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T A T R A A R E A
R E S E A R C H
G R O U P
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© TARG All rights reserved.
Newsletter for June 2008
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Ahojte (welcome) TARG members! Here is your
TARG e-newsletter for June, 2008.
Every year I get at least one letter from someone
leaving shortly for the 'old country', wanting to discover their
roots and steadfastly believing that if "they can just get
over there" they will discover all of their ancestry back
to Adam and every facet of their family's mysterious history.
While there is a wealth of information available in Slovakia
and Poland regarding our ancestors and our family's unique histories,
just going over there unprepared for a week or two will most
assuredly not lead to the outcome they were hoping for.
For those who do their homework before they
go, the outcomes are very often more rewarding, though also certainly
not guaranteed. There is also a wealth of information here in
North America that when tapped, can lead to many clues needed
for success across the ocean. I urge you who are thinking of
going to avail yourselves of the Slovak records microfilmed by
the LDS church. There are also so many clubs, organizations,
and libraries who can help in your search on this side of the
ocean. Let us help, if we can and try to write possible relatives
over there first before you go. Chances are work on your part
here first will pay off big over there.
- Paul Bingham, TARG Founder
WEBSITES____________
1. TARG's official website: www.e-TARG.org!
2. TARG's message posting pages: www.e-targ.org/Resources/GB_archive/index.html
3. Daniel Kisha's Slovak Import Company website:
www.SlovakIC.com.)
4. Michal Razus website: www.slovak-ancestry.com.
5. List of all Tarnow Parishes: http://adt.sl.pl/index.php?option=com_zasob&task=parafie_all
YOUR LETTERS___________
---Hi Paul, We have a whole group
going to Velka Lesna, SK soon and many have Hutnik/Hutnak Roots.
One tour-goer Carol says she’s found a baptismal certificate
for a child that was born to her great grandparents Joannes Hutnik
& Sophia Csupka. They were living in Richvald (Velka Lesna)
and that was the birthplace of Sophia. It says Joannes birthplace
was “Sromecz.” I think it begins with an “S”,
but it could be an “F”. She wonders if that could be
a Polish town because Polish spelling uses lot of “CZ”s.
It’s not too long now before we travel. I looked in the
book of Slovak surnames and nothing was remotely close. Can you
help? Paul, thanks so much. I will mention your site to all our
travelers! - Helene
***Hi Helene, A good rule of thumb is to always look close by.
Our ancestors a century or more ago rarely traveled any farther
than their feet or a horse-drawn cart could carry them in a day,
unless a shipping agent sold them a ticket to America. In this
case I think "Sromecz" is referring to Sromowce, a
village named for Sromowka swamp along the Dunajec and just across
the river from Cerveny Klastor. You can see part of it from the
river rafts, and with a backdrop of Pieniny Park it is lovely!
There are two villages now: Sromowce Wyzne and Sromowce Nizne.
Flooding in 1334 divided the village into the two halves seen
today. Like nearby Velka Lesna, this was a Goral village, too.
But the old records will likely be in the Polish churches there
with copies in the central Roman Catholic archives in Krakow.
- Paul
---Dear Paul, Thank you for the information about the town of
Rzepiska. I have just recently begun researching my family from
the 'Tatras' region of what is now Poland. My father's mother
and his father's side of the family were from there. They married
in Chicago IL. I will attach a short ancestor chart with the
information that I have so far. I have also been in contact with
Karen Melis, who is the Group Administrator for the Zamagurie
Region Dual Geographic DNA Project. She is also looking into
some things for me. I have never visited there, but I would love
to go sometime. It looks very beautiful. I still have relatives
from my grandmother's side of the family (originally Trop; now
Buntova) who now live in Trnava, Slovakia. Based on ship passenger
records, I believe this family once lived in Czerna Gorna (sp?)
in early 1900's and before. I still have much to figure out!!
One problem, as you pointed out, is the many possible spellings
of the towns and family names. My family name, Vojensky, seems
to be spelled in many different ways. Any further information
that you can provide would be very helpful. Thank you, - Denise
G.
***Hi Denise, Here's my family chart showing some of the spelling
changes. This is because the nationality in the same villages
went from Slovak to Hungarian, to Austrian, to Polish, etc. The
individual villages changed names, too. I have a book I got in
Slovakia (Nazvi Obci) that lists villages and the changes to
each over the last 3 or 4 centuries. Some changed spelling or
the whole name outright half a dozen times! As you go back in
your lines, don't be surprised to extend the number of villages
to research in. People often liked to marry those from neighboring
villages, and so the circle gets bigger over the generations.
