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TATRA AREA RESEARCH GROUP
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© TARG All rights reserved.
Easter 2004 Newsletter
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= St'astne Vel'konocne Sviatky Tebe a Tvojej rodine! [Slovak]
= Szczesliwych Swiat Wielkanocnych dla Ciebie i Twojej rodziny! [Polish]
= Happy Easter to you and your family! [English]
And welcome to all those new to our Tatra Area Research Group!
While I've tried to get a newsletter out since late March, a whole lot of
things conspired to delay it. Can't put it together with the April issue
because that's already too big! So we'll attempt getting two issues out this
month and call this one for March the "Easter Issue"!
Two years ago at this time we had finally gotten a TARG website up and
running with all of the maps uploaded (and not much else). Last year at this
time my sons and I had just returned from a winter trip to the Tatras. My how time flies!
In just a few weeks my cousin Lucjan and his new bride Maria will be flying
from the old country to spend part of their honeymoon here in San Diego with
us. We are so looking forward to this! I realize now that if I had not taken
the opportunity to pick up our genealogy research where my late grandmother
had left off, we would have missed out on so much.
The connections are so important. Family history is not just names, dates
and dots on a map. It is about family ties -- those once lost and now found
once again. And that's one of TARG's underlying purposes: to let those of us
who have been successful share and motivate all of those who are still trying!
-- Paul K. Bingham
TARG Founder

NEW TARG AREA SATELLITE IMAGES__________
My cousin Lucjan just sent this new Polish link to GIS images (very detailed) of the Tatras and Malopolskie. He writes: "I found new interesting maps (aerial photographs) of almost all of Malopolskie Province (the Polish side of TARG). There are the full Tatra Mountains, Zakopane, etc. (A few Polish areas within TARG are not published yet.)"
The site is: http://mapy.wrotamalopolski.pl/. To navigate go to the left side where you can enter a town/village name or just click on the first letter in the name. (No small villages are listed, so look for a bigger town nearby.) Here's the link for the area near Bukowina Tatrzanska: http://mapy.wrotamalopolski.pl/Default.aspx?gmina=bukowina_tatrzanska_pd. Here's the one for the Tatra Mountains: http://mapy.wrotamalopolski.pl/Default.aspx?gmina=tatry.
Just a note: let the image load and then WAIT. It will continue making a couple of passes, slowly resolving the image to amazing detail. You can click to center the image or zoom in and out. The detail is phenomenal! Individual houses, streets, trees, etc. can be seen easily. Find your village church or relative's house! It's fun! Thanks for sharing this with us, Lucjan!

TARG VILLAGE PAGES________________
Last issue I wrote: "There are now more village webpages up on our TARG
website found at www.mytarg.net (or http://mytarg.net). If yours is NOT up
yet, let me know and I will make it a priority in my next batch." Wow, what
a batch of messages that generated! Here's a sample. If you haven't weighed
in yet, don't hesitate to do so by writing me at editor-AT-mytarg-DOT-net (in spam-
resistive form (minus "@" and ".").
1. Medzibrodie nad Oravou is my village. Looks like it is still under
construction. I have a few pictures to share. -- Scott Rains
2. Could you add Zubsuche, Poland? -- Jim Stossel
3. My ancestral village is Jakubany, Slovakia. Steve Osifchin at his website: www.tccweb.org has an historical page on Jakubany at:
http://www.tccweb.org/jakubany.htm#Village%20History that you might want to reference on your Jakubany webpage and/or use some of his data on yours. (I contacted him and he is looking forward to helping out.) I visited Jakubany
(family there), Stara Lubovna and Udol (Ujak) last August 2003 for the first
time in my life and it was one of the greatest and most productive vacations
genealogy wise I've had in my life. I brought the California weather with me
and took an American football and frisbee with me which my cousins there had
fun with. The next time I go, I hope to introduce baseball! -- Ron

