Raba Nizna, 

1.) Lower (Nizna) Raba, a village in Limanowa district, Roman Catholic parish in Olszówka. Situated in Raba river valley, on the road from Mszana Dolna (7.5 kilometers) to Jordanów, and between  Mszana Dolna and Zaryte train stations. Located on narrow mountain valley (428 meters above the sea level), stretched from  the South-West to the North-East, with Wielki Luboń slope to the North (1023 meters), and many hills (526 to 529 meters) raising to the South, which separate Raba from Olszówka. Barren, clay soil covering steep mountain-sides (called divisions), allows to cultivate only low-grow oats. In the valley there is a better soil, alluvial and silt, which allows to grow rye, barley and potatoes, whenever the sharp mountain climate permits.  The valley is rather stony, covered with a thin layer of ground. As a result, there is a big accumulation of stones on fields after ploughing every year. Spruce forests were largely cut down during building a railway, leaving bare mountain-sides. Lower Raba borders with Zaryte to the South-East, with Glizno to the North, with Podobin to the East and  with Olszówka to the South. There is a stream running through Olszówka and falling into the right riverside of Raba river within the village territory. The greater estate counted   1658 mórgs included bigger part of the estate: 122 mórgs (82 farm land, 2 meadows, 8 pastures and 30 woods), and smaller estate counted 1536 mórgs (917 farm land, 61 meadows, 215 pastures and 343 woods). Out of 91 houses, 3 are located on the greater estate (K.M. Baranowski inheritance). Population included 641 people: 628 Roman Catholics and 13 Jews. Jews work mostly in pubs and mills; there are 4 water-mills in the village. The houses are wooden, spacious and clean; people belong to a mountain tribe Kliszczak. Before the railway was built, people worked as wood transporters to markets in Krakow, later they delivered it to nearby stations.

2.) Upper (Wyzna) Raba, a village in Myślenice district, located on the upper stream of Raba river, near Hungarian border, in the wide mountain valley full of many streams running into both sides of Raba river, with the biggest of them called “Zaklety potok”. The valley is raising around the church to 531 meters above the sea level and is surrounded to the West by wooded Beskid ridges, which make a border with Galicia reaching up to 826 meters; there are: Rabska góra mountain (783 meters) to the South and Piątkowa mountain (684 meters) to the East and smaller hills (535 meters) to the North, which all make a water division of Raba and Skawa rivers. The communal road connects Raba with road going from Skomielna Biała to Podwilk na Spiżu. The closest train station is Chabówka (5 kilometers). The greater estate (Stefan Wilkoszewski) counted 1141 mórgs (451 farm land, 6 meadows, 52 pastures and 632 woods); smaller estate counted 2401 mórgs (1814 farm land, 57 meadows, 267 pastures and 236 woods). The soil there is cold and loamy and  there are spruce forests. There are 4 water-mills in the village, one belonging to the estate. In 1880 there were 189 houses and 1251 inhabitants (596 men, 655 women); 1240 Roman Catholics and 11 Jews; the greater estate included 9 houses, 58 inhabitants (30 men, 28 women), of which 56 Roman Catholics and 2 Jews. There was no school there.  Strug mountain contained 1-2 feet thick layers of mill-stone ashlars. This stone contains granite or quartz glued with blue loam-marl. [According to] Siarczyński (manuscript Biblioteki Ossolineum, nr 1826) there was a large demand for this local mill-stone in the beginning of XIX century; today they are made only for locals and for querns. It is known that the village was settled about year 1580, because name “novae radicis” appeared in recruitment registers from 1581 (Pawiński, Małop.,49). It belonged to cracovian castellan Spytek Jordan, and included 23 peasant corn-fields, 8 farms with farm land, 2 farms without any farm land, 2 farms with cattle, 1 farm without cattle and 3 handicrafts. There were also there: administrator’s corn-field, 2 hackers, and 1 fulling-mill. Later people were engaged in heavy linens weaving as a house industry, and selling them for local markets only. Village belonged to Rabka parish. Even though the parish was established at the same time as a village, it was equipped not before year 1668 by Kasper Sierakowski, there are registers saved from this time. According to an inspection documented in parish files (Łepkowski, Rocznik Towarzystwa Naukowego krakowskiego, 1861) in year 1595 there was a wooden church here. The bells are dated 1678 and 1732. At present time there is a brick church, without a vault, with four-sided tower, renovated in year 1840. The parish belongs to Cracow diocese, Maków deanery,  including: Rokiciny, Sieniawa and Bielanka.

Source: Slownik Geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego - Warsaw [1888, vol. 9, pp. 340-341]