Testimonials

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!

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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.

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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.

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April 2018

It was more than I expected. Zbigniew is gifted in many ways.  He is very pleasant and answered all my questions in many different areas. The way he was able to investigate and find our relatives was amazing. I am in awe of his talents.

I highly recommend PolishOrigins Tours. My expectations were exceeded. The genealogy investigation and results were remarkable. It was a trip of a lifetime for me.

Read more on Sandra’s blog

April 2018

It was a wonderful tour and my family enjoyed it so much. We were all very grateful to Pawel who had a lovely energy. He took such good care of us and made so much effort to give us the best trip. It was the perfect balance of culture, history and nature. We will remember it for the rest of our lives.

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October 2017

Review from Facebook and Tripadvisor

Last month, my wife Dorothy and I took an eleven day genealogy/history tour of Poland with PolishOrigins. I highly recommend them. They worked tirelessly, even before Dorothy and I arrived in Poland, to find genealogy records and living relatives. They went way beyond the usual genealogy research. For example: I have a letter from Poland that was written to my maternal grandmother in Chicago during the 1960’s. Zenon, our guide, had me scan the letter and send it to him before we arrived in Poland. He actually was able to find the author of the letter, Janina, a 77 year old second cousin of mine. He telephoned her in the little village of Zdrochec which is located about an 1 1/2 hour east of Kraków. By the time we arrived in Poland, he had set up a lunch date with Janina and her family. When we arrived at Janina’s house, we shared photos and stories (by the way, we don’t speak Polish and Zenon was also our translator). Among the photos I brought to Poland was a picture of my grandmother’s sister. Janina had the exact same photo! Pretty cool! Then the food came out. All I can say is WOW, what a feast. We even sang a merry version of “Sto Lat.” After lunch, several of us visited the local cemetery. After saying goodbye, Dorothy, Zenon and I headed to the next village, Sikorzyce, where the house from which my maternal grandparents emigrated in 1912 was located. Unfortunately, nobody was home. Zenon spoke with several neighbors and even the mayor’s wife in an attempt to find some living relatives. No luck. Still, it was a great, great day.

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October 2017

We spent the day with Marek in Warsaw and he was an exceptional guide.  Very knowledgable and such a pleasure to be with.  Our local guide in Vilnius was also very good.  Our genealogical guide for the bulk of the trip was Zbigniew Stettner and, to us, he is a rock star.  His ability to unlock the past and find answers in a maze of old documents goes without saying.  That he did this while keeping company with 7 crazy American ladies – all with good humor and patience – speaks to his kindness and professionalism.

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October 2017

Our guide, Lucjan Cichocki, was just great. He was well organized and well informed about where to find information about the family. He also knew how to go about finding relatives and he did a great job of informing those relatives about who we were and what we were trying to accomplish. These relatives seemed to be at ease with us (total strangers to them) after talking to Lucjan and they opened their doors to us. A great job by Lucjan.  Finally, Lucjan did a great job organizing and transmitting to us all of the documents that were found during the research process. He has made it very easy for me to add all of this data to my Family Tree.

Thanks again to Lucjan for the wonderful research experience and his guidance  during our site seeing part of the tour.

September 2017

Dr. Peter Nagy was very professional and absolutely knew where to go to get the information necessary for finding out my genealogical connections. He persevered  when he thought that there were no living relatives left in Devicany.  Peter set up a meeting with town mayor and historical author, Mr. Milan Batovsky, in regards to finding my family’s home. Interestingly, that meeting led to the discovery of Milan being my 3rd cousin. Needless to say, I was absolutely thrilled that I have family there now and we are beginning to communicate via email.  I hope to return to Slovakia next year and seek out Peter’s assistance in looking further back in to my family’s ancestry.

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