Throughout history, church and civil records in Poland have assumed a variety of forms. The manner in which the records were maintained depended on the location and the time period.
After Napoleon’s armies invaded Poland and created the Duchy of Warsaw on 09 Jun 1807, priests in the Duchy were required to record births, marriages, and deaths according to a specified style in a narrative form. After Napoleon’s defeat and the formation of the Congress Kingdom of Poland, priests continued to record birth, marriages, and deaths in the same format.
In 1826, the format was changed somewhat, and life events were recorded in a very consistent manner following a fixed template. Once researchers learn to read one Polish birth record from this time period in the Congress Kingdom of Poland, all other birth records from the same region and time period will look similar. Unfortunately, in 1868, the Russian government required that all records be written in Russian. The format remained the same. Only the language changed.
The following record demonstrates the parts of a Polish birth record that is typical for the time period 1826-1868 in the Congress Kingdom of Poland.
The Birth and Baptismal Record of Józef Niedziałkowski – 1862
SOURCE: Parish. St. John the Baptist (Szwelice, Maków County, Łomża Governorate, Congress Kingdom of Poland). Book Baptized parish Szwelice from 1853 to 1869, Joseph Niedziałkowski baptism (1862); FHL microfilm 1,958,805.
Click on the above image to enlarge it. By looking for specific keywords in the record, researchers can locate specific items of interest:
A transcription of this record (including misspellings and other errors) is shown below. Keywords that direct the reader to the most important elements of the record are highlighted in bold.
Pomaski 80. It happened in the village Koscielney Szwelicach twenty-fifth day of October one thousand Osmset sixty-second year at dziewiątey morning man appeared Ludwik Niedziałkowski partner twenty years osmium maiący in Pomaskach Lived in Obecnosi John Pomaskiego forty-four years, and Konstanty Grzybowski thirty years, maiących heirs partial Pomaskach Residing in and Turned Nam rider male oswiadczaiąc and iest born in Pomaskach day wczorayszego at dziewiątey morning with his wife Josepha of Pomaskich twenty three years maiącey. This child baptized held on dzisieyszym by Kiędza Ignatius Kotakowskiego Pastor mieyscowego was given the name Joseph, and Chresnemi parents were Jozef and Barbara marriage Nossarzewscy - This act Oswiadczaią iemu Witnesses and lived by us and was only signed because Oswiadczaiący Witnesses or write nieumieią X Ig Kotakowski Proboszcz Szwelicki. Utrzymuiący Akta Stanu Cywilnego
The left margin is usually reserved for the name of the village in which the family resided. For birth/baptismal records, one may also presume that the child was born in this village. The number that accompanies the name of the village shows the number of the baptism in the current calendar year in the parish (not the village). In the example, the child was born in Pomaski and his baptism was the 80th baptism in the parish that year.
The records open with the words “Działo się we Wsi Koscielney Szwelicach” which state the place of baptism. The words “Działo się” mean “It happened”. After the word “we” (in), this record shows that the baptism took place in “Wsi Koscielney Szwelicach”, meaning “the ecclesiastical village of Szwelice”. The village of Szwelice was owned by the church and was thus called an “ecclesiastical village”. The village of Pomaski belonged to the parish of Szwelice. Next, the time and date of the baptism is provided. In this record, the date is given as “dnia dwudziestego piątego Pazdziernika Tysiąc Osmset Sześćdziesiątego drugiego roku”, meaning “the twenty-fifth day of October in the year one thousand eight hundred sixty-two”. The time was recorded as “o godzinie dziewiątey z rana”, translated as “at the hour of nine o’clock in the morning”.
The next section, introduced by the words “Stawił się“, meaning “he presented himself” tells who brought the child to be baptized. This was usually the father, but could also be another relative if the father was deceased or otherwise could not attend the birth. In the case of an illegitimate birth, the midwife who delivered the child may be the one who presented the child for baptism. In the example, we learn that “Stawił się Ludwik Niedziałkowski wspolnik lat dwadziescia osm maiący w Pomaskach Zamieszkały”. This phrase tells us the name of the presenter (here, it is the father), his occupation, his age, and the place in which he resided. This phrase is translated as “Ludwik Niedziałkowski, partner, presented himself, twenty-eight years of age, living in Pomaski”.
In these records, the priest frequently hyphenates words and, in some records, doesn’t necessarily indicate that the words are hyphenated. In addition, words that should be capitalized don’t always appear to be capitalized, and capital letters sometimes appear where they should not. Spelling errors and variations are also common, and Polish diacritical marks don’t always appear where they should.
Written for the Carnival of Eastern European Genealogy.
Copyright © 2008 by Stephen J. Danko