Greater Poland (Wielkopolska) Voivodeship, Poland Genealogy

Civil Registration and Church Records
'''Almost all of the research you do will be in civil registration (government birth, marriage, and death records) and church records (baptism, confirmation, marriage, and burial records). To understand these records better study the articles: Poland Church Records and Poland Civil Registration.
 * 1. You will need to determine the name of the town your Polish ancestors lived in.  If you do not now know it, use the Wiki article Poland Locating Town of Origin.
 * 2. Find the voivodeship (province) for that town.  To see a map of the town, and find out its voivodeshp, use mapa.szukacz. Enter the town name in the "place" field in the right sidebar and click "Show". Province, area, commune, and postal code will appear at the bottom of the right sidebar.
 * If the town was in the area of Poland once controlled by Prussia, use Kartenmeister.
 * If the town was in the area of Poland once controlled by Russia, look it up in Skorowidz Gazetteer Online to find the parishes of various religions. Here are the instructions. Use the second option, "Viewing anywhere via the Digital Library of Wielkopolska".
 * 3. You will find birth, marriage, and death records:
 * in online databases
 * in microfilmed records of the FamilySearch collections
 * by writing to request searches
 * from State archives where records have been deposited
 * from church archives where records have been deposited
 * from local civil registration offices
 * from local parish churches

Search Strategy
'''For records before 1874, you will use just church records. For records from 1874 on, civil registration records will be your main source, supplemented by church records, if possible. In the eastern part, which was part of Russian Poland, civil registration is available from 1808 on. ''' Study maps A and C on the Poland Genealogy main page to see if your town lies in this region.
 * Search for the relative or ancestor you selected. When you find his birth record, search for the births of his brothers and sisters.
 * Next, search for the marriage of his parents. The marriage record will have information that will often help you find the birth records of the parents.
 * You can estimate the ages of the parents and determine a birth year to search for their birth records.
 * Search the death registers for all known family members.
 * Repeat this process for both the father and the mother, starting with their birth records, then their siblings' births, then their parents' marriages, and so on.
 * If earlier generations (parents, grandparents, etc.) do not appear in the records, search neighboring parishes.

Historical Geography
Greater Poland Voivodeship is a voivodeship, or province, in west-central Poland. In the second partition (1793), the whole of Greater Poland was absorbed by Prussia, becoming part of the province of South Prussia.The Greater Poland Uprising of 1806 led to the region's becoming part of the Napoleonic Duchy of Warsaw. Following the Congress of Vienna in 1815, Greater Poland was again partitioned, with the western part (including Poznań) going to Prussia. The eastern part joined the Russian-controlled Kingdom of Poland. Within the Prussian empire, western Greater Poland became the Grand Duchy of Posen and eventually the Province of Posen. Following the end of World War I, most of the region became part of the newly independent Polish state, forming most of Poznań Voivodeship (1921–1939). Following the German invasion of 1939, Greater Poland was incorporated into Nazi Germany, becoming the province called Reichsgau Posen. After the war, Greater Poland was fully within the Polish People's Republic, as Poznań Voivodeship. Source: Wikipedia, Greater Poland Voivodeship

Because of this history of changing nationality, records for Greater Poland are found in the FamilySearch system under both Posen, Germany and Poznán, Poland. Use the gazetteer, Kartenmeister - German/Polish Place Name Conversion to find the name of your town in both languages.

See also: Posen, Germany Genealogy

Online Databases
There does not exist one central online database for Poland, rather many independent projects by many different organizations. So you will need to search several databases.
 * Geneteka: a collaborative effort by numerous volunteers who index church and civil records all over Poland.
 * Szukaj w Archiwach: collections from all over Poland, continuously updated.
 * Poznan Project marriages from the 1800’s
 * BaSIA Greater Poland and Kuyavian-Pomeranian
 * Archiwum Państwowe w Poznaniu Poznan State Archives, Greater Poland
 * JewishGen Poland Database
 * Archion: Evangelical Central Archives in Berlin ($)
 * Jewish Records Indexing-Poland
 * Index of Polish marriages until 1899
 * Metryki Genealodzy Roman Catholic records indexing
 * , index and images.
 * Germany, Prussia, Brandenburg and Posen, Select Church Book Duplicates, 1794-1874, index, ($).
 * Eastern Prussian Provinces, Germany (Poland), Selected Civil Vitals, 1874-1945, index and images, incomplete.

