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Kuyavian-Pomeranian (Kujawsko-pomorskie) Voivodeship, Poland Genealogy

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Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship

Guide to Kuyavian-Pomeranian (Kujawsko-pomorskie) Voivodeship ancestry, family history and genealogy: birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, parish registers, and military records.

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Historical Geography[edit | edit source]

  • Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship is one of the 16 voivodeships (provinces) into which Poland is now divided.
  • After the Second Partition of Poland in 1793, the whole of Kuyavia was taken by Prussia and incorporated into the South Prussia province.
  • In 1815, Kuyavia was divided between the Kingdom of Poland (Russian Poland) and the Kingdom of Prussia.
  • Inowrocław (Hohensalza) County was incorporated into the Prussian Grand Duchy of Posen. That division outlasted the 1871 unification of Germany until the end of World War I.
  • The Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship was created on 1 January 1999, as a result of the Polish local government reforms adopted in 1998. It consisted of territory from the former Bydgoszcz, Toruń and Włocławek Voivodeships.Source: Wikipedia, Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship and Kuyavia


Name Changes and Locating Records[edit | edit source]

Information icon.pngBecause of this history of changing nationality, a few records for Kuyavian-Pomeranian would be catalogued in the FamilySearch system under Posen, West Prussia, in the German Empire; and Bydgoszcz, Poland.

Maps[edit | edit source]

Kuyavian-Pomeranian (Kujawsko-pomorskie) Voivodeship Within Poland

Kujawsko-pomorskie (EE,E NN,N).png

In 1967, most of the province belonged to Bydgoszcz Voivodeship. Use Bydgoszcz Voivodeship when looking for records in the FamilySearch Catalog.
SzczecinKoszalinGdańskBydgoszczPoznańZielona GóraWrocławOpoleKatowiceKrakówRzeszówKielceLublinWarszawaLódźBiałystokOlsztynPoland 1967 map.png


Counties (Powiat) of Kuyavian-Pomeranian (Kujawsko-pomorskie) Voivodeship

Woj kujawsko-pomorskie adm.png

Civil Registration and Church Records[edit | edit source]

Almost all of the research you do will be in civil registration (government birth, marriage, and death records) and church records (baptism, confirmation, marriage, and burial records). To understand these records better study the articles: Poland Church Records and Poland Civil Registration.

1. You will find birth, marriage, and death records:
  • in online databases
  • in microfilmed records of the FamilySearch collections
  • by writing to request searches
  • from State archives where records have been deposited
  • from church archives where records have been deposited
  • from local civil registration offices
  • from local parish churches
2. To find information on town of origin for U.S. immigrants from Poland, use the Wiki article Poland Locating Town of Origin.
3. You will need to determine the both the Polish and German name of the town your Polish ancestors lived in.
  • If the town was in the area of Poland once controlled by Prussia, use Kartenmeister.
  • To see a map of the town, use mapa.szukacz. Enter the town name in the "place" field in the right sidebar and click "Show". Province, area, commune, and postal code will appear at the bottom of the right sidebar.

Finding Aids[edit | edit source]

Poland finding aids have been created by a variety of state, church, society, and private organizations. Their goal is to inform what records exist and the repositories that hold them. Each finding aid has a different focus--a particular religion or geographical area or archive or collection. Be sure to search all that apply to your ancestors. Remember that churches often produced civil registration records. The church records might have been destroyed, but copies had been sent to the government and still exist. So we search for both church records and civil registration records.

  • The PRADZIAD Database A database that comprises information on parish and civil registration registers preserved in all branches of the Polish State Archives and some Roman Catholic diocesan and archdiocesan archives. Gives location of specific records and address of archives.
  • Szukaj w Archiwach Search page for church records and civil registration at the National Archives. Links directly to scans.
  • Parafie.genealodzy.pl, Parish inventory, address list of current parishes.
  • AGOFF, an organization dedicated to finding missing records of Prussia.
  • Genealogia w Archiwach, Torun and Bydgoszcz State Archives, mostly in the Kuyavian-Pomeranian area.
  • BaSia, indexing for Greater Poland and Kuyavian-Pomeranian
  • Geneteka

Parish Register Inventories[edit | edit source]

Use these for the area which once belonged to Posen. Church record inventories are essential tools for finding German records. They identify what records should be available for a specified parish and where to write for information on these records. They list the church records, their location, and the years they cover. Sometimes inventories explain which parishes served which towns at different periods of time.

1. Online Databases[edit | edit source]

Ancestry.com[edit | edit source]

FamilySearch Historical Records[edit | edit source]

Jewish Records[edit | edit source]

Some areas of Poland were predominantly Jewish settlements.

Because churches were frequently expected to act as civil registrars, Jewish births, marriages, and deaths can appear in Catholic records.

Online Town Genealogies[edit | edit source]

Caution sign.png

Compiled genealogies and published genealogies are secondary sources, not original or primary sources.

As such, they are subject to human error through translation or transcription errors, mistaken interpretations, and opinion decisions of another researcher.

You should make every effort to base your research on the actual, original records or their digitized images.

Remember that part on the province was once in the German Epire. In German genealogy records, an Ortssippenbuch (town lineage book) or Ortsfamilienbuch (town family book) includes birth, marriage, and death data for all persons found in the local records during a specified time period, compiled into families. Sources may include the local parish registers, civil registration records, court and land records, and sometimes published material. In the printed book, this information is then arranged in a standardized format, usually alphabetically by surname and chronologically by marriage date. Family entries are identified by sequential numbers. Town genealogies are known by various names, including “town lineage book,” “local heritage book,” “one-place-studies,” “Ortssippenbuch (OSB),” and “Ortsfamilienbuch (OFB).”

