Our plan for today was to visit Toruń. First we headed for State Archives in search of records of Bielawy village which is now part of Toruń. There are numerous Bielawys in this part of Poland, the only clue we have is that the Bielawy we are looking for was somewhere in Western Prussia, 19th century.
The records in the Archives were not in chronological order at all, there were no indexes in the book, what’s more, they were written in German, Polish and Latin, and these were not in any order, either!!! Anyway we looked through 20 years in searching for three specific years 1824-1827. After all that we still did not find any records with surname we were interested in.
Before we left the Archives, Zenon asked about the location of the parish church. So we headed out to find the church. On our way we noticed this sign.
This was visible confirmation for us, that there was a Bielawy near Torun. But we still do not have confirmation that this is James’ ancestors Bielawy…
After finding the church and talking to the priest, he told us that he had given away all the records to the Bishops Archives. So we stop at the gas station, bought a Toruń map and drove across the town to the Archive. Unfortunately, it was closed until Monday…. But on Monday James will be back in West Virginia!
Having so much free time we visited beautiful Toruń Old Town. Just look at a few pictures below.
After coming back to agritourism and taking naps we played a third chest match. Zenon was not hospitable to his guest this time and he won the third match.
And tomorrow we have an appointment with a far distant relative of James, in Włocławek. We will also explore the cemetery there.
James & Zenon
My Mother was born in one of the Bielawy towns in Poland. It was located near the cities? towns? of Kutno, Plock, and Gombin, also Czarny Holendry. Her ancestors was originally from Germany but migrated to Poland in the late 1700’s and lived in that area till World War 2. They owned land near Bielawy and didn’t actually live in the town itself. It would be interesting to know if our families come from the same Bielawy and if they knew each other – surname was Dittmann. So I followed your tour with interest. Thanks.
Hi Bregite,
My research has shown me that there are / were, many ” Bielawy ” throughout Poland.
I’ve not found the right one yet, where my gg greadfather was born. ( Bielawy, West Prussia)
Where was the Bielawy located, that your relitives were from ?
Most of my family was from Wloclawek, just west of Plock.
There is a bielawy just south/west of Wloclawek, but no info in Wloclawek archive about my family being from there.
No info on family in Torun archive, where there is/was a Bielawy.
Bydgoszcz archive informed me that there are / were , over 6 Bielawy there, and that they needed to know which one to research.
So Bielawy has been a stumbling block for me.
There is no ” Dittmann ” in my family tree, which goes back to 1800, but most of my research focus’ on my surname ” Cybulski ” , and the wives maiden names.
Hi again! I’m not exactly sure which Bielawy (I wasn’t aware that there were so many of them!) All I remember my mother saying is that it was located near the towns of Kutno, Plock and Gombin. Perhaps you might know which Bielawy this might be. Sounds like we’re searching in the same areas of Poland. Good luck and hope you find the correct Bielawy for your family! Let me know if you find out anything more regarding the many Bielawy’s. I will keep my eyes open for any “Cybulski” families that I might come across. Bye for now.