Customer Reviews

Polish Roots

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Polish Roots is exactly the book I have needed while researching my Polish ancestry. Rosemarie Chorzempa explains family history research for Polish descendants, with emphasis on Polish family, Polish history, and Polish research, both in North America and Europe. She clearly and concisely answered the questions I've encountered, explaining why my Polish grandparents' papers said they came from Germany/Prussia/Borussia (there was no "Poland" in the nineteenth century!), Polish customs and names (with English translations), and where and how to go for more information, in civil, church, and historical records. If you are interested in learning more about your Polish ancestry, buy this book!

I found this book to be highly informative and loaded with how to's and where to go's. This author's recommendation lead me to purchase a book that was used as a reference for her work. I would not be without this book as an aid for searching your Polish "roots".

This is an excellent book for anyone who is attempting to find their Polish ancestors here in the USA or abroad. Rosemary gives you all the resources you need, and then some,to begin tracing down those elusive Polish immigrant relatives. She even has sample letters in Polish to use in writing for family record; such as baptismal, marriage, and death records using both religious and civilan sources. She even provides the addresses.
Rosemary gives lists of Polish names and what they may translate to in English. A list of the months in Polish also is a great help in determining which month a date means. Another wonderful asesst is a guide to translating church records, as all of the Catholic parish registers were written in Latin. Rosemary also makes mention of Jewish and Protestant records. Get this book and refer to it often, it is a treasure !

Good introduction to genealogy in general, the LDS collections, North American sources, Polish sources, and other relevant European sources. Good attention to non-Polish ethnic groups of Poland and their churches. I find the book so useful that it has travelled with me to Salt Lake City and Poland.

Mrs. Chorzempa explains step by step how to do the research through the archives available in America and in Poland, giving any necessary and useful addresses including the information where one can find the passengers lists. She uses the example of her own search - showing the photocopies from the archives.

This book contains a brief course in Polish history, geography, class hierarchy, ethnic minorites as well as a short course in Polish (and Latin) languages, Polish surnames, Polish, Ukrainian, German and Jewish first names. This all is done for one reason - to help a person learn something about Poland before starting its roots search. The sources are often given in other than Polish languages since Poland did not exist as a country for almost 150 years. This knowledge is necessary for anybody who wants to understand his/her Polish roots! Interesting to read and quite concise! I recommend it to all who want to start to do their genealogy search in Poland!

Gave me some excellent sources of information to futher pursue family tree. Sources were many and the book gave me an idea of the times and circumstances of Polish migration.

you'd never be able to find out anything about your Polish (in my case, Russian Polish) roots, Rosemary Chorzempa gives us a little hope that all is not lost for Polish genealogy.

I soaked up the information about Poland's history (although I beg to differ on the part about Poland being "mother" to Russia, Lithuania, the Ukraine, etc. I'm sure those countries don't feel that way) and was always curious to know why the country suffered through so many partitions and wars. My curiosity was satisfied history-wise.

Genealogy-wise, I'm a tad more hopeful than before that I'll be able to locate something, anything, on my great-grandparents (who were the immigrants). As it stands now, I only have their names but I'd like to put plenty of personality to those names.

Great read and practical advice for the beginning and experienced genealogist alike.

Unfortunately, this is yet another genealogy book that could use some serious updating.

This is the first time I bought anything on Amazon and it went very smooth. I am very pleased with the condition of the book. It was a pleasant transaction

If you want to research your ancestry this is a great book. I have used many of the tips provided to search my Polish roots. Well worth the money.

This work is chock filled with data on genealogical societies, major archives all over the world, the Mormon Church project, etc. The reader is even taught how to write letters to Poland to obtain church records, archival records, etc.

This book presents data on various nationalities and their influence on Poland. This includes not only obvious ones (such as Germans, Russians, Ukrainians, and Jews), but also ones such as the Armenians, Tatars, Gypsies, Italians, Dutch, Irish, and Scots.

This work provides fascinating information about the origin of various names. For instance, and -SKI or -CKI ending in Polish names originally denoted nobility, but had subsequently been adopted by the peasants living on the manor owned by the noble of that name. (p. 58, 157). The -UK, -CHUK, and -UIK suffix in Ukrainian names denotes "son of", as does the -EV, -OV, -OVYCH and -EVYCH in Russian names. (p. 162). The -IAN or -YAN ending in Armenian names denotes "of the tribe of" or "descendant of". (p. 164). Information is given on Polish-specific names and their Latin equivalents: Czeslaw/Ceslaus, Mieczyslaw/Miecislaus, Boleslaw/Boleslaus, Stanislaw/Stanislaus, Wladyslaw/Vladislaus, Kazimierz/Casimir, Wojciech/Adalbert, etc. (p. 170). A list is given of common Polish names and their feast days in the Catholic Church.

Finally, this book gives the reader lessons on the geography and outline history of Poland. There is quite a lot of information in such a small book! As if all that was not enough, extensive lists of books are provided for further reading.