Search of relatives in Poland

The new technologies and the help of specialized researches have recently made search of relatives in Poland possible and effective. A lot of Poles emigrated from their homeland through the countries, especially in the last one hundred and fifty years. Many of them settled in North America and Australia. The vast number of families then lost contact with each other, as it was impossible to communicate during the wars that took place in Europe. Later it was very hard to get in touch when Poland was behind the iron curtain. It is still possible though to recover the historical relations. Those who already decided to proceed with their genealogy adventure in Poland had a unique opportunity to see the family locations, read old documents and even meet with their relatives.

What is the first step if you are thinking about exploring your genealogy and your ancestors came from Poland? You need to collect all of the documents regarding the first generation that emigrated. The most helpful are Ship Manifests, Petitions for Naturalization, Oaths of Allegiance etc. Even if no official documents survived, other, like letters, memories, diaries might be valuable for the researcher as well. It is always a good idea to contact the eldest members of the family and write down what they remember about the previous generations. Doing it you should concentrate of the names and people they relate to the Polish heritage.

Once you are in touch with the professional researcher and the first step for your genealogy in Poland is completed, the genealogist will definitely require some time to contact the local archives. Then, he should search the databases and estimate the cost of the research before giving you a concrete price. The researcher should remain in a constant contact with you while doing the investigation. After all you shall be given a full report of your genealogy in Poland.

The report ought to include copies of any documents that the researcher managed to find, list of the identified locations related to your family, contacts to the people and a summary of the works than have been done. Sometimes additional costs appear when your genealogical research is proceeded, e.g. a detailed translation of the documents is required. In such case you should always confirm it. As a conclusion, it is definitely worth trying to get back to your roots and trace the family heritage in Poland. So, an assistance of a professional genealogist will be extremely helpful.