In some cases, these books were written before the records were lost or damaged during the war.

A fairly large number of online OFB's are available on Genealogy.net (CompGen). Scroll down the page. The OFB's for modern Germany appear first, but after that OFB's for towns formerly in Germany, but now in Poland, are listed.

2. Microfilms and Digitized Records: The FamilySearch Catalog[edit | edit source]

Many church records have been microfilmed and can be viewed at the main FamilySearch Library in Salt Lake City, Utah. Eventually, microfilmed records will all be digitized and available online. The records you need might have been digitized now. Check back from time to time to see if they have become available.
The FamilySearch Catalog is organized by the voivodeships as they existed in 1967. There are maps on the Poland Genealogy main page comparing those jurisdictions with the modern jurisdictions. In 1967, the bulk of the Kuyavian-Pomeranian voivodeship was known as the Bydgoszcz voivodeship.
To search the catalog: To find records:

a. Click on the records of Poland, Bydgoszcz.
b. Click on Places within Poland, Bydgoszcz and a list of towns will appear.
c. Click on your town.
d. Click on the "Civil registration" or church records topic, if available. Click on the blue links to specific record titles.
c. Choose the correct record type and time period for your ancestor.
For records in German: "Geburten" are births. Heiraten are marriages. "Verstorbene" or Toten are deaths.
For records in Polish: Akta urodzeń are births. Akta chrzest are christenings/baptisms. Akta małżeństw are marriages. Akta zgonów are deaths.
f. Some combination of these icons will appear at the far right of the microfilm listed for the record. FHL icons.png. The magnifying glass indicates that the microfilm is indexed. Clicking on the magnifying glass will take you to the index. Clicking on the camera will take you to an online digital copy of the microfilm.

3. Writing for Records[edit | edit source]

Poland Letter Writing Guide[edit | edit source]

This letter writing guide will enable you to write in the Polish language to parish churches and church and government archives: Poland Letter Writing Guide. Generally, the people you wrie to will appreciate your effort to use Polish and cooperate more readily.

Civil Registration Office Address[edit | edit source]

Write to the local civil registration office for records after 1900. Records prior to 1900 will probably be in the state archives. Records in the last 100 years will have some privacy restrictions where you will have to prove your relationship and/or the death of the person the certificate reports.

1. Use mapa.szukacz.
Enter the town name in the "place" field
in the right sidebar and click "Show".

Dynow1.png

2. Find the commune

at the bottom of the right sidebar.

Dynow2.png

3. Google: urzad stanu cywilnego
with the name of the commune.

Dynow3.png

4. From the list of hits,
find the official page of the
URC (urzad stanu cywilnego).
Click on the link.

Dynow4.png

5. Find the e-mail address.

Dynow6.png

6. Use the Poland Letter Writing Guide
to write an email
requesting the record.

State Archives Addresses[edit | edit source]

  • PRADZIAD This website can be searched by location (town or parish). It will then tell you which archives hold what records for the location. On the entry for the records you want, click on "More" at the far right, and it will give you the contact information for the archive.

Church: Parish Addresses[edit | edit source]



Church Diocese Archives Addresses[edit | edit source]

See the Catholic Diocese map on the Poland Church Records page. Use The Catholic Directory, Poland to find the diocese for your town. Click on "View Full Listing" for your parish. Most of the voivodeship lies within these two dioceses:

Toruń Diocese[edit | edit source]

Achiwum of Historical Records of the Toruń Diocese
pl. Fr.. Stefan: a Wincenty Frelichowski 1
87-100 Toruń
Poland

Phone : 56 658 46 32
E-mail : archiwum_to@diecezja.torun.pl

The archive of Toruń consists of 113 archival collections, in which there are 1158 record books.

Włocławek Diocese[edit | edit source]

Archivum Diecezjalne Włocławek
ul. Gdańska 2/4
87-800 Włocławek <r>b tel: 54 231-11-12
e-mail: archiwum@diecezja.wloclawek.pl <r>b

  • Website
  • List of holdings Click on "Katalog". Click on "Akta dekanalne i parafialne". Click on "Akta parafialne". Click on "Księgi metrykalne".

Reading the Records[edit | edit source]

Word Lists[edit | edit source]

The language of the records depends on the controlling government. The parts of Poland which belonged to Prussia (Germany) used German until they were ceded back to Poland (after World War I or II). Records in parts of Poland controlled by Russia can be in either Russian or Polish.

Word-by-Word Reading Aids[edit | edit source]

How-to Guides[edit | edit source]

For areas of Poland that were once part of Russia:


Russian and Polish Transliteration Tools[edit | edit source]

Lessons[edit | edit source]

Search Strategy[edit | edit source]

For records before 1874, you will use just church records. For records from 1 October 1874 on, civil registration records will be your main source, supplemented by church records, if possible. In the eastern part, which was part of Russian Poland, civil registration is available from 1808 on. Study maps A and C on the Poland Genealogy main page to see if your town lies in this region.

  • Search for the relative or ancestor you selected. When you find his birth record, search for the births of his brothers and sisters.
  • Next, search for the marriage of his parents. The marriage record will have information that will often help you find the birth records of the parents.
  • You can estimate the ages of the parents and determine a birth year to search for their birth records.
  • Search the death registers for all known family members.
  • Repeat this process for both the father and the mother, starting with their birth records, then their siblings' births, then their parents' marriages, and so on.
  • If earlier generations (parents, grandparents, etc.) do not appear in the records, search neighboring parishes.

This website requires a paid subscription for full access. Some subscription websites are available for free at your local FamilySearch Center or Affiliate Library.

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