* * * * * * * * * * G E N  D O B R Y ! * * * * * * * * * *

Volume 2, No. 2. 28 February 2001. Copyright (c) 2001, PolishRoots(tm),
Inc.
Editor: William F. "Fred" Hoffman, E-mail: WFHoffman@PolishRoots.org  

***************************************

CONTENTS

   Welcome
   Gen Research: An Antidote to Dumbth?
   The Wielkopolski Ethnographic Park at Dziekanowice
   Why You Cannot Find the Polish White Pages 
   Upcoming Events
   More Useful Web Addresses
   To be added to or removed from this mailing list...

***************************************

*** WELCOME! ***
to the latest issue of GEN DOBRY!, the e-zine of PolishRoots(tm). If you
missed previous issues, you can see them at the PolishRoots site. Issue 1
is at:

   http://www.polishroots.org/gendobry/GenDobry_vol1_no1.htm

For issue 2 change the last part of the URL to "_no2.htm," and so on, up
through Volume 1, No. 6, December 2000. The January 2001 issue is here:

   http://www.polishroots.org/gendobry/GenDobry_vol2_no1.htm

Thanks to all who've taken the time to send me your comments, suggestions,
and contributions. If you have something to contribute, or just something
to say, please E-mail me at <WFHoffman@PolishRoots.org>.

Please don't forget to visit PolishRoots.org, the Website that brings you
_Gen Dobry!_. One feature you might take a look at is:

   http://PolishRoots.org/join.htm

There you can read that PolishRoots is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt
organization, and your financial is tax deductible to the fullest extent
allowed by Federal law. Please consider making a donation!

***************************************

*** GEN RESEARCH: AN ANTIDOTE TO DUMBTH? ***

by William F. "Fred" Hoffman < WFHoffman@PolishRoots.org>

When I first started out helping genealogical researchers with
translations, I did so mainly because it was a productive way to use my
knowledge of languages. When I started working in desktop publishing on
genealogical societies' newsletters, again, I saw it as a way to put my
computer skills to good use. In both cases, I didn't have any particular
regard for genealogy per se. In fact, I have virtually no interest in my
own family tree, and have taken only the most elementary steps to
investigate it.

But as time went on, I began to realize I liked being involved in this
kind of work - I felt helping genealogical researchers was doing something
worthwhile.

I wondered why? Genealogical research - or "doing gen," as some of us call
it - is just another hobby, isn't it? At first I thought so, but came to
be dissatisfied with that reasoning. I felt there was a little more to
this than just a hobby. 

One day I put my finger on it. I really felt gen research might be an
antidote to dumbth!

* WHAT IS DUMBTH? *

If you're not familiar with that word, the late comedian and entertainer
Steve Allen coined it for the title of his book _Dumbth: The Lost Art of
Thinking With 101 Ways to Reason Better & Improve Your Mind_. He used it
to characterize the growth of ignorance and uncritical thinking in our
culture. It's typified by idiocies such as sticking a microphone in the
face of some out-of-breath football player to catch every nuance of his
insights on his last interception, and how he couldn't have done it
without God's help. Or letting movie stars who play farmers in movies
testify before Congress on the plight of real farmers. Or about a trillion
other phenomena - fill in the top items on your own list (I'm sure you
have one, so I'll spare you more quotes from mine).

Now Steve Allen could get a bit pompous, and there's always a sour whiff
of elitism present whenever a self-styled genius pontificates on the
failings of the millions who aren't as smart as he is (or thinks he is).
If there were a way to quantify such things, I personally believe we'd
find there are more first-class minds at work today than at any other
point in history (if only because of larger populations). In addition,
because of their environment, they can accomplish more. Imagine Leonardo
da Vinci, a man capable of grasping the workings of the helicopter, stuck
living centuries before the materials existed from which one could be
constructed! These days a really bright boy or girl has a decent chance of
being recognized and given a chance to do his/her thing. I don't think as
many of us have immigrated into the Land of Duh as Steve Allen thought.

And yet ... I can't deny it: we're up to our armpits in dumbth, and it
stinks. It stinks when a first lady consults an astrologer; when TV runs
specials on how the moon landings were faked; when about 45 trillion books
expound mutually exclusive theories on how President Kennedy was killed
(I'm still waiting to see a photo of Elvis on the grassy knoll). Our
culture's collective good sense seems to have sprung a major leak. This is
somewhat worrisome in a world where getting through the day is requiring
more and more mechanical, technical, and ethical sophistication.

