Straszewo Parish Marriage Record
Hello,
This post was not originally intended for the upcoming edition of 22nd Carnival of Central and Eastern European Genealogy, but it is now! I had stumbled onto a possible breakthrough concerning the marriage record of my great-great grandparents Michał Tobiasz and Rozalia Swiercz geb. Nowak. My original attempt at transliteration can be found here: Marriage of Michal Tobiasz and Rosalia Nowak
source: LDS Film – Kopie księg metrykalnych, 1808-1939 Kościół rzymsko-katolicki. Parafja Straszewo (Aleksandrów Kujawski) (Main Author) Akta małżeństw 1885-1920 – VAULT INTL Film [ 1886799 Item 4 ]
According to the marriage record, Michał Tobiasz was born in a village in Koneck around 1863. The village is listed, but I have had difficulty trying to decipher the Russian letters. My first thought was that he was born in the same parish that the marriage record was from, which was the Straszewo Parish. I have hunted through the Straszewo Parish records (Tobiasz Surname in the Straszewo Parish) and could not find any records for any Tobiasz surnames prior to this marriage record in 1885.
Then I tried again to transliterate Michał’s birth village. The village name, in Russian, is below:
My initial attempts have all lead to the thought that the beginning letter of the village name was an “O”. In Russian the letter “O” is equivalent to both letters “O” in Polish and English. So, my hatchet attempts have been the following villages: Ośniszczewo and Ośniszczewko. Both of these villages belong to the Dąbrowa Biskupia Parish. I had searched through these records and did not find any surname close to Tobiasz. After this failed attempt….I had put this record aside.
A presentaion titled: “How to decipher Cyrillic lettering” by Sigrid Pohl Perry, at last month’s Super Conference, rekindled my determination to solve this problem. I have started to look at the rest of the marriage record, scanning other words for similar letters. Hoping that I may find a better written letter.
Below is another word that starts with the letter “O”. Notice that the circle is completely closed and it has a diagonal line through its’ center. This is a Russian “O”.
In my opinion, the word below has the same beginning letter as the village name that Michał Tobiasz was born in. Notice how the circle is open and how there is a line that runs along the top left.
Here is a picture of the village name again:
I believe these two words start with the same letter. The picture below was written a bit quicker and sloppier. If I am correct than this letter is actually the Russian letter “б”, which is equivalent to the Polish and English letter “B”. Here is my new transliteration (Russian = Polish Transliteration = Polish village): безечкерж = Bezechkerzh = Biesiekierz??
According to the Słownik Geograficzny, the village of Biesiekierz belonged to the Koneck Parish. My next step is to order the appropriate Koneck Parish films to find the birth record of Michał Tobiasz………I really hope I solved this case!!
Best Regards,
Al
