Rallying all troopers! (Are you doing GERMAN research?)Marilyn over at IMMIGRANT GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY in Burbank California is a Wealth of Knowledge who is also Womanning the Fort!I spent a few hours looking over their collection, seeing where the books they have and my research might meet. Some of the Germans I'm researching first went into other countries before they came to America meaning that I'm looking into Transylvania and Slovakia and and Hungary before I go back to Germany.IMMIGRANT GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY is kind of a secret resource.
THE OUTSTANDING STRENGTHS OF THIS COLLECTION :
A huge collection of road maps - many from Germany - that you can fold out.
POMERANIAN special interest group: http://www.pomeranianews.com/
MECKLENBURG EMIGRANTS DATABASE by special arrangement with Rostock, Germany listing 20,000 Germans who left Germany. ONLY COPY IN THE UNITED STATES.
Several hundred German Ortsippenbooks for German towns. And much more!
Become a member for one fee and come in all you like for a year or pitch in $2 minimum towards the rent each time you visit. (Or make Marilyn a volunteer offer she can't refuse!)1310 West Magnolia Blvd
Burbank, CA, USA
(818) 848-3122 Call for hours, speakers, and more information.
Tell Marilyn that "Ancestry Worship Genealogy" sent you!
Recently I spent an afternoon at the SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY library. As it often goes, I came in looking to break through a brick wall on one line, but while going through books I found one that mentioned that Poles often named their children for the day they were born or baptized. There was a good list and so I decided to compare the names of some Polish ancestors with the Polish (or Eastern-Central European) saints lists.To my surprise there was a true connection (birthdate and saints day) of 7 out of 10 of the people I chose. Now, does that mean they were simply named for the saint of the day when they were baptised rather than born?Now, to this day in Poland people often celebrate their saints day as their birthday.HERE IS WHERE IT GETS TRICKY: YOUR IMMIGRANT POLISH ANCESTORS MAY HAVE USED THEIR SAINTS DAY AS THEIR OFFICIAL BIRTHDAY on U.S. paperwork/records. It is possible that this will correlate with their baptismal in Poland but maybe not.According to the book I read, POLISH ROOTS by Rosemary Chorzempa, parents sometimes picked a name within up to a three week period surrounding the actual birth.Because 3 out of the 10 names I checked did not correlate with a saint day, I think this is possibly the name of a family member OR THEIR BAPTISM sponsor.I'm linking to the Rootsweb list of Polish Saints Names; REMEMBER THAT THESE CATHOLIC CALENDER DATES MAY HAVE CHANGED OVER TIME and that you may be able to determine ethnicity within Poland or other countries by linking the name and the saint!What this reinforced to me also is the Catholicism of this family.
