PolishOrigins

17/01/2025

Many of our genealogy and private tour guests extend their visit to Poland by joining group history and cultural tours. They want to deepen their understanding of their ancestors' homeland and its history. For years, we have offered three tours through each of the 19th century partitioned parts of Poland: the Galicia Tour, the Kingdom of Poland Tour, and the Prussian Poland Tour.

Last year, we introduced a new group tour: the North-South Poland Tour. This journey begins in Warsaw, Poland’s vibrant capital, then takes you to the seaside charm of Gdańsk, the stunning Teutonic Castle in Malbork, the medieval town of Toruń (home of Copernicus), and through Częstochowa, before ending in Kraków, Poland's historic former capital.

Learn more about the tour here: https://polishorigins.com/north-south/ and join us either in May or September 2025!

See also a video about the tour: https://youtu.be/EHOYvTXph4Y

Uncover authentic Central and Eastern Europe with po.toursOur group tours:North-South Poland Tour: https://polishorigins.com/north-south-poland-tour/Kingdom ...

16/01/2025

Family of 14 travelling to their ancestors' places in Poland. See it here: https://polishorigins.com/blog/cousins-poland-trip-2024/ 😀

24/12/2024

We wish you a wonderful Christmas filled with peace, joy, and love. May this season bring happiness to your home and blessings to your family. May the New Year bring health, success, and prosperity. Wesołych Świąt (Merry Christmas) and a Szczęśliwego Nowego Roku (Happy New Year) from the country of your ancestors!

04/11/2024

"As the 2024 season draws to a close, we’re excited to share the highlights from a year filled with discovery, connection, and heartfelt moments. Together, we’ve uncovered hidden histories, forged emotional connections, and created memories that will last a lifetime.
When the touring season concludes in two weeks with our last guests coming back home, we will have:

- 301 days spent on the road, exploring Poland and uncovering its hidden gems,
- Covered over 54,000 kilometers (33,555 miles) across the country, from the Carpathian mountains in the south to the Baltic coast in the north
- We welcomed more than 120 guests, all of whom experienced their own unique, customized tours with guides and genealogists dedicated just to them
- We also received an outstanding 9.89 score out of 10, reflecting our commitment to excellence in service and guest satisfaction!"

Read more on https://polishorigins.com/blog/2024-season-summary/

Watch our recent Polish Genealogical Society of America webinar on our channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncGDrOlmJo4

01/08/2024

A Heritage Tour of Three Generations.

"We did not have a specific address so our guide Lucjan suggested we stop and ask at a convenience store if anyone knew of a Slawinska family. To him this was a logical professional move. To us it was more like following a detective trying to track a criminal.

While the store clerk was not able to help, we stumbled upon a nice looking, fit older woman outside the rough-looking store who said she knew of a family that might have had a family connection with the Slawinska’s and could be related. We volunteered to drive her to her home a couple miles away. Like amateur detectives ourselves, we deduced this was how she kept in shape, walking up and down these hills these steep hills would be tough for any of us.



No one seemed to be home at the possible family house but a next-door neighbor took our email address and promised to pass on our interest. We had made a loose connection but could not be sure if our detective work would pay off. Now, we began to realize this could be a slow process and may turn up as a dead end. On the other hand, luck might be on our side and practically everyone we met seemed eager to help. (...)"

Read the whole series of blogs by Paul:

  Our first day of relatives hunting began today. A combination of detective work and history. It was Tuesday and …

13/06/2024

https://polishorigins.com/blog/his-initial-attitude-was-openly-negative/

"One more thing happened on this trip. My husband only went because of his loving support for me. He thought it would be boring, etc. and his initial attitude was openly negative. He was so happily surprised by the welcoming attitude of the Poles we met (and loved the food!) everywhere, and in the expertise shown by Daniel and Zbigniew when we traveled with them. When we were back in Krakow on our own, a day trip I’d arranged myself got messed up by the operator, and he said, “If Polish Origins had set this up, this would not have happened!” I just smiled at the change in his attitude! (...)"

Read full story by our guest Bonnie on our blog: https://polishorigins.com/blog/his-initial-attitude-was-openly-negative/

20/05/2024

The tour season is in full swing 🌞.

