
EXAMPLES of research in www.dogpile.com:
13. A search for “Bobrka”, my ancestors’ village name, led to:

http://www.carpatho-rusyn.org/new/

14. This result from dogpile gave me a lead to search for a variant spelling of Bobrka – ie. Boberka.

http://www.isragen.org.il/yiz/AhadHaam_books.htm

15. Searching for “Bobrka” & “oil” (I’ve been told my ancestors worked in the oil industry there) in Dogpile yielded:

http://www.shtetlinks.jewishgen.org/krosno/krosno.htm

A GREAT site with genealogical information, historical facts about the area, etc.
16. Both of these sites provide long descriptive passages of the area.

http://ciesin.ci.uw.edu.pl/poland/orbis/fold_6.htm
& http://lemko.org/lih/travel/beskid.html
17. This site provides an 1880 description of the area from which my ancesters hailed, shortly before they would have left:

http://www.pgsa.org/galicia.htm

18. A search for both “Bobrka” (place) & “Marosz” (name) yielded:

http://www.personal.ceu.hu/students/97/Roman_Zakharii/lviv.htm

19. Finding sites that can detail the historical transformations of a town, and perhaps its name – can be useful.

http://www.beiman.com/bev/Bobrka/name.htm

20. A search for “Marosz” & “Poland” yielded this great catch, a Polish genealogist’s discussion of the surname I am searching:

http://www.pgsa.org/nazw8.htm

Mailing List Services & Genealogy Forums
21.
http://genforum.genealogy.com/poland/

Forum for Polish research.
22.
http://lists.rootsweb.com/index/intl/POL/POLAND-ROOTS.html

A mailing list for those who are researching the history and genealogy of the Polish people inside and outside of Poland wherever they resided. The list is not limited to the 19th and 20th centuries and will address both ancient and modern history and genealogy back to the beginnings of Polish culture (that includes humor and food).
23.
http://www.rootsweb.com/~jfuller/gen_mail_country-pol.html#PolishLessons

Long list of Polish-related web & mailing lists related to genealogical pursuits.
Polish Repositories
24.
http://www.archiwa.gov.pl/

The archives of Poland, be sure to click on the “English version” button.
25.
http://www.uidaho.edu/special-collections/euro2.html#pl

Repositories of Eastern Europe, and includes a long list of primary source repositories in Poland.
Breaking the Language Barrier
26.
http://www.pgsa.org/letter_eng.htm

Good guide for how to write letters in Polish requesting information.

27.
http://www.toledolink.com/pl/

Lessons in Polish.
Specialized Areas of Research
28.
http://www.routestoroots.com/

Researching Polish Jews.
29.
http://www.pgst.org/

The Polish Genealogical Society of Texas: In December 1854, the first permanent Polish colony in the United States was founded at Panna Maria, Texas (south of San Antonio), and since that time many Poles have settled in Texas.

American-Based Genealogical Societies

30.
http://www.pgsa.org

Polish Genealogical Society of America. Great resources and tools for doing Polish research.
31.
http://www.feefhs.org/

Federation of East European Family History Societies, the Pioneer Web Portal for Central and East European Genealogy since May 1995. Includes resources such as a list of Polish Genealogical organizations based in this country.