Online Town Genealogies
In German genealogy records, an Ortssippenbuch (town lineage book) or Ortsfamilienbuch (town family book) includes birth, marriage, and death data for all persons found in the local records during a specified time period, compiled into families. Sources may include the local parish registers, civil registration records, court and land records, and sometimes published material. In the printed book, this information is then arranged in a standardized format, usually alphabetically by surname and chronologically by marriage date. Family entries are identified by sequential numbers. Town genealogies are known by various names, including “town lineage book,” “local heritage book,” “one-place-studies,” “Ortssippenbuch (OSB),” and “Ortsfamilienbuch (OFB).”

In some cases, these books were written before the records were lost or damaged during the war. A fairly large number of online OFB's are available on Genealogy.net (CompGen). Scroll down the page. The OFB's for modern Germany appear first, but after that OFB's for towns formerly in Germany, but now in Poland, are listed.

Microfilms: The FamilySearch Catalog
To search the catalog:
 * Many church records have been microfilmed and can be viewed at the main Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah. Eventually, microfilmed records will all be digitized and available online. The records you need might have been digitized now.  Check back from time to time to see if they have become available.
 * The FamilySearch Catalog is organized by the voivodeships as they existed in 1967. There are maps on the Poland Genealogy main page comparing those jurisdictions with the modern jurisdictions. In the FamilySearch Catalog, records for Greater Poland appear under both Posen, Germany and Poznán, Poland.
 * Towns had both German and Polish names. For example, Polish Wrocław is Breslau in German. Use the gazetteer, Kartenmeister - German/Polish Place Name Conversion to find the name of your town in both languages.
 * a. One at a time, click on both the records of Poland, Poznán and the records of Germany, Preussen (Prussia).
 * b. Click on the phrase Places within Poland, Poznán  or Places within Germany, Preußen, Posen and a list of towns will appear.
 * c. Click on your town.
 * d. Click on the "Civil registration" or church records topic, if available. Click on the blue links to specific record titles.
 * e. Choose the correct record type and time period for your ancestor.
 * For records in German: "Geburten" are births. Heiraten are marriages.  "Verstorbene" or Toten are deaths.
 * For records in Polish:  Akta urodzeń are births.  Akta chrzest are christenings/baptisms.  Akta małżeństw are marriages.  Akta zgonów are deaths.  :::f. Some combination of these icons will appear at the far right of the microfilm listed for the record. FHL icons.png.  The magnifying glass indicates that the microfilm is indexed. Clicking on the magnifying glass will take you to the index. Clicking on the camera will take you to an online digital copy of the microfilm.

Poland Letter Writing Guide
This letter writing guide will enable you to write in the Polish language to parish churches and church and government archives: Poland Letter Writing Guide. Generally, the people you wrie to will appreciate your effort to use Polish and cooperate more readily.

Civil Registration Office Address
Write to the local civil registration office for records after 1900. Records prior to 1900 will probably be in the state archives. Records in the last 100 years will have some privacy restrictions where you will have to prove your relationship and/or the death of the person the certificate reports.

State Archives Addresses

 * PRADZIAD This website can be searched by location (town or parish).  It will then tell you which archives hold what records for the location. On the entry for the records you want, click on "More" at the far right, and it will give you the contact information for the archive.

Parish Addresses

 * The Catholic Directory, Poland
 * Luteranie.pl: Polish Evangelical website with all current diocese addresses and individual parishes and email addresses. Many Lutheran parishes that existed before the 1918/1945 boundary changes no longer exist. Some of their records are in the diocese archives, and some were sent to Archion: Evangelical Central Archives in Berlin.

Jewish Records
Some areas of Poland were predominantly Jewish settlements. Because churches were frequently expected to act as civil registrars, Jewish births, marriages, and deaths can appear in Catholic records. See also, Jewish Records Indexing-Poland and JewishGen Poland Database

Church Diocese Archives Addresses
See the Catholic Diocese map on the Poland Genealogy main page. Use The Catholic Directory, Poland to find the diocese for your town. Click on "View Full Listing" for your parish.

