From: "Walter Elston"
To: PolandBorderSurnames
Subject: [PBS] Researchers
Date: Wed, 24 Jul 2002 16:00:41 -0600
Let me say that I am happy to learn of good experiences in travel with researchers and translators when seeking to find our roots. I had a good experience as well this past May. After researching my family history for the past two years and learning so much from the results and from people on this list and others, I had a burning desire to walk the same paths of my grandfathers and so I did. My husband and I visited my three ancestral villages, two in southern Poland and one in northeastern Slovakia.
It was a marvelous experience mainly due to all the preparation made by our guides, Halina and Andre. We did the expected things like visit the churches and the cemeteries but we also talked to residents in each place and learned first hand of their life in a war zone, which it was in the 1940s. And the people were very gracious, inviting us into their homes, talking about their history and how things are now for them. Every day there were additional opportunities like ! eating freshly smoked OCYPKY with a shepherd or having a picnic and toasting sausages over a fire on the hilltop overlooking my grandmother's ancestral village. An experience I will never forget.
I would encourage any out there who have thought of traveling but are not quite sure about it. Go for it! You can find reliable translator guides if you do not speak the language as we did not. The ones we used have a WebPage at www.lemko.org and can be reached by e-mail at lemko-tour@poczta.onet.pl. The area we traveled is improving economically and we had a very comfortable time. I can't say enough about making the visit.
Gloria
From: "Cathy Krachinski"
To: "Tina Ellis"
Subject: Re: Maxpages
Date: Fri, 24 May 2002 12:45:06 -0500
Tina - Hi,
I love your site. I just completed going through it. I hope others appreciate your site and all the hard work you have put into it. It has wonderful clean crisp sleek lines and without the ads. You will still have a few popups now and then but nothing like it was. Your site truly is beautiful and is so informative.
Catherine has my surnames listed, Tina. I had received many emails from lost relatives. We are all putting together all the pieces. Our family tree is getting very large and we are starting to know our genealogy. It started with just me researching and soon my niece helped. Presently, there are close to fifty relatives helping research.
Through your site I also had traced my heritage on my mother's side of family which is Creager's and Phillips. It had pointed me to Fort Wayne, Indiana. I found the Creager Book. It is so invigorating to find so many of my lost relatives world wide. I simply love it. My father's side (Polish) was at a dead end. The only thing I had to go on was my grandfather's name of Walenty Kracinski. I found the cemetery records at St. Stanislaus' Church and Cemetery, in Michigan City, Indiana. Which lend me to many relatives in Poland, USA, Canada, & Germany. Even the Creager side (my mother's side) of family was a mystery, not anymore, there was a book of Creager's published on the Ohio and Indiana Creager's. I only knew that my grandfather was Roy E. Creager and that he fought in the 1st and 2nd world wars, and that he was a carpenter, born in Ohio.
The last name of Kracinski (my Father's side), was the hardest of all. The name was a complete mystery because it a common word in Polish but NOT in name. I soon found out that it meant one of the grill, which is only associated with the convert of monastery. Than I found a name of a relative in Poland, which lead to many names in Poland. Your site was a life saver on many names and family heritage. Than with help through the polish church and cemeteries. I found more and more out, which led me to families in Poland and churches. Than I found their INS papers, which had given me names, and I had for written for baptism records and marriage licenses. I had also stumbled across others. We all are so very thank you to you and your site, including the Phillips from Ireland, Scotland, & England, and the Creagers from Germany. I need to than you and everyone else for all the help they have given us. One little thing can make a big difference and put a whole new light on everything.
It is just absolutely amazing, Tina, since I knew very little about your family and heritage. I did not start researching until both my parents were dead, and I thought all was lost. In fact, nothing is ever lost it is all there. Thank you for everything I can never repay you for anything. I just hope and pray thank you is enough and God Bless you for everything. I met many lost relatives and we have all joined in our quest of research for our genealogy (our never ending heritage).
Thank you Tina for everything because it was through your site and through the list that have gotten us this far. You are truly our blessing. Bless you and take care
Best Regards,
Cathy Krachinski
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