How does one go about obtaining birth verification for a relative born in Polan

Question:

How does one go about obtaining birth verification for a relative born in Poland in 1880?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: In 1880, all birth records in what is now Poland were maintained by the Roman Catholic Church.

In 1880, Poland was partitioned into a Russian partition, an Austrian partition, and a Prussian partition. Records for some of the Russian partition and some of the Prussian partition have been microfilmed by the Family History Library and are available through your local Family History Center. For the most part, the records from the Austrican partition have not been microfilmed.

To find a relative's birth record in Poland, you'll need to know the village in which s/he was born and then you'll need to find out the name of the village where the parish church was. The records in Poland were maintained in the parish churches, not in the villages themselves.

Perform a "Place Search" in the Family History Library Catalog at http://www.familysearch.org for the name of the parish where the records were kept. If the parish is listed, check to see if the birth and baptismal records for 1880 are included in the microfilm holdings. If the records are at the Family History Library, you can view them in Salt Lake City or at your local Family History Center.

If the records were not microfilmed by the Family History Library, you'll need to do one of three things: 1) write a letter (in Polish) to the parish church, requesting a copy of your grandmother's birth and baptismal records, 2) go to the parish church in Poland yourself and ask to see the records, or 3) hire a Polish genealogist to go to the parish and find the record for you.

You can visit Steve's Genealogy Blog for examples of the types of birth records you might find in the Russian partition and the Austrian Partition.

Good Luck!