Look at my chart - it is a good example. Thanks, - Paul
--- Paul, Thank you very much for the information and links.
I was very successful in finding my relatives history in Lacko.
Your info was excellent. Thanks again, Stefan
***Hi Stefan, Here's a little more information on the Tarnow
Archives website. I would contact them - they may have records
digitally you can view.
List of all Tarnow Parishes:
http://adt.sl.pl/index.php?option=com_zasob&task=parafie_all.
List of the copies of Lacko parish records
in the Tarnow archives (I don't know if these are available digitally
or not.):
http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=pl&u=http://adt.sl.pl/&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=1&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3Ddiecezja%2Btarnow%2Barchiwum%26hl%3Den%26rlz%3D1T4SUNA_enUS257US258
(Please note: You will have to cut-and-paste this Google translation
link into a new browser window for it to work.)
- Paul
(Even more of your mail next time!)
NO MORE LDS MICROFILMING OF CATHOLIC RECORDS ???___________
While at long last the decades-old stalemate
with regard to the LDS being allowed to film records in the Czech
Republic’s government archives seems to finally be over,
a May 2008 article in the American Chronicle seems to throw cold
water on Roman Catholic records in places like Slovakia. The
Vatican Congregation for Clergy just issued a letter directing
all Catholic bishops to keep the LDS from microfilming and digitizing
information in Catholic registers.
In response Msgr. J. Terrence Fitzgerald, vicar
general of the Diocese of Salt Lake City said the order was unnecessary
because current policy already accomplishes their goals. "We
have a policy not to give out baptismal records to anyone unless
they are entitled to have them," said Msgr. Fitzgerald.
"That isn't just for the Church of the Latter-day Saints.
That is for all groups." The LDS (Mormons) are not the only
people who use the Catholic records. People of all faiths, from
all nations are interested in pursuing family history research.
The article ended by saying: “Hopefully Mormons,
Catholics, and genealogists of all faiths can unite in prayer
that those who are responsible for this decision will reconsider,
particularly as the consequences of this policy become manifest."
TATRA MOUNTAINS BOOK - PART 16____________
Chapter 7 "The White Room and the Black Room" continues:
Such houses are still to be found here and
there, especially in the villages remote from the main lines
of communication and the novelties they bring. But they are becoming
scarce.
In the western part of the Highlands, called
Orava, houses are bigger and have two stories, the rooms of the
first floor being accessible by means of a staircase and a gallery
running all along the front wall. The generous portions of the
'black room' are indicated by the old prescription that it should
be possible to turn round a cart with two hourses inside it.
Only rich gazdas, however, could afford to carry out this prescription
to the letter. The floor of the Orava 'black room' is made of
beaten clay. Orava cottages have no halls, and their 'black'
and 'white' rooms are contiguous.
In the second half of the last century (1800s)
a Polish architect Stanislaw Witkiewicz developed the so-called
Zakopane style, based on traditional Goral building art, but
somewhat more sophisticated. Most of the older and many of the
new wooden and even brick buildings in Zakopane follow this style,
though lately a whole mass of horrible outcrop of so-called 'modernity'
has done much to spoil the character of the place.
Local wooden churches, some of them two and
more centuries old, are of considerable interest. In ecclesiastic
architecture, village builders strove to imitate in wood the
stone and brick Gothic churches they had seen in towns. They
had, however, to rely on their own experience and often introduced
various features of the local style, such as steep roofs covered
with shingles and protruding beyond the walls, or carved beams
to support the rafters of the nave. No genuine local style of
the church architecture has been evolved, but the effect of the
blend is extremely characteristic and generally pleasing to the
eye. The mixture of Goral wood motives, decorated with bright
colours, with the austere granite Gothic of the main Zakopane
church is less happy. But a similar combination of wood and stone
without colours, as represented by the tourist hotel in Hala
Gasiennicowa, may be quite pleasant.
(Chapter 8 "Sudden Cross and Sorrowing
Christ" of Firsoff's 1946 book will begin in our next issue.).
CONTACTING TARG_____________________
To contact the TARG Editor, the new e-mail
address is: TatraAreaResearchGroup
gmail
. 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 address above, go ahead and use the
old address targ_nethotmail.)
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