Polish Family - where can I start?

[annaandchester]

My Polish tree looks like this

Andrezjak Family
Great Great Grandparents

Andrew Andrezjak m Katherine Zielinska

They had 10 children

Helene (my great grandmother)
Anna
Martin
Bronek
Stasia
Jan
Nikodemus
Bronka
Madga
Maria (she died in infancy)

Helene Andrezjak m Antoni Zych (my great grandfather) - they married in Berlin as they were in Germany at the outbreak of WW1 and were unable to make it home (aparently)

Zych Family

Great Great Grandparents

Joseph Zych m Francesca Czerwonka

They had 5 children

Antoni (my great grandfather)
Jan
Peter
Felixa
Stefan

Stefan and Antoni both went to northern France and as far as my grandmother knows the rest of the family stayed in Poland.

Antoni and Helene (my great grandparents) had 6 children but only 2 are still alive. Stefan had 1 daughter but she died years ago. Neither my grandmother nor her brother have ever had direct contact with the polish relatives.

Anna x

My Grandmother doesn't read or write English very very well and although fluent in 6 languages she is unable to help much with spellings so some of the names above are English spellings - please feel free to let me know what the Polish spelling would be.

I have no dates or anything from my grandmother but to give an idea she was the eldest in her family and she was born Aug 1919.

[Elizabeth Revel]

Hi Anna,

I went to Family Search and put in your family names. Lots of hits for Zych in Poland but nothing for Andrezjak which was a bit disappointing. However, I found a submitted pedigree resource file with names which suggest that you may have real live relatives!!
If you go to the Pedigree Resource File Screen and put in the number here:
                                          4264004-0216107153903
and then put in Zych you will find a number of them and you will also see that the submitter of the file is Carol (Ramme) Andryshak which I suspect is the Anglicization of your name. There is a snail mail address with which, if you are lucky, you may be able to make contact.

I hope this will be helpful to you in your search.

Beth

[annaandchester]

Thanks Beth,
I think I have found an email address for her online so I will email and then if no reply will do snail mail.
I will let you know how I get on

Anna x

[kaja]

Just to add a little more.

Try this: mapa.szukacz.pl

Where you see: Miejscowość/ Kod pocz.  Write in the name of the town or city.

Then press: pokaż

Pink rings will appear on a (basic) map

Move the mouse over a ring, if you think it's in the correct area, click on: Zbliż
It will bring up a map in more detail.

I think that you want to be in the area of Wielkopolskie (Poznan) This is where you will find the river Warta.

The only place I could find Ollug Breina was Hungary ( JewishGen)

To confirm. There is an Oleśnica near Wroclaw.

[annaandchester]

I will have to ask her about the villages - Radom is on the map as is Konskie so I am assuming that these are right.

I know that her grandfather used to call her his little turkish delight - aparently one line of the family has a turkish connection but certainly no mention of Hungary.

I got an email back from the woman in america researching Zych and Andrezjaks - no connection there but she has given me some info.

[willow154]

Hi Anna,
You may not need this, as you're getting wonderful help already, but the current (November 2008) issue of Family Tree Magazine has an article in it on Polish Ancestry.
Good luck with your research.
Paulene

[JustinL]

Kaja,

Well, done for finding Ollug Breina - even though it's in Hungary. What are the coordinates of this 'wrong' town.

It seems to me that Anna must be transliterating the village or town incorrectly.

Does Ollug Breina even sound Polish?

Another problem is that place names changed quite a few times between 1921 and 2008. I know that Konskie used to be simply Konsk.

Justin

[kaja]

Seems that I've messed things up.  Typing in Ollug Breina brought up Hungary.

I should have actually read what was on the page. The result was a soundex. And not relevant.

However, it does tell us that Ollug Breina is probably a spelling error.

The spelling, as it is, is not Polish.

Polish place names are a problem. Many ancestors would have been born in a time of partition. I would expect some of these ancestors to have lived on German occupied land with German place names.

schlesien: liste aller orte.  Might be of some help.


Justin, thanks for making me check.

[susieq1708]

I am looking for my grandmother who was born in Poland, on her Birth certificate her name is Anna Stefanska,  her dad's name was Pawel and mother was Antonina Gawron.    I believe the town is Hebdow. I am not for sure of the correct spelling because it written in polish.  My grandfather is name Joseph Sowa, but I believe his name changed when he was in America I believe it was Sowinski.  My grandmother birthday was 24 July, 1897 and my grandfather was 9 March 1892. Can you give me directions on finding my ancestry in Poland,