BellaOnline Forums Travel and Culture Polish Culture Help finding distant cousins in Warsaw

I have been told that I have one or two cousins, on my mothers side, who are now, or were, doctors in or around Warsaw, Poland. I need help in finding them. The last name is Roszkowski, and would be up in age. My grandfather Michael Roszkowski, came from a area around Bialystok, and would have left around the 1900 time frame. If you know how I can find them, or if you know them, I would like to reach them.

There are many genealogy sites on the web and many groups both local and national that specialize in Polish genealogy. But be prepared to do some digging and perhaps even traveling.

Sources:

Polish Roots is one place to start: http://www.polishroots.org/

You might enjoy seeing what the Polish Geanolgy Society of CT and the Northeast have to offer:
http://www.pgsctne.org/

There is also a general genealogy area that is very good on About.com

You don't say where you are located, but if you can hook up with a relatively local society in your area, you might find that members are very pleasant and helpful, but you need to do the work <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />



Good luck!

I am sure Nancy will chime in soon here and offer some help but you should check out the Polish Culture site at http://culture.polishsite.us/ (written by our own Jaga and Nancy) for tips and help.

Search for microfilm of Polish Parishes in the area. My family was from the Augustow region, about 80 miles or so north or so of Bialystok and I found the family records at the Church in Janowka. Of course, that portion of the country, your records are most likely to be in Russian language, since the Russians forbad the use of Polish language in official documents from 1868 to the end of the First World War. The aforementioned genealogical sites, as well as Mormon Family Research centers, and even a main library in your area may have lists of microfilms that are available for renting at a minimal price. Good luck, I did it with far less then what you have!

Roszkowski family of doctors is very-well known in Warszawa. Prof. Roszkowski was heading one of the obstetrics clinix here, I think his son is a ginecologist-obstetrician too. Unfortunetely I don't remember their Christian names. Nonetheless that should be easy to find out. On the other hand 'Roszkowski' is moderately popular name in Poland and there might be several other doctors Roszkowski in Warszawa. You can ask Naczelna Izba Lekarzy (Main organization of M.D.'s in Poland) for help http://www.oil.org.pl/xml/index

Good luck!


Good luck!

Everyone here has given you good advice. I would add that you must start with the people you know - your grandfather - and work backwards to pinpoint the exact place he came from in Poland, so you are sure you have the correct family. (Especially since Adam has mentioned that the surname is relatively common.) Then, you can work forwards from that to trace the family and locate the cousins in Warsaw.

As Garden Moma mentioned there are several local genealogy groups - and a number of online ones, as well, all full of very helpful people. I have a few links listed at http://nancy.polishsite.us/Genlinks.html as well as some articles about my own research - http://nancy.polishsite.us/Gen1.html

And if it happens that you want to go all out and have someone in Warsaw telphone around for you, I can suggest a couple of researchers that might be able to help.

Best of luck to you!

Nancy

My sister recently found my dad and moms wedding certificate and it states he was from Kracow. Yet when I did a search on that name and his mothers last name both came up "zero". I would think there would have to be at least one relative there.

To all,

I want all to know, on my last visit to Poland, I did get to find and know, many of my family on my mothers side, and yes there are some doctors on that side, and all are great people. I now have a cousin, from Warsaw area, who will be coming into my home for a visit, of three weeks, in the end of July, and if any of you have any ideas how I make this a great visit for her, please let me know.
Remeber, Poland is a great place, and if you ever wanted to go, do it now, well you can enjoy it all, you will be happy you did, and will, like me, want to keep going year after year.
P.S. I am still searching for information on the Dabrowski's side, so if you have any information that can help, please send it off to me, and Thank you all.

This is wonderful news, valpomike! Congratulations - your hard work has paid off. Have you tried searching in ancestry.com?

I would love to visit Poland. From pictures I have seen it definitely is a beautiful place.

I have no luck with ancestry.com, if I had the answers to there questions, I would not need them.