In September of 2018, my husband and I engaged PolishOrigins for a 3 week customized genealogy tour to visit the ancestral villages of all four of my grandparents. We had many memorable experiences, but these events in particular had impacts beyond what I ever expected or imagined. This is one of two stories in which the effects of our discoveries in Poland continue to have a ripple effect. Also, this story will give you some idea as to the sense of how the PolishOrigins guides work their magic! Think treasure hunt…
On our way from Elk to Kumelsk, we came across a sign taking us a slightly different way than the main paved road. We took the ‘road less traveled’ and were amazed to find a very old rock road that appeared to have been laid by hand. It was several kilometers long but took us into Kumelsk the ‘back way.’
Before discussing our discoveries, please allow me to digress a little.
The national symbol for Poland, like the United States, is an eagle. Notice the crown on the eagle’s head. Until 25 years ago, it had been missing for many, many years. Why? Under communist rule, Poland’s eagle was not allowed to be displayed with a crown as that went against the communist policy. Today, Poland’s eagle once again proudly has a crown.
After breakfast we drove back to Romany to finish searching the cemetery. Took photos of several graves with family names. We drove out to Korytki-Lesne, which again is a very small village; stopped to ask if any of the names researching sounded familiar and were told almost everybody here has the last name of Korytkowski!
After breakfast we headed to Romany. On the way we needed to pull over for a herd of cows being moved back to the pasture; apparently due to the storm last night the cows were brought to high ground due to flooding . We met with the priest, who said he was new at this parish for only one week and his rectory is also under remodeling! He was very gracious and allowed us to look at the church records, some of the books over 100 years old! The years we are looking for are missing, Zenon said someone could have took the book or it was destroyed from wear.
(The article was originally published in a newsletter of the Downriver Genealogical Society: ‘The Downriver Seeker’)
My plans this summer were for a trip to Poland with my daughter Emily, my mother Doris, and my best friend Nancy. I never thought it would turn into an experience of a lifetime. After trying to get my Polish great aunt’s birth certificate transcribed for several years, I was finally successful. After attending a program at DGS about Polish genealogy, I was guided to the Michigan Polonia Center where I found Kamila who, for a price, would ‘correctly’ transcribed the certificate. I had been led in many different directions because my great grandfather’s immigration record was incorrectly transcribed and because there are only a dozen cities by the same name in Poland. Now I finally had the location, Sarnowo, north west of Warsaw. Once I had the correct location, I ordered the L.D.S. films for the parish of St. Joseph in Sarnowo, woj. Mazowieckie, Poland.
Location of great-granparents’ Sarnowo parish, north west of Warsaw.
