I happened upon this church book in the Stettin Archives by mistake. Since it was such a small book, I opted to photograph it in addition to the items on my agenda. I’ll explain the story behind this after going into detail about this book.

• Quisbernow Kirchenbuch (1840)

The church book for Quisbernow is a meager one-year span of several pages, only covering the year 1840. It begins with a document explaining that it contains three duplicates for births, marriages, and deaths, referencing the Wohllöblichen Patrimonial Gerichts. My assumption is that this describes the book being turned in by legal obligation, providing the government with a second copy of parish records.

Inside, it contains the following surnames: Dogs, Freitag, Garske, Gerth, Geske, Haske, Hohenseh, Kath, Klitzke, Krause, Maleitzke, Neitzel, Neubart, Radke, Rahn, and Ruthsatz. The document itself bears the signature of Noack and Krause.

The Story Behind How This Book Was Aquired

While working in the archives in Stettin, I had ordered the church book for Arnhausen to re-photograph a few pages that were missing from my copy. I was brought this book instead, and the archive staff tried to convince me that this is the book I ordered based upon the signature number on the front. It’s not common knowledge that each book has undergone a series of revisions in terms of which collection it belongs to in the archives. The larger number on the cover denotes that it should belong to the Amtsgericht in Polzin, file number 2 (I/2 on the cover). In this case, the collection had been revised along with the number to indicate that it was now item number 3–as far as I could tell, also in the same collection.

So, let’s backtrack. I requested signature 65/1635/0/-/2 and was brought 65/1635/0/-/3. I was told that was the book I had requested. I was adamant and gave push-back, much to what appeared to be their chagrin. I was also informed that I should refer to their physical books that contain all of the signatures, as the paper format is more accurate than the digital version online at Szukaj w Archiwach. (Wait… what? The formal finding aid of all of the Polish State Archives isn’t more up-to-date than their paper copies in books?) The next day, I was informed that I had ordered the correct book, but that it was in restoration. They were unsure of when it would be returned.

Presently, the book I was given for Quisbernow now shows up online underneath the collection for Bad Freienwalde on the old version of Szukaj w Archiwach, but does not appear in the collection when clicked. Additionally, this book does not appear at all on the new version of their website. As far as I am aware, it should still belong to the city files of Bad Polzin’s collection.

A note of caution to those traveling to do research in Stettin: bring a spreadsheet with signature numbers to cross-reference with the books that are delivered for you. I ran into numerous roadblocks with this archive, and sometimes you need to be persistent when you know you are right!

My hope is that this error on the part of the Stettin Archives might be able to help someone in their research. (If it does, please let us know on Facebook!)

This collection has not been transcribed yet.

Help us make these records more accessible for researchers worldwide. If you can read old script, we would love your help to make the entries in these books searchable. Please consider donating your time, even if it's just for a few pages. (We also use Google Sheets so you can see where the last person left off and where the work needs to be continued!)

If you're interested, please send an email to [email protected].