Planning the Trip - Budget

Major milestone - I have a budget for this Poland trip. I will post the "how to" soon, but if anyone is considering accompanying us on this trip, I wanted to get the word out about expected costs. We are looking at $135 per day per person for lodging, meals, entertainment, and ground transportation. Airfare is running between $900 - $1300 depending on the point of departure and flexibility around dates.

I have found actual prices for most of the train fares and car rentals and have a list of hotels in various price ranges in most towns. The MOST fun thing, however, is this: I found two "agratourism" farm guest houses with an address of Sierakowo, Dobrzany, Poland. Sierakowo is the Polish name of Alteheide, the town listed as the birth place of Julius Teske. It appears we may have the opportunity to stay on a farm in the same neighborhood where my Great Grandfather was born. AMAZING!!!

It's late now and it was even later last night when I finally got this budget done, so that's it for tonight - I will post more about the schedule and how I arrived at these numbers soon.

Locating the Guzek Villages

Guzek is my married name and I have done only a little research so far on the Guzek family. Thanks to brother-in-law Jack Whiting who has done research and documented what he has discovered. His family history, distributed in 1994, indicates George Guzek and Justina Nurska came from the area of Rzegocin, Poznan, Poland. That's cool, remember the conference we will attend is in Posen or Poznan, Poland, so we will be in the general area in June.

At the time Jack distributed the family history, he was unable to find records of the birth of George Guzek, but he believes George was born in 1853 or 1854, the son of Francis Guzek. An entry in a later baptismal record lists George (father of the child) as Adelbert, the polish name for George.

Jack DID find a birth record in the Rzegocin Catholic parish register for 1845 listing the birth of Waununiu (Lawrence), born in Rzegocin to Fransiczek GULAK and Josefa Wodzynska. These MAY be the parents of George.

Jack's records indicate Justina Nurska was born to Jan Nurski and Agnieszka Mazurek on September 18, 1859 in the village of Grab. An 1880 polish census indicates Grab was in the district of Pleszew, very close to the river Prosna, served by a post office in Robakow, 5 km away, and by rail in Zerkow, 16 km distant.

We also know that Justina and George were married on February 7, 1879. They had 4 children in Poland: Isadore, Michael, Adam, and Eva, born Feb. 7, 1887. Shortly after Eva's birth, the family left Poland, following other members of Justina's family, and arrived in the US in summer 1887.

We also have family reports that Justina had a sister who also stayed in Poland after other families left. Her married name was Nadolski. Family members recall being in contact with this family in Poland from about 1950 to 1960.

Now for the place research! An 1883 map of the Posnan region found at www.library.wisc.edu/etext/ravenstein/mapdl.html shows Grab on the river Prosan, near Zerkowo and Rzegocin. Grab is just north and slightly west of Pleschen and northeast of Jarotschin on that map. Now to find the current names of these towns.

Back to http://www.kartenmeister.com/ . A search for Rzegocin indicates that was the German name and the Polish name is Zegocin, county Pleschen, province Wielkopolskie (formerly Posen). Rzegocin/Zegocin is located at East 17 degrees 47' North 51 degrees 59'. We also find the Catholic Parish was in Rzegocin, the Civil Registry was in Pieruszyce, and the population in 1905 was 531. I also located Grab at Kartenmeister, same name in Polish, county Jarotschin, province Kaliskie, formerly Posen, located at East 17 degrees 43' North 52 degrees 01'. Grab also belonged to the Catholic parish of Rzgocin, but the civil registry was in Lagenfelde. Grab had a population of 342 in 1905. I also find that there ARE LDS films covering these areas in the 1870's and 1880's.

I have also found similar information online at www.loc.gov/rr/european/egwinv/egwz.html the Library of Congress European Reading Room.

From Kartenmeister, there is a link to Google maps for the location (http://maps.google.com/?q=52.01,17.72+(Grab)&iwloc=A&hl=en ). A click on that link for Grab brings up a map showing Grab to be within about 50 miles of Posnan. When I zoom in the map, I find Zegocin about 3 miles from Grab. I enter the coordinates above in Google Earth and see that there are still small villages in these locations today!!!

Then I go to www.moikrewni.pl/mapa/kompletny/guzek.html and find that there are 26 to 50 instances of the surname Guzek in Jarocin county today. There are 7 - 9 instances of the name Nurska in Pleszew county today. Side note, while at that site, I find there is a link at the bottom of the page to a similar map in Germany, so I can look up my other ancestors names - this is why we get distracted - one find provides numerous other leads to check out! Happy ancestor hunting!

Locating the Teske Villages

With the Teske families, the challenge again was to find the CORRECT small village in Prussia from 1850 - 1870. Again, we are very fortunate - we have original documents that place our ancestors in specific villages and counties (Kreis). Thanks to Mom and her ealier documentation, we know that Julius August Frederick Teske was born 18 Nov. 1831 in Alteheide, Germany or Prussia.

We have a Reise Pass or passport issued to Julius 23 Jul. 1862, listing a birthplace of Alteheide and current place of residence in Zachan. We also have a "Loosungs Schein" indicating Julius (same birthdate and place) appeared as required to register for military duty in 1851, 52, and 53. From these, we also get the county, Kreis Saatzig, Pommerania.

