Without a doubt, the State Archives in Koszalin (Archiwum PaÅ„stwowe w Koszalinie) are one of the most valuable resources for uncovering more in your family tree. While in Poland, I visited three major branches of the State Archives: Gorzów Wielkopolski (Landberg an der Warthe), Koszalin (Köslin), and Szczecin (Stettin). Of these, the branch in Koszalin […]
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This book contains apprenticeship letters and contracts from the clothmaker guild in Kallies (earlier, “Callies”) in Kreis Dramburg. While containing a smaller number of people, it details more information (and exceptionally legibly at that) than a typical entry in a guild register. The guild book is rather small–less than 40 pages–but it contains valuable information […]
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I decided to visit Lübchow because of its proximity to Klaptow. There were enough family names I had previously seen from this village, and I knew a few people who were also researching families from this area. The village is only a five-minute drive from Körlin. Coming in from the south, the surroundings are a […]
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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 […]
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This book from Belgard lists tailors (Schneider) in Bad Polzin from 1817 to 1899. Upon a quick glance, some of the surnames which appear in the master’s book are: Beer, Berndt, Born, Butzke, Doebert, Eggert, Fick, Fritz, Gentsch, Giese, Grodtmann, Gutz, Isberner, Jahn, Janne, Kirstein, König, Krause, Krüger, Kunde, Maaß, Müller, Priebe, Ponath, Radel, Reuscher, […]
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It is a little-known fact that emigration records in Pomerania used to be kept by the police departments in county-level divisions. These records give much more insight than most would imagine, including descriptions of appearances, those traveling with, and supporting documentation for the emigrant. Sometimes, one can gain a better understanding of why the person […]
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The archives in Koszalin have a book containing the birth dates, parents, and residences for children who underwent a formal process for guardianship. It’s a rare find for those researching in Belgard, and I’m not sure if books like this exist for other Kreise. It’s unfortunate that only one book in the series survives in […]
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The Standesamt for Wurow covers the villages of Christinenhof, Prütznow, Rienow, Tarnow and Wurow. While the vast majority of civil registers for Stettin have been digitized and placed on the archive’s website, the Standesamt for Wurow remains to be completely digitized. The church book, “Die Kirchenbuchsduplicate von der Parochie Wurow, Prütznow, Grabow, Tarnow und […]
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A large part of visiting the archives was to discover what information each type of record contains. The video below shows what can be found in church reparation documents. The book shown in the video is “Bauten und Reparaturen an den Kirchen-, Pfarr- und Schulgebäuden zu Belgard Vol I.” The pages inventory what is needed […]
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Lands records for Semerow, formerly of Kreis Schivelbein, begin in the Grundbücher starting in 1855 and go through 1944. A quick look shows that these surnames appear in these book are: Becker, Borchard, Böttcher, Braasch, Braun, Bugs, Colberg, Dallmann, Damerow, Dreblow, Friedrich, Gruchow, Haese, Hanke, Hohenstein, Jagow, Krause, Lilge, Meyer, Neumann, Plautz, Ponath, Rabenhorst, Roggenbuch, […]
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