We will be taking a guided tour of Poland, May 16-28. However, we will arrive in Krakow on May 12 and hope to find a guide/service that will help us find my husband's grandparents' villages. We don't have much to go on, just one birth certificate, and one baptismal certificate. We don't speak any Polish. We are hoping to find a service that will research for us, prior to our arrival, and then escort us to the villages involved when we get to Poland. We believe the villages are within driving distance of Krakow. I know there are several services which specialize in Jewish genealogy, but that won't help us. Any suggestions?

Hi, had a look in Google and found lots of genealogic sites but most were in German - only one i found in English is this:

http://www.rootsweb.com/~polwgw/polandgen.html

maybe a help. Best from Germany Mirko

Hi, In May of 2003 my husband and 2 adult children did that exact trip to Poland, where both my parents were from and we had no birth certificates or anything else official. We found records from my dads family, but not my moms. We hired a guide/researcher and driver and it was wonderful. Without him, we would not have found anything. He does specialize in jewish genealogy, but he is not jewish and his expertise was with the bureaucrats in the various city halls. You should also contact the Mormon church.

it maybe to short of the time but check those sites ->http://www.polandembassy.org/Links/c.../Genealogy.htm

http://www.archiwa.gov.pl/?CIDA=182
http://www.archiwa.gov.pl/?CIDA=181

http://english.genealogiapolska.pl/

Also could you post those village names?

There are people in Cracow dealing with it.
I know few of them.
Best regards
MaSo

The grandfather's place of birth is Grabowka, administrative district of Brzozow, diocese of Przemysl. We have been told that there are several towns named Grabowka in Poland.

The grandmother's place of birth is Debna, in the diocese of Przemysl.

Any information that you could give would be greatly appreciated.

The area you are looking for is in the southeastern part of Poland.

If you can get your hands on a map of Poland, locate Rzeszow (165 km or 105 miles to the east of Krakow), and then Grabowka is about 60 km (39 miles) to the south.

You might also want to try this website for more information:
http://www.poland.pl/info/travel_poland.htm

Grabowka: http://www.pilot.pl/big_pilot.php3?z...29&lang=pl

Debna:
http://www.pilot.pl/big_pilot.php3?Z...=1&lang=pl

Brzozow:
http://www.pilot.pl/big_pilot.php3?z...09&lang=en

all 3 near Sanok (5-10km) and about 60km south east from Przemysl.

Sanok is nice - and it would probably be you best stop over for this area.

here is site for Sanok with few palces to stay overnight... http://www.sanok.pl/
http://www.gmina.sanok.com.pl/

Brzozow
http://www.brzozow.pl/miasto.html

"county clerk" in Brzozow
http://www.brzozow.pl/wu/usc/index.html

looks like only one hotel in Brzozow
http://www.brzozow.pl/info.html (under Inne)

Also if I were you I would start my search in Sanok or Brzozow by just going to any church and asking which church could have any info - since churches keep all baptism records as well as marriage records also may know about death certificates and places of burial...

Both Grabowka and Debna are near each other so they both may have records in same place.

This area is very nice and you may want to spend more time in this area - must see is Lancut north of Sanok east of Rzeszow and Lancut area all together. Sanok and South of Sanok you have a mtn range called Bieszczady - Bears are more common here then any other place.

Lancut
http://zamki.res.pl/lancut.htm#zdjecia

Near Lancut / Sanok :
http://www.baranow.motronik.com.pl/
http://www.krasiczyn.motronik.com.pl/ang/index.html
http://zamki.res.pl/woj-pod.htm
http://turystyka.rze.pl/index.php?mx=me&sx=arx
http://turystyka.rze.pl/index.php?mx=me&sx=swx
http://turystyka.rze.pl/index.php?mx=me&sx=pmx