I experiment with the town names at http://www.kartenmeister.com/ and eventually find Alt Heide, Kreis Saatzig, Pommern. The current name is Sierakowo, Kreis Saatzig, Province Szczecinskie, located at East 15.26;North 53.18', population in 1905: 101.

At Kartenmeister, I can also search by proximity to those coordinates to find a list of locations within 15 - 30 miles. From other stories and documents, we believe that Julius had 10 siblings, some with different birthplaces listed, so now we are looking for Alteheide, Maszeow, Suckow, and Zachan.

I find 3 of these villages on the list of locations within 15 miles of the coordinates, all but Maszeow. BUT WAIT, as I peruse the list of TESKE related villages, what do I find but Doelitz, Kreis Pyritz - the birthplace of my WAHL ancestors!!! We had NO IDEA these two families were from anywhere near each other. This will make my plan to visit these villages much simpler.

Before I leave this search, I change the parameters to search for villages within 30 miles of the coordinates and yes, I also locate Maszeow, located in a neighboring county, Kreis Naugard, north of Stargard. I am a bit curious as to how/why the family moved from village to village between 1819 and 1840, the years during which the 11 siblings were born. It's funny how finding one piece of data just leads to more areas to research.

While I am on the net, I find a site http://www.polandpoland.com/ that includes a bit of commentary and also some current day photos. I am adding the links I have referenced here today to my Links list on the right side of this page for your convenience.

More research to follow!

Locating the Villages

Let's start with our Wahl ancesters. We know that Christian Frederick Wahl (my great grandfather) came from Doelitz, Kreis Pyritz, Pommerania. How did we know that - VERY LUCKY! We have written accounts that say the family came from Doelitz, Prussia. But there were several villages named Doelitz in "Prussia" at that time. This is the lucky part: We ALSO have a copy of a baptismal certificate in the Evangelical Church in Doelitz, a confirmation certificate, a Fuhrungs Attest, and another document relating to military service, stating Christian Frederick Wahl was born in Doelitz, Kreis Pyritz, Regierungs-bezirk Stettin. Bingo! Now we can pinpoint the CORRECT Doelitz, based on the county and district. We can get information about Doelitz from 1871 - 1918 in Meyers Orts and Verkehrs Lexikon (see https://wiki.familysearch.org/en/Step-by-step_guide:_Using_Meyers_Gazetteer_Online - also available at Ancestry.com). When I Google Doelitz Pyritz Stettin, I find the following:
a) Dölitz, Pommern, Germany, now Dolice (Stargard Szczeciński), Szczecin, Poland
b) Taufen, Heiraten, Tote 1824-1874 - FHL INTL Film [ 1273129 Item 1 ] - Baptism, Marriage, and Death records are available at the Family History Library
c) Dölitz ... Pyritz ... multiple articles have been published on this town in "Die Pommerschen Leute", a quarterly publication for descendants of Pommerania

Now I go to my online mapping site of choice and search for Dolitz, Pyritz, or the current name, Dolice, Pyritz, and find it is now located in Poland, not far from the larger city of Stettin or Szczecin. I can also search for information about Pommerania and find that it was a region on the south shore of the Baltic Sea, now occupied by parts of Germany and Poland. So now I have this village marked and saved on a current map. This is progress - probably enough for today - I'll be back soon with my next steps!

Origin of "Visit the Villages" Idea

I was a language major in college and made my first trip to Germany and Austria in 1971, knowing that I was of German descent, but not knowing the regions. My Mom got into genealogy research in the 80's and 90's. We eventually met cousins from Switzerland who came here for a large Meyer reunion.



In the early 90's we visited those relatives in Switzerland and I may have become "hooked" then. Since then, I have helped Mom convert early genealogy manuscripts to current word processing versions and started to do additional research myself. I love maps and the stories of how/why our ancestors left their homes and how/why they landed in Kansas. I have often said that if I had lived in the 1850's - 60's, I would have been an easterner. I say that, but I do LOVE to explore, so maybe that statement is not so accurate.



In 2000, my husband and I spent a year in France, traveling on weekends in France and surrounding countries. So now we feel comfortable making our way around the European countryside, driving on country roads, taking public transportation when it gets us to our destination. As we spend more time in Europe, I began to realize that I want to see the places my ancestors left before moving to the U.S. all those years ago.



About four years ago, that became my goal. Now, opportunity is knocking. While attending an academic conference last May in France, we learned the 2010 conference is in Posen (Posnan), Poland. NO MORE EXCUSES! Let the planning begin!

What's This All About?

Hi, I'm Sue and I am planning a trip to Poland and eastern Germany to see the places my ancestors left to come to Kansas. In this blog, I will document the tasks I have completed and will complete to make this trip a reality. For those who have not traveled a lot in Europe, I hope this will be helpful and will give you some ideas. I will describe some of my ancestral search, especially the things I have done to ensure I have the right places on my itinerary. I welcome your thoughts and feedback as well. With that for an introduction, let the planning begin!