Looking for relatives from Lomza Poland

[summitwood]

I am at a dead end.  I think my father's surname is not spelled correctly.   Iwan Hoderewski born in Lomza, Poland.  He was born Oct 14, 1917 in lomza, had 2 sisters and 2 brothers.  I have lots of information but without the correct spelling, I'm not sure where to look.  I have street addresses and cities where they lived and he was in the Russian cavalry in 1941.  Captured and a Pow in Germany. Anyone had any luck with finding the correct spellings of names?  Any information would be helpful.

[Ruskie]

Welcome to rootschat summitwood. 

I think there are some people who will be able to advise you whereabouts to look for Polish records, but generally if we find a lot of alternatives or suspect a name change for a surname, we might try searching via first names alone, or by birth dates. Depending on what databases are available for Polish births, deaths and marriages, you may be able to find your family that way?

Depending on whereabouts in the world you are and where your father ended up, he may have been naturalised, and perhaps those records may give you another surname to search?

Added: If you have street addresses perhaps you could contact the church closest to that address to ask if there are any records of the family which survive?

[Ruskie]

I have no idea if this might lead you somewhere:
https://jri-poland.org/town/lomza.htm

It seems to tell you which records are available on which LDS films.

[summitwood]

 I will look into it.  He was not Jewish or Catholic but Orthodox which complicates things.  I have his birth date 1917 (which seems to be a year that may be Polish or Russian)  and only the year of birth for his parents.  No dates for his brothers and sisters. I am told Hoderewski is not Polish but then what about Paderewski ? (Polish)  He considered himself Polish but was taken into the Red cavalry. So many contradictions.  I will also be looking into his mothers maiden name either Djubina or Dubina (Ukraine).  Thank you for any guidance.

[Ruskie]

It may or may not help you, but have you considered taking an autosomal DNA test?

My DNA results show many Eastern European ‘matches’, so lots of seem to be taking the tests - you might get lucky and find a surname that keeps cropping up? 

I suppose despite being born in Lomza the families may have come from elsewhere prior to that. I always thought that generally surnames ending with ‘ski’ were Polish, though I don’t know if that is correct. ‘Hoderewski’ may have been an angicised interpretation of their surname. Who told you it was not a Polish surname?

Not very helpful I’m afraid. 

[summitwood]

I have been thinking of taking a DNA test.  Just wasn't sure which to take.  I will look into "autosomal".  I haven't heard of that term.  Yes, I also believe that ski was Polish and sky was Russian.  Although, my father said he was Polish, I believe his main language was Russian growing up because his mother was Ukrainian. (Didn't know that) My mother said they had fun interpreting meanings while getting acquainted.   I have a questionnaire he filled out for entrance to the US.  He had no original papers since he was a POW for 4 years.  Hammelburg, straubing and Hammelburg again.  Try looking up stalag 13 which was a real POW camp and you get all the movies instead.  UGH.  In Linz Austria, where he ended up, the different offices just typed what they wanted and there were y's and O's instead of the ere.   I think he was too afraid to ask for changes so he let things go.   The most I knew, was that he was born in Lomza, and he had 2 brothers and 2 sisters.  It's been a journey.  Wish they would have told me more but i believe he could not speak out loud about it.  Thank you for your interest.  I'll continue to plug away.

[garstonite]

are you related to Nina Hoderewski ?

https://www.facebook.com/hnian
also
https://www.ancestry.co.uk/name-origin?surname=hoderewski

[Ruskie]

Most people seem to be taking the Ancestry DNA test, and seem to be getting decent numbers of matches. https://support.ancestry.com/s/topic/0TO150000004cAiGAI/ancestrydna

I took the FTDNA one, which is called "FamilyFinder" https://www.familytreedna.com/products/family-finder.

You can upload your raw data to other sites which should give you additional matches. Loads of advice available if and when you require it.

If your father ended up in the USA was he naturalized? His certificate may reveal something.

I may be wrong, but I think there might be lists of prisoners of war on one of the pay sites.

I don't know if this would be of any help:
https://www.icrc.org/en/doc/resources/documents/misc/57jnwv.htm

No idea if there is anything here either:
https://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=18229

[davecapps]

The only way to find the right spelling is to look at the original records.

The records for Lomza are in the Staatsarchiv in Leipzig.

http://archiv.sachsen.de/archiv/bestand.jsp?guid=97b19b08-3592-495a-9ee2-eb57c6bf3ccd

click on - 18.02 Polen, Kreis Lomza

Number AS 3511-2 has birth records for
1840 - 1845, 1900, 1903 - 1904, 1906 - 1911, 1916, 1919 - 1924 (no records for 1917)

There are also numerous records for:
Eheschließungen - Marriages
Geburten - Births
Sterbefälle - Deaths
Bestattungen - Burials

The Archiv does not take on any research requests. You have to go there personaly or hire a private researcher.

http://www.archiv.sachsen.de/recherchedienste.html

The nearest one to Leipzig is Delitzsch

Dave