Zbigniew did an excellent job in locating my ancestor’s village and gravestones of Ziemniak cousins in the parish cemetery. Although we located the homes of several cousins, we were unable to find the house of my great- grandfather, perhaps because it does not exist today. We were unable to talk to the parish priest because he was out of town, and due to the short time available, could not wait for him to return. However, we left a message for him regarding records of older ancestors, and are presently waiting for a reply. The pre-tour work done by Zbigniew proved invaluable, as he found that my great-grandfather had moved to another parish after my grandfather had left Poland. As a result, we were able to obtain a copy of his death record by visiting the USC in Staszow. A similar search for my great-grandmother’s death record between 1931 and 1916 proved negative, but followup work by Zbigniew found that she was alive in 1912, based on the marriage record of her daughter. Thus, I have now bracketed the year of her death as being between 1913 and 1915. This range is consistent with our oral family history which recollects that the Ziemniak farmhouse was destroyed during World War I. As USC moves its records older than 100 years to an AP, additional followup work is needed. Without the assistance from Zbigniew, none of the above would have been possible.
