Ahhh, Catholic Parish Records in Kashubia
Hello,
In between writing my capstone (thesis) paper, work, family, and everyday life, I have been searching through multiple Kaszubian Parish records for my Eckendorf ancestors. If you like puzzles, these records are definitely for you! The records that I am searching through are the Sulęczyno, Stężyca, Parchowo, and minimally through Lipusz Parishes.
First, what I know of my Eckendorf ancestry and its bearing on their original location in Kaszubia:
1) Franciszek, Jozefina (geb. Kreft), Augustyna, Jan, Piotr, and Juliusz arrived in America on the passenger ship Gutenberg, January 8, 1866. The ship manifest states that they originated from Kartuzy, Prussia.
2) The FHC Kitowski Collection microfilm, Jozefina Eckendorf was born in the Stężyca Parish.
3) Previous family research indicates that Franciszek and Jozefina were married in the Parchowo Parish and baptised their children in the Sulęczyno Parish.
4) the PTG index lists the marriage of Franciszek and Jozefina in the Sulęczyno Parish in 1848.
Where to start???? I started with the Sulęczyno Parish records, trying to find Franciszek and Jozefina’s children. I found all of them in this parish (more to come on another post). I did not find the marriage record of Franciszek and Jozefina in the Sulęczyno Parish as indicated on the PTG index… I did find the record in the Parchowo Parish!!
So, I had found Franciszek and Jozefina’s marriage record (Parchowo Parish) and the baptisms of their children (Sulęczyno Parish). At this point, I started to work my way back through the Sulęczyno Parish records….looking for Franciszek’s baptism (all U.S. records list his birth in 1827). I found two Eckendorf men baptizing children in the parish during the 1810’s, they were Adam and Paweł. The latter had baptized a son named Franciszek in 1817, was this where my Franciszek errored? Did he list his birth wrongly by 10 years? Ahh…..parish record questions…….
So, I went back to the Parchowo Parish records, maybe Franciszek’s baptism occurred here. Sadly, I did not find the record but I did find the marriage record of Paweł Eckendorf and Krzysztyna Berna in 1810. At this point I decided to switch gears and search the Stężyca Parish records….could Franciszek’s birth record be there?
Sadly again, I did not find the baptism of Franciszek. I did find the Eckendorf information that I needed…..Although, the previously stated Adam Eckendorf and his wife, were baptizing children in the Stężyca Parish. I also, found another Franciszek Eckendorf who was baptizing children during the 1820’s.
Then, I started to search the Lipusz Parish for a possible Eckendorf record…with no luck. Now I went back to the PTG index and searched the death records for soundex results for the Eckendorf surname. Guess what I found? Death records for the Eckendorf family in the Stężyca Parish. After, I had ultized the index to locate the death record within the films. The death records were for children of Adam Eckendorf and his wife Katarzyna Klas.
What are my next steps? I am going to search the Stęzyca baptisms for all Eckendorf baptisms, as this may shed some light on the Eckendorf family from Sulęzyno-Parchowo-Stężyca Parishes. Wow, talk about parish jumping….lol!!
Best Regards,
Al
