Testimonials

September 2018

Zbigniew was an excellent guide and we very much appreciated all he did to make this trip a success. Since we had done previous research and had early sucesseses in finding distant relatives we also had an opportunity to see a few UNESCO wooden churches and also visit Sanok.  We feel that he went over and above to help us locate any distant relatives as well as the areas where they lived.  We did find some relatives, located areas where they lived and that made this trip a huge success – better than we had expected.   We can’t thank him enough.

(more…)

September 2018

The communication between myself and Alexander was wonderful, I always felt fully informed about the trip and I also had input into the trip, as to what really mattered to me.

Alexander organized a meeting with my second cousin, who has hard to track down. Daniel had to interpret, as my cousin did not speak English. It was a truly special day for me, to meet my second cousin who did not know that he had relatives in Canada. There was quite a few laughs, so the day was truly entertaining and an experience for both my second cousin, my daughter and myself.

(more…)

September 2018

Zbigniew is a very talented genealogist.  Our experience finding blood relatives in every town we searched was stunning!  We owe much of this to Zbigniew’s thoroughness and ability to work with locals in their own language.

All research was useful, valuable and has added a wonderful and complex picture to our family tree.  This was a great experience.

Wonderful service, great network and genealogy research that produces results!  Your group is amazing!

September 2018

Joanna, Zbigniew, Mateusz, and Anna were all exceptional.  We very much appreciated the passion and knowledge of Joanna and Anna, and we were touched by the passion, knowledge, hard work, sensitivity, and tenacity of Zbigniew and Mateusz.  They are a wonderful group of people that will remain in our memories.

I could not have asked anything more of Aleksander.  All of his suggestions, such as museums to visit, (and materials to read in preparation for the trip) were most helpful.  Our trip was free of frustration thanks to his well planned itinerary and most helpful communications with me. I have nothing but praise for him.

You are all wonderful!  If all goes well, I hope to plan a second trip to Poland; it will most certainly be with PolishOrigins!

September 2018

Out guide Lucjan went above and beyond my expectations. I could not have asked or expected more from him . Likewise our guide for the morning in Lviv (Diana) provided an excellent service.

I found the burial sites of all members on mysternsl side and so experienced closure there. On my father’s side I found his birth entry at the parish level and was able to obtain a full version of his Polish birth certificate. I also met with surviving members of his immediate family that I had never met before. A wonderful reunion.

(more…)

July 2018

Thank you so much for all the work that was done to put together this trip. It truly was life changing for me and I know that my husband Walter feels so much pride about his family who came from Poland.

Read more on Dawn’s blog

June 2018

I have more substantial answers and information now than I could have hoped for after a number of years of research, and had the bonus of having learned some of these answers from distant relations still living in ancestral locations, who were incredibly hospitable and invited us in for tea and meals nearly a half-dozen times. In addition, Daniel found a regional genealogist from a branch of one of my family lines who had years of research into the local history and our shared ancestry, and who spent a day with us showing us around some very out-of-the-way villages and churches, etc. that were relevant to my grandfather’s family. Really amazing!

(more…)

June 2018

Finding and meeting my second cousin and his family was beyond my expectations. In addition to Zbigniew’s knowledge of resources, we also were fortunate that he was able to uncover new ones through discussions with people and serendipitous meetings with different people. Of course, there are still gaps and questions, but truly, we achieved our goals, and much more.

We are so impressed with the PO staff – all that we have met and worked with have responded to us quickly, answering questions, providing encouragement and support. We loved the opportunity to meet you in Krakow in person. The last night was very special.

June 2018

I did achieve my initial goals in terms of answering my questions about my family, their village, and their emigration. But of course — as is true for all successful research — gaining answers to those questions led me to new questions! As I wrote to Aga previously, I was especially delighted to receive Lucjan’s report of his preliminary research a couple of weeks in advance of our arrival. For me, this by itself was already a breakthrough in my research as it positively confirmed my family’s village, my great-grandparents’ names and dates,  and gave me a sense of the extended family! This was HUGE and a very exciting moment for me! I am so glad that the preliminary research is part of the program.

(more…)

May 2018

We want to thank everyone of you for the most wonderful trip to Poland. Finding Fred’s 3rd cousin and graves of his great grandmother, his grandfather sister, her daughter and her son which we met was the culmination of an absolutely wonderful and fascinating trip, meeting all of you and Marek in Warsaw and Pavel in Kraków made our trip incredible. The PolishOrigins is a fantastic group.

Thank you Daniel for being so persistent, with you we met so many wonderful people and saw so much of the country in that area of your beautiful country, we loved our discussions and again thank you for your persistence and your passion. Thanks to your persistence we got to meet with Zenon the father of the Karas priest and who we might had met another one of Fred’s cousin.

(more…)