Poznan Travel Forum

I am going to Poland (Warsaw)soon to try to trace my Polish roots. The Family name is Bialynski.
I recently discovered that my grandfather was born in the Pozan area, in a place called CISZKOW.
I know that in 1990 there were around 26 people of that name in Poznan. Can anyone tell me how I can go about finding them?
If only one of them turns out to be family I would be so happy!

Thanks for any help or tips in my quest.

Hi.

May-be try to go to local churches, maybe there are registrered names in archives. Or visit town hall,...

Good luck!

:)) check the Poznan telephonebook ;) I am sure you will find some people of that name ;) I think they should have the WOJEWODZTWO WIELKOPOLSKIE phonebook at the main post office in Warsaw (Swietokrzyska str.) ;) just it would be a strange thing for them if you called them just out of the blue and said they might be your relatives ;))

anyway, good luck, it is a rare and very nice thing that someone would go to find his/ her roots :) I'll keep my fingers crossed,

regards:
ag.

Thanks for your help and advice. I will certainly try the post office in Warsaw.

You are right about the shock factor - especially as I don't speak Polish! Will the telephone book give addresses? It would be better to write in the first instance. I can at least get letters translated into Polish, and also any replies.

Blood and roots are powerful - eventually there comes a time in life when you can't resist the pull. Besides I have always been very proud of my Polish blood! The trigger was the 60th anniversary of the Warsaw Uprising (in which my grandmother was killed) and the launching of the Uprising web site.

I know precious little, but there is much to find. More importantly, there is much to tell. I may not be able to tell the world, but at least I can tell my children and grandchildren!

Thanks for taking the time to reply. I will, of course, visit Churches and Archives to trace any Polish ancestors, but I think the tip from another VP member about visiting the main Post Office in Warsaw and looking in the Poznan phone book is a better tip for finding (possible) living relatives.

Thanks again

Polish phone books do not give house numbers. Also many subscribers have unlisted numbers.
I resume you searched Bial~yn~ski on herby.com, which has the 1990 census data. The latest census data is available only on CD, but it is more detailed: eg by powaiat (county) not wojewo~dstwo (province). Try posting your question on the Polish Genealogy Forum:
http://genforum.genealogy.com/cgi-bin/last7days.cgi?poland
Ciszkowo (not Ciszkow) is in powiat Czarnkowsko-Trzcianecki. For info:
http://www.czarnkowsko-trzcianecki.pl/index.php?newlang=eng
It is in Gmina Czarnko~w:
http://www.gminy.pl/BmbGCgi.exe/dats?woj..=15&pow=326&gmn=2218&idf=2218&lang=pl&comm=map
Try sending an email with your question to the gmina council, this is often successful:
Urząd Gminy ul. Rybaki 3, 64-700 Czarnków
Telefon: (4867) 2552227 Faks: 2553079 NIP: 763-10-02-845
E-mail: Czarnkow_UG@wokiss.pl

This is one that you have to keep us posted on! I'm very interested in the outcome of your search. When you get back, be sure to post about your experiences.

Best of luck!

Thanks a million for all your extremely useful information, which I will certainly follow up.

You are 100% correct about my search that gave me the 1990 census results!

I will keep everyone posted on my quest!

Muriel

Following a tip from a VT member to post my question the the Gencom site, I got some results. The most interesting was that we have found someone called Marek Bialynski in Poznan. Another VT friend called him on my behalf the other evening. An interesting item came out of that call. Marek Bialynski originally came from Wronki, which is about 20K from Ciszkowo. So now I'm hunting for Bialynskis in Wronki - Any ideas for this search?
We have arranged to we call him ourselves when we arrive in Warsaw. If the outcome of that call sounds promising we may go and visit him.
Also, I passed the address (less house number, which wasn't available) to my cousin, who has already written him a letter. It will be interesting to see if this ever gets delivered!