* HOW IS GEN AN ANTIDOTE? *

I imagine some folks would say the federal government needs to mount a
major war on dumbth -- which is a symptom of how extensive the problem is.
(Do we need another "war on _" as effective as, say, the war on drugs or
the war on poverty?). My feeling is that the answer to this problem, like
many others, is personal responsibility. Let's have no task forces or
coalitions bleating on TV. Instead, why not encourage individuals to do
something that helps them stretch their intellects?

That's why I don't just like gen researchers, I admire them. They have
taken on something that involves real, honest-to-God research, and that's
no picnic. But it is soooo rewarding when you achieve a breakthrough.

Scientists and academics have to deal with research; it's their job. They
see firsthand just how hard it can be to establish "the facts." Most
people who've never done real research go through life fat, dumb, and
happy, sure they know the truth. I think every one of us could benefit
from a little experience with just how hard it can be to determine what
truth is; if nothing else, we'd learn to care more about it. We might also
be just a touch more tolerant with others whose version of truth is
different.

Rare is the researcher who hasn't run into documents that contradict each
other. Your great-great-grandfather may have been called Jan or Jakub; he
may have been born in 1870 or 1873; he may or may not have died at birth
(which makes his siring children all the more impressive); and so on. Sort
of destroys any naive belief you might have had in the reliability of
official records, doesn't it?

Some folks fall apart under the mental pressure of trying to deal with all
this. Immature minds can bear no contradictions; they grow frantic if the
universe isn't shown to be neat and orderly (and, of course, centered upon
them). Those who persist in their research face the reality that they may
never establish the truth with certainty. All they can do is gather
information and reconcile it as best they can. This is a real step toward
intellectual maturity. 

In other words, I think F. Scott Fitzgerald was right when he said "The
test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas
in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function."
But few of us are born with that ability; we develop it. I think doing gen
is one way of developing it.

* CONCLUSION *

Now that I've boldly dared to face my readers and tell them they're
brilliant and the hope of the human race (is there no end to my courage?),
I suppose I should backtrack just a bit. If civilization is to be saved,
it's not necessarily going to owe its preservation to genealogists.
Actually, I've met a few researchers whom I wanted to ask, "Instead of
wallowing in your family's past glories, why don't YOU try doing something
memorable?"

Still, it's hard not to say good things about a hobby that satisfies
personal curiosity through activity that broadens and strengthens the
mind. Doing gen forces you not only to search for truth, but also to
recognize how hard it can be to find it. Yet gen is not some dreary,
joyless version of adult homework; it's more like play for the mature
mind. (No one ever promised play wouldn't occasionally get frustrating!).

Or to put it another way: when the flood of dumbth on television nauseates
me past all bearing, I often find relief in getting online and reading
what genfolk have to say. You don't have to be a genius to know that's a
good sign!

***************************************

*** THE WIELKOPOLSKI ETHNOGRAPHIC PARK AT DZIEKANOWICE ***

by Ceil Jensen <gvp@oeonline.com>

My great-aunt Katherine Topolewski told me her mother Mary Adamski
Wojtkowiak's stories about life in Posen. They provided me with a fleeting
image of the life my Adamski and Wojtkowiak ancestors lived during the
late 19th century. The stories were cryptic but tantalizing.

Michal Adamski worked for a farmer who owned a lot of land, and the farmer
housed and fed his family. Michal and Lucja Adamski lived with their eight
children in a house that had previously been a teacher's residence. The
house was nice. It had dirt floors and eventually had wooden floorboards.
I wondered what their village and home looked like. Would I ever know? 

I finally found the naturalization records, and the village was identified
as Rogalin. My mother and I traveled to Poland last October to visit the
ancestral village.

The Wielkopolski Ethnographical Park at Dziekanowice was one of the first
stops we made, and I think it was one of the best. It was what the Poles
call a _skansen_ [a kind of open-air ethnographic park or museum]. The
outdoor village is a re-creation of an early 19th-century Wielkopolski
community, complete with church, farms, inn, school and manor house. 

The visit gave us an intimate view of the economic, social and cultural
life in Wielkopolska. The ancestors and information we'd researched on
microfilm and sketchy family stones came to life as we walked thought the
village and explored the interiors of the farmhouses.

* The Village Layout and The Architecture *

The skansen is laid out in typical village fashion: a dozen buildings
arranged around an oval center with a pond and a smithy in the middle. We
learned the Baroque layout of a village included a manor house at one end,
a shrine in the middle, and the church at the other end. The majority of
the buildings have been moved from their original locations to the
skansen. The date of construction can be found carved in the overhead beam
inside the dwellings.

