Russian Poland Records

Date: Mon, 1 Sep 2008 05:15:41 -0700 (PDT)

From: Worth Anderson <worth_a@yahoo.com>

(These thoughts are generally applicable to the whole area)

You seem to have two questions:

(1) What happened to the Lutheran church records of Grodziec from 1835-1837? The most likely answer is lost. In the Lutheran/Evangelical registers I've seen, each year had its own book. Although not apparent from microfilm, the original books are sometimes surprisingly thin. It is not terribly rare for one or two to have gotten lost/been stolen/destroyed over the years. If you are looking at FHL microfilm, the filmers filmed what the Archives could produce on the day the filmer was there. However, another possibility is misfiled. For example, I've found "missing" Roman Catholic registers misfiled with civil records at Polish State Archives. It might be worth contacting the Polish State Archives that covers Grodziec and asking if they have any leads on where the missing books could be found or what happened to them.

(2) Where are the Grodziec records from 1796-1826? You have to divide this into two periods: (a) 1796-1808, and (b) 1808-1825. The reason is that in 1808 the Napoleonic Code was introduced into the Duchy of Warsaw, which required civil registration of births, marriages and deaths. An 1809 decree named clergy performing parish duties as de facto officials of civil registration. Thus, in the 1808-1825 period, civil records for Protestants (i.e., Lutherans) and Jews are found in records kept by the Catholic Church. In 1825 the Napoleonic Code was repealed, and the law replacing it specified that from 1826 on registers of non-Catholics were to be maintained separately. That is why you are able to find exclusively Lutheran registers for Grodziec after 1826. You can locate the civil records (called Akta Stanu Cywilnego or "ASC") by searching for the records of the relevant gmina. For example, the village of Sady, which was later covered by the Gabin/Gombin Evangelical parish register, is covered in the ASC for the gmina of Zyck. Once you have the gmina for your village, check the online inventories of the local branch of the Polish State Archives. It is also worthwhile to check the local Roman Catholic Diocesan Archives, as sometimes records have survived there that have not survived in the State Archives.

For the period before 1808, my impression is that churches kept records according to their own dictates. For Protestants, the survival of these records and the information they contain seems to vary widely.

The article by Fay Vogel Bussgang on "Russian Poland" in Sallyann Amdur Sack & Gary Mokotoff's "Avotaynu Guide to Jewish Genealogy," (Bergenfield, New Jersey, 2004) provides a great overview of which records were created when, and I think is well worth reading for all researchers in the area.

Best of luck,

Worth S. Anderson