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From: Meredith Hoffman / GenerationsWeb <>
Subject: Re: [TGF] Polish Research
Date: Wed, 4 Apr 2012 19:22:06 -0400
References: <CAE45C4tBeFHhpQzFppJ=mUWqeH8+qqz5Lty_ayUGquR6FyDdzg@mail.gmail.com>
In-Reply-To: <CAE45C4tBeFHhpQzFppJ=mUWqeH8+qqz5Lty_ayUGquR6FyDdzg@mail.gmail.com>


Hello Patti,

I don't have a lot of time to search more deeply, but I wanted to suggest some directions you could go for more information, in case you haven't already followed these leads.

When I do a search in the JewishGen Town Finder (http://www.jewishgen.org/Communities/Search.asp) for Natalia/Natala (sounds like), in Poland, nothing comes up.

The Town Finder only locates towns with known Jewish populations (although I've found Jewish people in small towns that aren't in the Town Finder).

When I can't find a locality in the Town Finder, I do two things: I check the nearest neighboring town I know of and look to see if I can recognize any towns in the nearby towns list that might be alternative spellings for the town. And I check the JewishGen Gazetteer, which searches for all town, regardless of Jewish population.

So I did a Town Finder search for Turecki in Poland, and got Turek, Poland, which was in the province of Kalisz in the Russian Empire when this man would have immigrated in 1906. And yes, apparently there were Jews there then.
http://data.jewishgen.org/wconnect/wc.dll?jg~jgsys~jgcd

When you click on the tiny JewishGen icon to the left of the town name in the match list, you get to the JewishGen town page for Turek, Poland:
http://data.jewishgen.org/wconnect/wc.dll?jg~jgsys~community~-533571

Looking through the list of Nearby Jewish Communities, I don't find anything that resembles Natala/Natalia. So that first attempt didn't pan out, this time.

So then I go to the Gazetteer, which searches for any town, regardless of Jewish population (http://www.jewishgen.org/Communities/LocTown.asp). Searching for Natala in Poland and specifying to show the distance from Kalisz (rather than from the capital city), and using Sounds Like, there are two towns names Natalia, one 32 mi NNE of Kalisz and one 151 mi E of Kalisz:
http://data.jewishgen.org/wconnect/wc.dll?jg~jgsys~gazetteer

Assuming that the one you want is the one closer to Kalisz, then click on the radio button in the right column (labeled "10 mile radius"), and you get a long list of towns with their distances from Kalisz:
http://data.jewishgen.org/wconnect/wc.dll?jg~jgsys~gazetteer_radius~10~MILES~52~08~18~30~~

One of the town in this list is Turek, which is 8.1 mi S of this Natalia.

So, having likely determined that Turek is in the near vicinity, if you can't find records directly for Natalia, I'd start exploring the records for Turek.

So, going back to the JewishGen page for Turek, I'd go down to the very bottom right side of the page, where there is a link to the Jewish Records Indexing Poland town page.

When you click the link to the town page, the Turek town page (http://www.jewishgen.org/jri-pl/town/turek.htm) comes up; you find that there are only a few Jewish records listed (so far) for the town, but you also find that there's a volunteer JewishGen Town Leader for Turek, who is also the coordinator for the Poznan Archive Project. If you click on her name, you'll get a mail-to link in your mail program; she is probably the most valuable English-speaking person you can connect with who might be able to help you sort out where your Natalia records may be found.

I hope I didn't just repeat a bunch of steps that you've already gone through, and that perhaps the gal who's the Town Leader for Turek can help you out.

--Meredith

Meredith Hoffman, M.A. Linguistics
Professional Genealogy Researcher
GenerationsWeb / Plymouth, MA

JGSGB Publicity Chair
NERGC 2011 / 2013 Syllabus Chair
APG profile: http://tinyurl.com/genweb-apg
Co-editor JewishGen Success! Stories: www.jewishgen.org/jewishgen/testimonials
GenWeb blog: http://consultant.generationsweb.com

On Apr 4, 2012, at 5:18 PM, Patricia Hobbs wrote:

> Hello:
>
> I am trying to help a patron at our library and have not been able to zero
> in on the resources well enough to feel confident that the records he might
> use are or are not available through the FHL.
>
> His father immigrated as a baby in 1906 from the town of Natalia in Poland.
> The patron further gave me directions by telling me other town names
> around, so I feel confident that I have found the correct Natalia.
>
> Natlia is part of the Wladyslawow municipality of Turecki which is in the
> province of Wielkopolskie (these are all interpretations I've made by
> comparing maps). Another source I've seen says that civil records did not
> begin until after the time his family was there. So I think that we need to
> look at the Catholic records. But again, I've read that there was a Jewish
> population in Turecki, and so perhaps RC was not such a universal religion
> for the area.
>
> Anyway, when I look at what is available on the FHL catalog, none of the
> sub entities for Poland look like any of the places we're looking for. But
> that could just be because of the limitations of my understanding of how
> the jurisdictions work together. I found one website that seemed to
> indicate that Natalia would be part of the Kalisz/kaliska diocese. I can't
> find that website again, so I'm not sure.
>
> Thanks for any help.
>
> Patti
> The Transitional Genealogists List was created to provide a supportive environment for genealogists to learn best practices as they transition to professional level work. Please respect the kind intentions of this list.
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