I never imagined a Polish farmhouse with a thatched roof! But there they
were - cottages in the "zre~bowo-sl~upowa" style, a.k.a. a thatched hip
roof. The buildings in the village have wooden frames. The inn has a porch
with pillars (przyl~ap). Other roofs are gabled and covered with boards in
simple geometric patterns. The exterior of most of the farmhouses and
buildings are brown - weathered wood. There was only one cottage with a
whitewashed exterior.

The farm buildings were laid out to form a square or rectangular central
yard. The typical farm had a cottage for the family and separate building
for the livestock and a barn. We were able to go into the farmhouses and
see the floor plan and household goods of a well-to-do middle-range
peasant and a tenant family.

* Farmstead from Dobrzec *

This farmstead was brought from Kalisz. The farmstead also has an apiary
with a variety of beehives. They are made out of log, straw and wooden
boxes. The beekeeper's workshop is in the livestock barn. 

* Cottage from Godziesze Wielkie *

This tenement cottage was built in 1895. It is typical of the poorer rural
population at that end of the 19th century. It reminded me of buildings we
might have seen in colonial American a century earlier. The thatched
cottage has only one room and a small vestibule where a goat was kept. 

* Farmstead from Ol~obok *

The farm buildings from Ostro~w Wielkoposki represent a middle-size
peasant farm from the second half of the 19th century. The interior
consists of a large room called the _s~wietlica_, a small room, and a
sleeping chamber. In the large room there is a large stove called a
_sabatnik_ with an open fireplace, bread oven and a special place at the
back of the stove for sleeping. In the small room there is a fireplace. 

* Dwelling Furnishings *

All the interiors share many characteristics. The entry to each house has
a dirt floor. Our guide told us the homeowner would invite friends to come
over and help them stomp down a new floor. It is only after the small
entry that you can proceed into a room with a wooden floor. 

The living spaces are whitewashed. We could see blue stenciling on the
walls. One fireplace had a small embroidered mantel cloth. Each farmhouse
had a corner of the room set aside for the bed(s). Rich and poor peasant
alike followed the same tradition of surrounding their sleeping area with
holy pictures and a crucifix. The pictures of Jesus and Mary were hung on
the wall and decorated with paper or strawflowers.

There are woven straw decorations on display in the barns and cottages.
One chamber showed all the materials used to create the harvest straw
decorations. 

Links

   http://www.zhr.pl/zlot/foto_serwis/przewodnik/park_etnograficzny/
   http://www.ikz.edu.pl/biblioteka/katalog/dyplomy/Skanseny/a8.htm

Right now my webpages on this subject are at:
   http://oeonline.oeonline.com/~cjensen/poznan
   http://oeonline.oeonline.com/~cjensen/poznan_2
   http://oeonline.oeonline.com/~cjensen/poznan_3
   http://oeonline.oeonline.com/~cjensen/poznan_4

The webpages will eventually be compressed and linked. They will be at:

   http://oeonline.com/~cjensen/park

***************************************

*** WHY YOU CANNOT FIND THE POLISH WHITE PAGES ***

[The following is copied verbatim from this Website: 

   http://www.masterpage.com.pl/white_pages.html:

Joe Filipowicz <joeflip@earthlink.net> posted this information on
Poland-Roots-L@rootsweb.com. It seemed well worth passing on, as it
answers a question constantly asked: where can you find online telephone
directories for Poland? The answer: you can't - and here's why... As for
the claims made there for MasterPage - well, you're all adults. I'm sure
you know how to evaluate such claims to decide whether the service is
worth trying.]

Hundreds of times a day we get requests for personal phone numbers. We
want to help you, but we cannot. Why? Please read this important
information about Poland.

After forty years of abuses under the communist system, Polish people are
very protective of their privacy. They do not want any private information
revealed to anyone without their written permission. Gathering of any data
that can be used to identify an individual is subject to some very
restrictive laws. And the people of Poland enthusiastically support the
laws. They are very quick to complain if their private information is
given out. And people who give out information are prosecuted.

The law is very restrictive. For example, under the law we cannot take a
resume from a person applying for a job with us without having a
handwritten signature on that resume giving our specific firm permission
to have that resume. We cannot keep address lists of individual people
without registering that list with the government. Apartment houses cannot
list the names of the families on an index.