Below there is a post by a mayor of Kamień Krajeński where our guests visited with our guide Zbigniew.

The mayor Natalia Marciniek invites you more often if only your ancestors are from Kamien Krajenski or the area😀.

Dzisiaj w Kamieniu Krajeńskim gościliśmy Pana Rene Kempfa - Amerykanina, który przyleciał do Kamienia ze stanu Pensylwania w USA. Ojciec pana Rene urodził się w Kamieniu. To było miłe a nawet wzruszające spotkanie 😊 Kamień Krajeński będzie zawsze otwarty i przyjazny dla każdego! Cieszę się, że mogłam trochę opowiedzieć o naszej gminie 😊 Zapraszamy do nas częściej 💙

01/02/2024

Experience Poland in 2024

On February 13th you will have the opportunity to watch, listen and ask questions about our tours in this free webinar organized by the Polish Genealogical Society of America and led by our most experienced tour manager, Aleksander Zawilski.

We invite you to join using this direct link to the webinar: https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/7297654822195846489

See also our most recent newsletter: https://polishorigins.com/blog/experience-poland-in-2024/

(From our recent newsletter) The energy of our team is now directed towards the upcoming 2024 tour season. As always …

21/12/2023

Wesołych Świąt Bożego Narodzenia!

Merry Christmas from Poland!

(If you are interested what happened in PolishOrigins in 2023 and what we plan for 2024 see the newsletter we just sent out: https://polishorigins.com/blog/2023-and-2024/ )

11/09/2023

If you are not subscribed to our newsletter (https://polishorigins.com/newsletter-sign-up/), here you can read full text of it: https://polishorigins.com/blog/peasants-life/

(...)For me, the two most important, credible, and interesting ways to better understand the lives of our peasant ancestors were these two books:
“The Peasants” (“Chłopi” in Polish original) by Władysław Reymont, and
“From Serfdom to Self-government: Memoirs of a Polish Village Mayor, 1842-1927” (“Pamiętniki włościanina od pańszczyzny do dni dzisiejszych” in Polish) by Jan Słomka.(...)"

Read full article here: https://polishorigins.com/blog/peasants-life/



picture source: Narodowe Archiwum Cyfrowe

07/09/2023

Last Sunday the Galicia Tour began. Just at the beginning, next day, there is always "Your Ancestors' Life Day". The two main points of the program are: visit in the biggest Etnographic Museum in Poland, and party in the evening in the old good style :-).

Now the group is in Tatra and the highest part of the Carpathian Mountains in Zakopane and the area.

As every year since 2013, for 2024 we also plan at least one Galicia Tour: https://polishorigins.com/galicia-tour/ 🙂 .

14/08/2023

The Wieczkowski Genealogical Tour (Read the last part of blog from Julie's Tour here: https://polishorigins.com/blog/wieczkowski-tour-day7/ ):

"After seven days of travel, research, walking, villages, churches, cemeteries, and lots and lots of emotion, Zbigniew dropped Dad and me at our hotel in Warsaw this evening. This truly was a trip of a lifetime, something that almost cannot be put into words (although I did try here). If you are at all thinking about taking a trip like this, do it. My father and I are forever grateful to PolishOrigins and especially Zbigniew Stettner for making our trip back to our Polish roots unforgettable."

  Monday, June 12, 2023 Our last day of the tour. We spent the morning in the Diocesan Archives in …

11/08/2023

The Wieczkowski Genealogical Tour (Read whole part 6 of blog from Julie's Tour here: https://polishorigins.com/blog/wieczkowski-tour-day6/ ):

"The families moved around quite a bit within the Lipno area, similar to the Szymenderas. This means that they did not own land; they moved to where work was. When occupations were given in the records, my ancestors were listed as ‘worker’ or ‘servant’. I guess this dispels the rumor among American Poles that anyone with a last name ending in -ski is royalty."

