Have I hit the jackpot?

 I may have found gates through a couple of the brick walls I’ve been pounding against.

My mother was able to pinpoint the town where her father lived, but it has been very frustrating trying to find where in Poland my other three grandparents originated.  

On my father’s side, I found towns that had many Dachtera families, but no information about my great grandfather Joseph.  Nor did I find his wife, Magdalena Kaszmarek.  Nor have I been able to identify my paternal grandmother’s father.

Likewise, on my mother’s side, I found no trace in Poland of my great grandfather, Michael Schipp or his wife Elizabeth whose last name is something like Jascinska.

It’s been VERY frustrating.

The Indian River Genealogical Society has several special interest groups based on ancestral countries of origin.  My first attendance at the Polish Interest Group blew my mind.

One of the regulars explained the Polish genealogy sites he’d found. What a gold mine!

 One of those sites led me to The Poznan Project which has indexed marriages in Poznan province. BINGO!!!!! I’ve located three marriages that may be my ancestors, and the towns where I hope to find my three mysteries.  I’ve ordered the LDS microfilms from those parishes where I hope to find ancestors.  My only problem now is patience.  It takes about 3 weeks from the date of the order before the films arrive at their destination.  So sometime in December, I’ll be able to see if I’ve hit paydirt.

If you’re doing Polish research, you might find these sites useful:

www.genealogiapolska.pl

www.genealodzy.pl

www.metryki.genbaza.pl

Back to the genealogical sleuthing

I’m baaaaaaaaack! Thought I’d make that announcement even though nobody noticed my absence.

Much happened during my hiatus.  We made the decision to move back to land.  After some needed repairs, we plan to sell the boat. The decision as to where to settle was not difficult.  Although we briefly considered other locations, Vero Beach, FL was always at the top of our list of places to land.  We bought and moved into our condo in June and have spent the past few months making it “home”.  We’d spent parts of several winters in the marina here and already had friends here so we are now CLODs (Cruisers Living On Dirt).

I recently joined the Indian River County Genealogical Society which is a very active group.  The membership is diverse in national heritage and covers the spectrum from highly knowledgeable pros to rank beginners.  The society also has a number of special interest groups that focus on specific nations.  My first meeting of the Polish interest group gave me the keys to treasure troves of data and information.  I’ll discuss that in a separate post.

It’s good to be back at it.