The law makes publishing white pages information on the Internet
effectively impossible. There are none that we know of. So we are posting
this section to try to explain to you why there are none and to tell you
what we can and cannot do for you. (We do provide an alternative service
at the bottom of this page, so please read on.)

We cannot look up a telephone number and give it to you. If we were able
to find a telephone number of a person, we would have to write them and
get their written permission to give out the number to you. We do not
provide that service. It is too time-consuming and you would probably not
want to pay for all the work.

And we do not know of anyone who will provide you that information other
than the Polish state telephone company. If you speak Polish, you can call
their information service. They will not give any information if all you
have is a name. If you want information you must know the first name and
address of the person. That is the law and they follow the law. And we
cannot call them for you and get information either.

To help you as much as we can we put up a special Find Friends and Family
service. It has been a very successful service. Over the past few years
many people have found each other using it. When you use it you have to be
patient because it relies on someone finding your post. But many people
look at it every day. We promote it all over Poland and all over the
world. People help people and they get results. We have gotten mail from
many people who have reunited families through the Find Friends and Family
service.

We hope you use the service. It is the best thing that we know of in
Poland.

You can Find Friends and Family in the navigation bar at

   http://www.masterpage.com.pl

Or you can go directly to the database at

   http://www.masterpage.com.pl/friends/friendsmain.asp

***************************************

*** UPCOMING EVENTS ***

September 1 - 14, 2001

PLANNED TRIP TO WESTERN POLAND

[This message was sent to a number of people interested in Polish
genealogical research, and seemed worth passing on for your information.]

Ever since the completion of our very successful Jubilee Year trip to
Poland last September, many of our travelers (and those who regretted not
going!) have asked to be informed if we have anything new planned for 2001.

Last year's trip was initiated in May, after many had made other plans,
and so it seems proper to tell you now about what is tentatively scheduled
for September 1 to 14, 2001.

Having learned only today about a key date in our plans, we hope to go to
cities and tourist attractions in western and northern Poland:  WROCLAW,
POZNAN, GDANSK, GDYNIA, SOPOT (on the Baltic), STRZELNO, GNIEZNO,
BISKUPIN, MALBORK, etc., as well as sites like Warsaw, Krakow and Zakopane.

This year's trip is two days longer, and contemplates an OPTIONAL four-day
visit to Rome and the Vatican, or a visit to the rich former Polish city
of LWOW (now in neighboring Ukraine).  There is the possibility that use
can use this optional period to visit family and friends in Poland, or
just explore Poland on your own!

As in 2000, we want to keep the trip interesting, comfortable, safe....and
affordable! Should you want to be informed of developments, prices,
itineraries, suggested sites, etc., please e-mail me a note.  Please share
your ideas with us! If you have friends who might be interested in joining
our group - and we've done some brainstorming to make improvements! - send
me their names, addresses, phone and e-mail numbers.

Daniel J. Kij
1200 Electric Avenue
Lackawanna NY 14218-1417
Phone (716) 822-5258

e-mail: danieljkij@aol.com

-----

September 12-15, 2001

THE 2001 FGS/QUAD CITIES CONFERENCE

"A Conference for the Nation's Genealogists"

The RiverCenter, Davenport, Iowa

Sponsored and Co-hosted by the Federation of Genealogical Societies, the
Blackhawk Genealogical Society of Rock Island & Mercer Counties, Illinois
and the Scott County Iowa Genealogical Society

Summary of Events

Over the Pond Lectures:
     British and Irish
     Eastern European
     German
     Scandinavian

"Back to Basics" Lectures:
     Specialized Topics
     Immigration
     Naturalization
     Afro-American
     Computer/Internet

Genealogical Society Management Sessions

Association of Professional Genealogists Lecture Series

Librarians Serving Genealogists Lecture Series 

For more info:
   Our email: fgs-office@fgs.org  
   Our website: http://www.fgs.org
   Our phone: 1-888-FGS-1500
   Our fax: 1-888-380-0500
   Or write us at:
     Federation of Genealogical Societies
     P.O. Box 200940
     Austin, Texas 78720-0940

Register Online at: 

   http://www.fgs.org/2001Conf/fgs-2001.htm

=====

October 5 - 7, 2001

FEDERATION OF EAST EUROPEAN FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETIES
-- INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION 2001 --

Ramada Inn South Airport
6401 South13th Street
Milwaukee, Wisconsin

An Invitation to Explore the Ancestral Past of Imperial

  Austria-Hungary   Germany
  Russia            Turkey

and the modern states of

Austria, Hungary, Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Czech Republic,
Slovakia, Germany, Switzerland, Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania,
Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, Russia, Yugoslavia, Macedonia, Bulgaria,
Romania, Armenia, Georgia