  Sunday, June 11, 2023 Today, we traced the parents of Grandpa’s father Władysław (Walter) Więczkowski. Walter was born in …

10/08/2023

The Wieczkowski Genealogical Tour (Read whole part 5 of blog from Julie's Tour here: https://polishorigins.com/blog/wieczkowski-tour-day5 ):

"Zbigniew and I spent some time at the hotel in Toruń researching archives using Polish databases. Again, prior to this trip, I knew nothing about the Więczkowskis so everything was new. We found some records. This branch of the family is from the Russian Partition, so the records are in Russian, which obviously I can’t read but Zbigniew can. Interestingly, the records give dates according to both the Gregorian calendar (which Poland started using in 1582) and the Julian calendar (which Russia used until 1918)!"

  Saturday, June 10, 2023 Today was a day of travel and some sightseeing. We visited the Archcathedral Basilica of …

09/08/2023

The Wieczkowski Genealogical Tour (Read whole part 4 of blog from Julie's Tour here: https://polishorigins.com/blog/wieczkowski-tour-day4):

"We knew that the last record of the Szymenderas had them moving to Cielnice in the 1920s. So in the afternoon, we went to Cielnice! We stopped to ask the first person we saw if she knew of any Szymenderas. She didn’t know anything – she had moved there recently. She walked us over to a couple (maybe in their 70s) who were working in their garden. This second woman immediately knew the name! Two sisters of her grandmother were “involved” with a Szymendera. He (first name unknown – we even asked a third woman – the oldest in the village – but she didn’t know) was betrothed to one sister but had a child with another. The father forced him to marry the first and they moved to France."

  Friday, June 9, 2023 We are in the (former) Prussian partition of Poland, where the Szymenderas, Grandpa’s mom’s family, …

08/08/2023

The Wieczkowski Genealogical Tour (Read whole part 3 of blog from Julie's Tour here: https://polishorigins.com/blog/wieczkowski-tour-day3/):

"We headed to Jaworzno for an unplanned trip to meet Dad’s second cousins. Our newly-found distant cousin Teofil (whom we met on Day 1) had a neighbor Stanisław who knows Stanisława, one of the granddaughters of Wojciech Dadał, my great-grandmother’s brother. (I love this story because it shows the networking that goes into the successes of these genealogical trips.) Although Stanisław knew the general location of Stanisława’s house, he couldn’t remember the specific location. So the day before, he knocked on 10 doors before he found Stanisława’s house. Although he told her that he would be back for a visit the next day, he did not mention that he would be bringing cousins from America!"

  Thursday, June 8, 2023 Today is the Feast of Corpus Christi, which is a state holiday in Poland. We …

04/08/2023

The Wieczkowski Genealogical Tour (Second part of blog from Julie's Genealogy Tour):

"We miraculously found the granddaughters of Zofia and Antoni! While I was taking photos of the graves, Zbigniew spoke with a woman who was in the cemetery gathering wild nettle to feed her chicken. He asked if she knew the Hejmejs. She said yes! (Dad considers this woman our guardian angel of the trip.) We walked with her to her house where she made a phone call to Maria, one of the granddaughters of Zofia and Antoni. Maria said that Barbara helped raise her mother, aunt, and uncle. We arranged to go to her house at 4pm."

Read whole part 2 here: https://polishorigins.com/blog/wieczkowski-tour-day2/

  Wednesday, June 7, 2023 We accomplished our second goal of the trip today. We found her. We found the …

03/08/2023

The Wieczkowski Genealogical Tour (First part of blog from Julie's Genealogy Tour):

"We accomplished one of our main goals of the trip. We saw the house (renovated but still THE house) where my great-grandmother was born. I knew from my own research at Family Search that my great-grandmother Maryanna Dadał was born in house #53 Długołęka in 1882. (Her mother Zofia Mentel was born in that house, too, in 1863.) But it took some additional archival research plus some networking on the ground on the part of Zbigniew to actually get us there. (We also could not have gotten there without his expert driving on the hilly, winding roads.) The view was breathtaking. It is almost unreal to think that my great-grandmother looked out on those same hills before emigrating to the US at age 22, and that several generations of the family grew up and grew old on that land."

Read whole part 1 here: https://polishorigins.com/blog/wieczkowski-tour-day1/

  Tuesday, June 6, 2023 My father Gary and I took a 7-day tour with Polish Origins to trace his …