WOYCKE and CLOSE - German families from present-day Poland

[Mustang Sally]

I am wanting to research my mother's family ;
My Great Grandmother was born "Close" on a barge near Nagot-Spitze, part of the river Weichsel near Gdansk;
My Grandmother was born "Woycke" in Usch (now a Polish name), and then spent time in an orphanage in Posen after her father committed suicide about 1911.
My Mother was born "Woycke" in Schneidermuhl" ,now Pila in Poland.

I understand that a lot of the German records were destroyed after WW2 when this part of Germany reverted to Poland.

My German is limited.

Any suggestions on where/how to start looking for information?

Thankyou,

Mustang Sally

[Svenja]

Hi Sally

City directory of Schneidemühl of the year 1896
https://adressbuecher.genealogy.net/addressbook/547466e71e6272f5d060a816

Here you find some info about genealogical resources of Schneidemühl.
http://schneidemuehl.stadt-schneidemuehl.de/
http://pommerndatenbank.de/data/schneidemuehl.html

Regards
Svenja

[Mustang Sally]

Hi Svenja,

Thankyou.

Found family in 1934/1938; Woycke/Thiel/Eggert families.

Sally

[garstonite]

just a Woycke location for you to research
b 1830 - Christina Woycke in Czame Dolne , Gardeja ,Poland
married 1855 to Gottfreid Matzlaff 24th April
so maybe see how many more Woycke are there in that area ?   55 miles South of Gdansk

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Czarne_Dolne

[JustinL]

Hello Sally,

The Nogat river branches from the Weichsel (Vistula) at Montauer Spitze near the Polish town of Biała Góra (Weissenberg in German), which is in the modern Polish commune of Sztum.

Do you know whether your ggm was born before or after 1874/5? This link http://baza.archiwa.gov.pl/sezam/pradziad.php?l=en&mode=showopis&id=24422&gmina=sztum indicates where the civil registers should be held. The surname may have been recorded as Klose.

The registry office for Montauer Spitze was in Pieckel (Piekło). The registers are held here http://baza.archiwa.gov.pl/sezam/pradziad.php?l=en&mode=showopis&id=24446&miejscowosc=Pieckel

Here are the civil records for Usch (Ujście) http://baza.archiwa.gov.pl/sezam/pradziad.php?l=en&mode=showopis&id=11106&gmina=Uj%B6cie. There are older parish records.

It may be possible to obtain a copy of your mum's birth cert from the Registry Office in Piła, or from Standesamt I in Berlin.

Can you tell us the full names of any of these women?

Justin

[Rudolf H B]

Hi Sally,

there are several databases in Poland and Germany.

- Civil registers are in Berlin and in Poland (starting 1874/75),
- roman-catholic registers had been transferred to Poland,
- lutheran church registers are in Berlin (EZAB).

Regards
Rudolf

[Mustang Sally]

Pommerndatenbank - Die Datenbank für Familienforschung in Pommern has provided me with family addresses in Schneidemuhl in 1934 / 1938. All the "Woycke' names in Schneidermuhl listed were part of my extended famiily. (My Great Uncles, Oma, Great Grandmother and Great Aunt).
Thank you Svenja.


Gertrud Woycke was "lost" when the inhabitants of Schneidrmuhl fled. It is believed that she was one of many who died by the roadside and was buried by the snow drifts in Jan 1945.

My Great Grandmother was Marie Luise Woycke nee Klose and born c 1874 and died aged 77 in Nov 1944 before the Russians took Schneidermuhl. She used to work in the Railway station as a cook. She was Lutheran.

She was married to Paul or Peter? Woycke, a furniture maker in Usch. He apparently shot himself rather than go bankrupt which led to the breakup of his family in about 1912. He was buried in Usch. I understand that the family could not visit the grave during the War years as the town of Usch was divided and the cemetery was on the wrong side of the border.

[Mustang Sally]

Have now found my Great Grandmother's Death Certificate on Ancestry which gives her father's name as August Klose and her mother as Amalie Klose nee Schmidt. Marie Luise Klose was born 25 June 1867 and died 11 Nov 1944 in Schneidermuhl. Her husband was confirmed as Paul Woycke. Details supplied by my Great Aunt Gertrud Woycke.