YOUR LETTERS_________
---Hello Paul! Happy Spring! Just wanted to tell you when I opened the TARG webpage and saw Szczawnica's St.Wojciech's church as the featured photo
I was so honored that TARG is responsible for showing off such a beautiful
church. Thanks for sharing my grandfather's church with all of the group.
Kind regards, Pat
***Hi Pat, Yes, it is a beautiful church worthy of posting for all to enjoy.
But honestly I have yet to find anyone in TARG who doesn't love their
ancestral village church! So we'll be posting more in the future. In the
meantime, thanks for sharing this gem with us! -- Paul
---Dear Paul, Did you copy the church records of Bialka Tatrzanska,
PL during your recent visit? If so what is the cost? Regards, Stan Gawel
***Hi Stan, Thanks for your inquiry. Yes, those parish records as well as
a new regional phonebook are both available now. (The December 2003 TARG Newsletter has the full details.) In a nutshell, the parish records of
Bialka Tatrzanska covering the years 1776 to 1906, and which once
also included the villages of Brzegi, Bukowina Tatrzanska and Gron, were
photographed in high-resolution digital format (jpeg files). CDs are
available for $30 per set. The newest Nowy Sacz phonebook includes most all
of the Polish towns and villages within TARG's sphere (and many outside as
well). Done in the same format, CDs are available for $23. Checks made out
to "TARG" can be sent to P.O. Box 3533, Escondido, CA 92033. -- Paul
---Hi Paul, I finally received information from Poland concerning my
grandfather's mother, Rozalia Bryjak. She was born in Dlugopole in 1864 and lived there all her life, her parents were Józef Bryjak "Gabrys" and Katarzyna Jakubiec. Her first marriage was to my great-grandfather Jacob Rol, her second marriage was to Józef Kowalkowski "Pancocyn" (I was told that "Gabrys" and "Pancocyn" are ancestral nicknames of the families Bryjak and Kowalkowski in Dlugopole). Many members of the Bryjak and Rol(l) families immigrated to the US, most of them to Chicago, where my father was born also. My great-grandmother died in 1954 and was buried at the Ludzmierz parish cemetery, she was almost 90 years old. I would love to see pictures of the villages of Dlugopole and Ludzmierz, if available, and I´m interested in any
information on the names Bryjak, Jakubiec, and Rol(l) from this area. Many
regards, - Ute Schoenwetter
***Thanks, Ute. So wonderful you have found so much information. I will
include your message in the next newsletter in case someone else has added
info to share. - Paul
---Hi Paul, Sent you some e-mails - no reply and wonder if I have the wrong
address: pkbingham@allmail.net. Your web page is great! Hope you will put us
on your contact page. -- Helene B. Cincebeaux
***Hi Helene! Wow, the allmail.net address is an old one! Please use
editor-AT-mytarg-DOT-net (in spam-resistive form (minus "@" and ".") from now on, if you will. I have a link to your site on our "Trips" page. Also see special "2004 TOUR" note below. - Paul
---Hi Paul, Thanks for putting my message into the Feb newsletter about Prof. Best's book...and, could you forward on this message to Lynn Summers, who wrote in the January issue that she was looking for info on relatives coming
from Biala Voda. I can help her some. Eileen Zinchiak
***Thank you, Eileen. I will include this so she and anyone else who might have ancestry there knows you are the one to ask! -- Paul
---Hi Paul, I was a little slow in placing my order last year and missed out on getting a copy of the Slovak-Polish Tatras Guide. If they come back "in stock", I would certainly be interested. Thanks -- Dan Zelonka
***Hi Dan, Sorry I ran out of them before you were ready to order. Truth is, I did not find very many copies of these left when I was over there. That's probably because they are so popular and I was there at the end of the tourist season. It is a good new guide and as you know, I recommend it often, especially to new TARG members. But I will probably not be bringing any more back with me on future trips. The reason is the book is big -- and by the time I lug each of them around, ship them home and then mail them to TARG members I'm selling each copy at cost compared to other vendors who offer it for sale already here in the US. So I recommend getting it elsewhere. One very good place to order it is from a fellow TARG member, Daniel Kisha. See if he has any in stock by visiting his website at:
http://www.stores.ebay.com/slovakimportcompany. Hope that helps! -- Paul
---Dear Mr. Bingham, I would like to be added to the mailing list for the monthly TARG e-Newsletter. My brother David has listed the known family links in guest book message #111, and so I will not repeat them here. I am, however, anxious to read the next newsletter as soon as it's available. Thank you, Terrence Asplund
***Hi Terry, I'm adding your address to our TARG mailing list. -- Paul
---Hi Paul, Thanks for yet another great info filled newsletter. I have the history (translated into English) of Lubicke Kupele, SK. Would you like me to mail it to you for the website? Best wishes, Noreen Hasior
***Hi Norren, Thank you for the offer -- we would love the Lubicke Kupele history! --Paul
---Paul; Are the monthly TARG newsletters still being sent? I haven't received one in several months and wonder if the spam filters I am using are blocking these messages. Regards, Florian Simala
***Hi Florian, Yes, they have been sent out every month, including Jan & Feb 2004. So if you aren't receiving them it is possible your spam filters are in fact doing too much filtering. I have experienced this problem myself which is ultimately one reason why I changed internet service providers. But not to worry: all of the e-newsletters you missed can be found on the www.mytarg.net website. (I try and post those a day or so after they all get mailed out.) All issues through the February 2004 issue will be there for you now. You might want to make sure that your spam filters don't eliminate mail from binghams-AT-sbcglbal-DOT-net which is the address used to send them from. Another address you won't want to filter is editor-AT-mytarg-DOT-net. -- Paul
---Hi Paul, Thought I would share this with the group: Per the LDS Mormon library in Salt Lake City, UT: "The Roman Catholic records available from the Family History Library for LipnicaWielka are for those located northeast of Nowy Sacz and west of Gorlice (not in TARG). There is also a Lipnica Wielka located just a few kilometers from the Slovak border above the Orava Lake west of Nowy Targ (the TARG village). We do not have records for this parish." -- Zelda Tomlinson
***Hi Zelda, I will pass this along. However unfortunate, this is factual. Lipnica Wielka, PL was Velka Lipnica, SK until 1920 when the border changed. The parish records are still in the parish church, not in a Polish archive. There are what are called the "Second Writings" in the Roman Catholic archives in Spisska Kapitula, SK covering up to around 1900. They are in bound volumes by year under the Slovak name "Velka Lipnica".
---Hi Paul, I hope all is well with you and your family. I continue to work on my family research and intend to go with Helene and Jozef this summer--to make up for the trip I missed last summer because of illness. Incidentally I do feel much better. As in the past I would be glad to help out with any inquiries you receive for Krempachy and Nowa Biala. All my best. -- Paul Hadzima
***Hi Paul, So wonderful to hear from you. We dearly missed you on last summer's Goral Tour when you had to cancel at the last minute. Glad you're up to going back! Thanks for all you do for TARG and the folks in the old country. Thanks for continuing to offer help to those from Krempachy and Nowa Biala. I will pass the word on to our members! -- Paul
---Paul, I've read several of your messages on various message centers, searching info on the name Soltis. My grandfather was Sebastian Soltis, born on 10/30/1880 in Cierna Hora, Austria. I believe he had one sister named Regina. His parents were Martin Soltis and Anna Vatslav. Martin was born in Cierna Hora in 1836 and Anna in 1850.Wondering if you came across any information while searching for your g-g-gdmother Zophia? Also you refer to Jurgov's St. Sebastian Church. My grandma Anna Sziszko's baptismal certificate indicates a **d St. Sebastianim~Martyrem in Diocese Sicprisirnsi located in Szepesgyorke=Jurgov. I assume this is the church you are referring to, but I can't find any more info on it. The polish yellow pages indicates a St. Sebastiana in Niedzwiedz. Any additional info that you have on St. Sebastian Church in Jurgov would greatly be appreciated. Thanks, Dave Asplund
***Hello David, I'm going to respond to this in more detail our next e-newsletter, if you don't mind. But quickly, Cierna Hora was a Slovakian village under the Austrian-Hungarian Empire for many years. After WWI and the end of the empire, it was turned over in 1920 to Poland in a change in the border. Since then it has been just inside Poland and known as Czarna Gora -- the equivalent of Cierna Hora in Slovak. They both mean "black mountain", a reference to the hill on which the village finds itself. Lower Czarna Gora was part of the Jurgov parish where I also have ancestry -- including a Soltis line which in Polish is now spelled "Soltys". "Szepesyorke" was the Hungarian name for Jurgov, indicating it was part of old Szepes (or in Slovak: Spis^) County. There are lots of parish churches named after St. Sebastian. The one in Jurgow, PL is the one you are looking for. For some pictures of Jurgow and it's surroundings see my cousin's website at: http://www.izoo.krakow.pl/~lsoltys/zdjecia/. Another website that actually has a photo of the St. Sebastian church is http://www.podhale.net.pl/blokada/region.htm. Just click on "Jurgow". -- Paul

