Population Registers from Wloclawek Archives

Hello,

In the past few months, Poland’s Genealogical Society added a number of Population Registers from the Włocławek Archives onto their website. The scans are viewable on the section of the website called Poczekalnia (which translates to waiting room). The Population Registers, called Księgi Ludności, are mostly from the southeastern section of Kujawsko-Pomorskie. Specifically, from the gmina (municipalities) in the following powiat (counties): Aleksandrów Kujawski, Radziejów, and Włocławek.

The registers were prepared in Russian, with some in Polish after World War I. But that should not deter you, the records contain valuable information similar to the U.S. census records. Previously, I paid a researcher from Poland to search through these records at the Włocławek Archives (more information can be found at my post called: Sedzin Inhabitant Registers Research). At the time, the research fee was well worth the price. But, now I can search through all the available gmina at my leisure…although I can say that it’s addictive and not at all leisurely.

The Registers were formatted by the Russian Empire’s government and relatively easy to follow if you understand the column headers. Here are examples of pages header and the English translation for each column.

Population Register Header Page 1

Polskie Towarzystwo Genealogiczne. (2015). Poczekalnia. Retrieved February 8, 2015, from http://poczekalnia.genealodzy.pl

Column 1 = House # and Sequence #

Column 2 = First and Last Name (subdivided into 2 columns for Men and Women)

Column 3 = Parents Names and Mother’s Maiden Name

Column 4 = Date of Birth (Day, Month, Year) – Note: Russian records contain two dates

Column 5 = Place of Birth

Population Register Header Page 2

Polskie Towarzystwo Genealogiczne. (2015). Poczekalnia. Retrieved February 8, 2015, from http://poczekalnia.genealodzy.pl

Column 1 = Married or Single

Column 2 = Social Class

Column 3 = Religion

Column 4 = Occupation

Column 5 = Previous Residence

Column 6 = Notes

The Population Registers are immensely important and help to connect the families to the locations and Parishes where Birth, Marriage, or Death records can be found and obtained. If you can appreciate the need for the U.S. census records, then you’ll see the value in translating these records for your genealogical use.

Best Regards,

Al