Talks on:

- Manuscript, Digitized, and Filmed Sources
- Germans from Russia and Ukraine
- American Immigrants
- Research Techniques, Databases, Projects
- Genealogical Terminology, Archaic Scripts
- Jewish Research

FEEFHS members will receive a Registration Packet in April.  At that time,
packets can also be requested from the Program Chair at
<mehrkb@ldschurch.org> or by post:

   Kahlile Mehr
   412 South
   400 West
   Centerville UT  84014

Conference details, as they become available, will be posted at: 

   http://feefhs.org/conf/01mil/01mil-hp.html 

or by return mail from:

FEEFHS, PO Box 510898, Salt Lake City, UT 84151-0898

FEEFHS welcomes members from all countries * Promotes research into the
ancestral past of east and central Europe regardless of distinction by
ethnic, religious, or social group * Provides a forum for individuals and
organizations to exchange information and keep updated on developments in
the field * Sponsors an annual convention * Publishes a journal *
Maintains web site http://feefhs.org * Assists in developing databases *
For membership information see: http://feefhs.org/feefaq/member.html

***************************************

*** MORE USEFUL WEB ADDRESSES ***

http://www.austro-hungarian-genealogy-translations.com/
   William E. Serchak <rice37@erols.com> sent a note to various
individuals interested in Polish research giving this URL, the site of
Felix G. Game, "a professional genealogist living in Canada and
specializing in Hungarian and German research. The numerous articles
attached to his Home Page provide many valuable insights and bits of
information esp. since the Spis/Szepes area once included our ZARP Polish
villages. His descriptions of rural life, the social levels in the
village, military service, numbers crunching, etc. all track very well
with what I have been finding out in my own research. Even the names used
for occupations that appear in parish records now become more easily
understandable."

http://www.archiwa.gov.pl
   On GENPOL@MAN.TORUN.PL Guido Buldrini <buldrini@TIN.IT> posted this new
address for the Polish State Archives Website. 

http://www.ijp-pan.krakow.pl/
   This is the Website for the Instytut Jezyka Polskiego PAN, the Polish
Language Institute of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Kraków. It
includes the Pracownia Antroponimiczna (Anthroponymic Workshop) headed by
Dr. Aleksandra Cieslikowa. Their staff of scholars answer questions on
Polish name origins on their own time, as their duties allow. The Workshop
has moved, and this is its new street address:
     Instytut Jezyka Polskiego PAN
     Pracownia Antroponimiczna
     Al. Mickiewicza 31
     31-120 Kraków
     POLAND

http://www.ui.jor.br/polaco.htm
   On HERBARZ-L@rootsweb.com, Margaret Odrowaz-Sypniewski
<Vondoering@aol.com> posted this address of a page devoted to the history
of Polish settlers in Brazil.

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Atrium/9615/index.html
   Mrs. Odrowaz-Sypniewski is also the Webmaster of this site, the Website
of the Polish Nobility Association Foundation. If you are interested in
the history of the Polish nobility and heraldry, this site is a must.

http://www.avotaynu.com/magnates.htm
   Here Avotaynu has published all known holdings of the private archives
of Polish magnates. This may aid Jewish researchers who may find records
mentioning their ancestors among these archives. Obviously, of course, the
information may also assist non-Jewish researchers who discover family
links with magnates. (From _Nu? What's New?_, the e-zine of Avotaynu, Vol.
2, No. 2 - January 28, 2001).

http://www.stat.gov.pl/english/stale/przewodnik/spis_pow.htm
   On POSEN-L@rootsweb.com, Kathleen Atwood <katwood@chartermi.net>
mentioned this site as giving information on censuses in Poland. However,
this still leaves open the big question: how does one get access to this
info?

***************************************

To be added to or removed from this mailing list, go to this address:

   http://www.PolishRoots.org/GenDobry_signup.htm

YOU MAY REPRINT articles from GEN DOBRY!, PROVIDED: (1) the reprint is
used for non-commercial, educational purposes; and (2) the following
notice appears at the end of the article: Written by [author's name,
e-mail address, and URL, if given]. Previously published by GEN DOBRY!,
Vol. 2, No. 2, 28 February 2001. PolishRoots(tm): http://PolishRoots.org/.

***************************************

Copyright 2001, PolishRoots(tm), Inc. All rights reserved.