SLOVAKIA NOW IN NATO_________
Seven former communist eastern European countries were recently welcomed as new members of NATO. During a ceremony in Washington D.C., the joining of Bulgaria, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Romania, SLOVAKIA and Slovenia as "full and equal partners" was recognized. It is the biggest expansion in the history of NATO, created in 1949 to defend western Europe against the Soviet Union. NATO now has 26 members.

2004 TOUR___________
For all of those wishing there was a Goral Tour this summer, I share this:
Many TARG folks have enjoyed Helene B. Cincebeaux's "Three-Countries Tour" (visiting Slovakia, Poland, and Ukraine). For 2004 this one is from Mon., Aug. 2 - Thurs., Aug. 12. There are two nights in Zdiar, SK (on the Polish border) and three nights in Zakopane, PL not too far away and both in the heart of our TARG study area! Many have elected to stay in the region for
the last three days while the tour bus goes on to the Ukraine. They then
travel by bus or train and all meet at the airport in Kosice, SK for the
flight home. Specifics can be found at:
http://helenezx.homestead.com/threecountry04.html

CONTACTING TARG_____________________
To contact the TARG Editor, the new e-mail address is: editor-AT-mytarg-DOT-net (in spam-resistive form (minus "@" and "."). Our "snail" mailing address is still TARG, P.O. Box 3533, Escondido, CA 92033. use it for sending in orders or photos and anything else you want to share with the group. (If for some reason you are unable to contact us
at the new editor-AT-mytarg-DOT-net e-mail address (in spam-resistive form (minus "@" and "."), go ahead and use the old address. It is still: TARG_NET-AT-hotmail-DOT-net (in spam-resistive form (minus "@" and ".").
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