Poznań Archdiocese
Archdiocesan Archives in Poznan (AAP) ul. Posadzego 2 61-108 Poznań Poland tel .: (+48) 61 810 15 19 ext. 33 or 34 e-mail: sekretariat@aap.poznan.pl
 * Website
 * '''List of Registers

Kalisz Diocese
Archives of the Curia of the Kalisz Diocese Ul. View 80-82 62-800 Kalisz Poland Tel. 62 766 07 20 Tel. Kom. 784 600 705 e-mail: blizin@autograf.pl
 * Website

Gniezno Archdiocese
Address: Archiwum Archidiecezjalne w Gnieźnie PL 62-200 Gniezno ul. Kolegiaty 2 Poland tel.: +48 (61) 426-19-09 e-mail: archiwum@archidiecezja.pl
 * Website
 * For all questions concerning the genealogical research, please use this e-mail address: metryki@archidiecezja.pl

Word Lists
The language of the records depends on the controlling government. The parts of Poland which belonged to Prussia (Germany) used German until they were ceded back to Poland (after World War I or II). Records in parts of Poland controlled by Russia will be in Polish until 1868, and then in Russian until 1918.. After 1945, everything will be Polish.
 * Polish Genealogical Word List
 * German Genealogical Word List
 * Russian Genealogical Word List

How-to Guides
For areas of Poland that were once part of Russia:


 * Cyrillic Alphabet - [[Media:1-Russian_Alphabet_Instruction.pdf|Instruction]], [[Media:2-Russian_Alphabet_Assignment.pdf|Activity]], [[Media:3-Russian_Alphabet_Answer_Key.pdf|Answer Key]]
 * Cyrillic Script - [[Media:1-Russian_Script-Instruction.pdf|Instruction]], [[Media:2-Russian_Script-Assignment.pdf|Activity]], [[Media:3-Russian_Script-Answer_Key.pdf|Answer Key]]
 * Reading Polish Birth Records - [[Media:1-Poland_Birth_Records_in_Paragraph_Format-Instruction.pdf|Instruction]], [[Media:2-Poland_Birth_Records_in_Paragraph_Format-Assignment.pdf|Activity]], [[Media:3-Poland_Birth_Records_in_Paragraph_Format-Answer_Key.pdf|Answer Key]]
 * Reading Polish Marriage Records - [[Media:1-Poland_Marriage_Records_in_Paragraph_Format-Instruction.pdf|Instruction]], [[Media:2-Poland_Marriage_Records_in_Paragraph_Format-Activity.pdf|Activity]], [[Media:3-Marriage_Records_in_Paragraph_Format-Answer_Key.pdf|Answer Key]]
 * Reading Polish Death Records - [[Media:1-Poland-Death_Records_in_Paragraph_Format-Instruction.pdf|Instruction]], [[Media:2-Poland-Death_Records_in_Paragraph_Format-Activity.pdf|Activity]], [[Media:3-Poland-Death_Records_in_Paragraph_Format-Answer_Key.pdf|Answer Key]]
 * Reading Russian Birth Records - [[Media:1-Russia_Birth_Records_in_Paragraph_Format-Instruction.pdf|Instruction]], [[Media:2-Birth_Records_in_Paragraph_Format-Activity.pdf|Activity]], [[Media:3-Birth_Records_in_Paragraph_Format-Answer_Key.pdf|Answer Key]]
 * Reading Russian Marriage Records - [[Media:1-Russia_Marriage_Records_in_Paragraph_Format-Instruction.pdf|Instruction]], [[Media:2-Russia_Marriage_Records_in_Paragraph_Format-Activity.pdf|Activity]], [[Media:3-Russia_Marriage_Records_in_Paragraph_Format-Answer_Key.pdf|Answer Key]]
 * Reading Russian Death Records - [[Media:1-Russia_Death_Records_in_Paragraph_Format-Instruction.pdf|Instruction]], [[Media:2-Russia_Death_Records_in_Paragraph_Format-Activity.pdf|Activity]], [[Media:3-Russia_Death_Records_in_Paragraph_Format-Answer_Key.pdf|Answer Key]]

Lessons

 * Reading Polish Handwritten Records
 * Lesson 1: Polish Letters
 * Lesson 2: Polish Words and Dates
 * Lesson 3: Reading Polish Records
 * Reading German Handwritten Records
 * Lesson 1: Kurrent Letters
 * Lesson 2: Making Words in Kurrent
 * Lesson 3: Reading Kurrent Documents
 * Old German Script
 * Part 1
 * Part 2
 * Part 3 (German Church and Civil Records)
 * Reading Russian Handwriting
 * Lesson 1: The Russian Alphabet
 * Lesson 2: Russian Words and Dates
 * Lesson 3: Reading Russian Records