Our guide, Zbigniew, was wonderful. He was prepared, eager to find relatives for us, which he did, found wonderful places for us to eat, and was full of ideas for what we could do to find additional records and relatives. He was patient with our tendency to wander off. We came to this tour after a tour of Warsaw and Krakow with Roads Scholar which was everything they are known for but the trip with PolishOrigins was made extra special by the work Zbigniew did which allowed us to find our cousins in Poland. It really made the trip extra special for us and both my sister and I enjoyed this tour more as a result.
We went on the tour hoping to find, if not relatives, the places where they lived and wanting to learn about what life would have been like when they lived there. We did not expect to find our grandfather’s relatives as they were part of the relocated. But through a stroke of good luck, and persistence by Zbigniew in tracking down Sembrats, we were able to meet our 3rd cousins (who were lovely), see the church built after the original one burned down, and visit the former rectory for the church. Additionally, we found the house our grandfather and other relatives were born in and were given a tour where we saw the original walls of the house which has since been remodeled. The gentleman who lived in their old home, recommended a local/close by museum, Park Etnograficzny that allowed us to see a more intimate view of farm life during our grandparetn’s time. With our grandmother’s family, we were less successful but met a few families with the same last name who tried to help us and learned that our line most likely either died in a pandemic or moved away after surviving. So, an answer. One of the families kindly shared a book on the history of Konskie. Meeting these families allowed us to see “real” Poland and was a very special experience. We connected with Maria, our tour guide for the Sanok Open Air museum and got a better understanding of life during our grandparent’s time. Of course, no one is ever satisfied with their family research, nor ever truly finished, but having the opportunity to meet family who remained in Poland, seeing the house our grandfather and his family lived and died in, and learning about life during their time made it a very special experience.