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Poznan Marriage Indexing ProjectBy Lukasz Bielecki |
Our database presently contains 966,358 marriages to search!
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NEW: Catholic: Wylatowo [Mogilno distr.]; Grabienice [Konin distr.] Lutheran: none Civil: Kawczyn [Kościan distr.]; Borek [Koźmin distr.]; Karna, Belęcin [Babimost distr.] | |||||
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EXTENDED: Catholic: Jeziorsko [Turek distr.]; Opalenica [Grodzisk distr.]; Kościan; Słupy [Szubin distr.]; Dąbrówka [Międzyrzecz distr.]; Wieleń; Nowe Miasto, Witaszyce, Brzostków, Żerków, Góra, Kolniczki, Kotlin [Jarocin distr.]; Lubotyń [Koło distr.]; Gniezno-Holy Trinity Goniębice [Leszno distr.]; Szczury [Ostrów distr.]; Prochy [Śmigiel distr.]; Czerniejewo [Witkowo distr.]; Mieleszyn [Wieluń distr.]; Kucharki [Pleszew distr.]; Wilczyn [Słupca distr.] Lutheran: Lipiagóra/Lindenwerder, Szamocin/Samotschin [Chodzież/Kolmar distr.]; Łabiszyn/Labischin [Szubin/Schubin distr.]; Śmigiel/Schmiegel; Połajewo/Gueldenau [Oborniki/Obornik distr.]; Środa/Schroda Civil: Pszczew [Międzyrzecz distr.] | |||||
| About the database | Help on search | Search the database | Success stories | How to support the Project |
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The Poznań Project was primarily conceived as a way to resolve a problem common to many genealogists
researching this area: the 19th century records rarely provide the precise location of origin for
people who left the Poznań/Posen province to settle in America, Australia or elsewhere.
Instead, the short label "Posen" is usually all that is provided. As this name actually indicates
the city of Poznań (being the capital of the Province of the same name, both in the 19th century,
when it belonged to Prussia, and now - within the Republic of Poland), scores of researchers have
spent needless time and resources searching for their ancestors within the parishes of the
Poznań/Posen City. Predictably, few succeeded. The reality is that their ancestors could have originated
anywhere within that region which included around
2 million residents as of 1900.
To overcome this problem we hope to eventually make sufficient marriage records available on-line for all the parishes of the region, thus providing the information needed for researchers to pinpoint and order the appropriate microfilm(s). The period between 1835-1884 was initially chosen for practical reasons, corresponding to the period of greatest emigration (later, the timeframe was extended to 1800-1899 but the original range is still used for the statistics). The sheer volume of microfilmed records makes it impractical for one individual to search the records of the entire area. Our approach is for many people to split the effort, volunteering to transcribe one or two parishes per person. This undertaking was initiated some time ago and we estimate that we have currently accumulated ca. 75 per cent of the region's 1835-1884 marriage records (it is estimated that 700,000 marriages were probably contracted in the Poznan Province in that period, and roughly 100,000 of them might be no more available due to the records' loss in wars etc. Ca. 550,000 marriages could probably be found on the LDS microfilms and the remaining 50,000 would have to be extracted from the original records, mostly held locally in Poland, which have not (yet) been microfilmed. A growing number of researchers have already benefited from this project. Their success stories can be read here!
Using the database is free of charge. Still, if you find the project useful and its development worth your voluntary donation, please support us.
We also need further data to add to the project. If you research a parish from this area, please contact us and just make a little more effort to index its marriages for the benefit of your fellow genealogists (download the example Excel file or if you don't have MS Excel, then please use the MS Works format or MS Word format). Maybe one day someone will find your ancestors in a place you would never think of? Here you find more on how to join the volunteers' team.