Click Links Below to look at each resource

Discover your Polish heritage by accessing original Polish church documents from the regions of Kaszuby and Kociewie.  Discover what your ancestors did for employment, where did they marry and where did they baptize their children.  By finding out witnesses and godparents you will discover close friends and relatives.  What did your ancestors succumb to and where were they buried.  By becoming a friend of the Polish Heritage Trust of Otago and Southland via info@polesdownsouth.org.nz you can access your family tree and begin to discover your Polish roots.  Please tell us which family you are interested in.  If there are any discrepancies or you would like to send new information and photos please email the co-ordinator Paul Klemick at paulklemick052@gmail.com

 

Where West Prussian parish records (1800–1820) were kept

Between 1800 and 1820, West Prussia was part of the Kingdom of Prussia, and records were stored locally, not centrally.

1. Original parish books

• Kept in the parish itself (Catholic or Lutheran).
• These originals often survive only if the parish preserved them.

 

2. Prussian “duplicates” (Kirchenbuchduplikate)

Starting in 1794, Prussia required parishes to send annual duplicates of baptisms, marriages, and burials to the local civil court (Amtsgericht). These duplicates were then stored in regional state archives, mainly:

• State Archive in Gdańsk (AP Gdańsk)
• State Archive in Toruń (AP Toruń)
• State Archive in Elbląg (AP Elbląg)
• State Archive in Olsztyn (AP Olsztyn)

These archives still hold many West Prussian church books and duplicates, and they are digitised on Szukajwarchiwach.

 

Why so many parishes have gaps between 1800–1820

This period is notorious for missing books across West Prussia. The main reasons:

1. Napoleonic Wars (1806–1815)

• West Prussia was a war zone.
• Many parishes were disrupted, evacuated, or damaged.
• Some clergy fled with books; others lost them.

2. Poor compliance with the 1794 duplicate law

• Many parishes did not send duplicates every year.
• Some sent them irregularly or not at all.
• Some Amtsgerichte failed to store them properly.

3. Fires and local disasters

• Parish fires were common.
• Wooden churches and rectories burned frequently.

4. Later destruction in regional archives

The State Archive in Gdańsk suffered heavy losses in World War II, destroying many West Prussian duplicates and parish originals stored there.

5. Boundary changes

After 1815, some parishes moved between:

• West Prussia
• Posen
• Brandenburg

Records may be in a different archive than expected.

 

Where to look today

The best surviving West Prussian records for 1800–1820 are found in:

1. Szukajwarchiwach (Polish State Archives)

Digitised parish books and duplicates.

2. FamilySearch

Large collections of West Prussian Catholic and Lutheran books, including some 1794–1874 duplicates.

3. Archion (Evangelical Church Archive, Berlin)

For Lutheran parishes whose books were moved to Berlin.

4. GenBaza / Metryki

Scans of many West Prussian books.

 

Why your specific parish may be missing 1800–1820

If a parish has a clean gap in exactly those years, the most likely causes are:

• The original book was lost (fire, war, neglect).
• The duplicate was never created.
• The duplicate was stored in Gdańsk and destroyed in WWII.
• The parish was in a border zone and its records ended up in a different archive.

 

BaSIA – Database of the Archival Indexing System (famula.pl)

Geneteka baza Polskiego Towarzystwa Genealogicznego (genealodzy.pl)

Kaszuby Region

Kartenmeister German/Polish Villages

Kociewian Folk Art available

Kociewie

Kociewie – Al’s Polish – American Genealogy Research

Kociewie, History, Borders and Values

Kociewie region of Poland

Kurrent (Old German Script) Handwriting Reader with AI – Transkribus

Kurrent to English Translator

Latin to English translator

LDS Polish Records On-Line – familysearch

Metryki.GenBaza.pl – Polish records online

Meyers Gazetteer

Numbers written in Old German Script – smithancestry

Poles – wikipedi

Polish family trees online

Polish History New Zealand – Barbara Scrivens

Polish Immigrants to New Zealand – Margarete Kraemer

Polish State Archives – apply for Church and Civil Records

Pomeranian Records Index – PTG Pomorskie Towarzystwo Genealogiczne

Poznan Project – Poznan Marriages Database

Region of Kaszubian dialect

Region of Kociewian dialect

szukajwarchiwach.pl – Polish Records On-Line

Taranaki Stories

West Prussia – Wikipedia

Zachodniopomorskie Towarzystwo Genealogiczne POMERANIA – index search engine

145 years of Polish Settlement in Canterbury and New Zealand

1772/1773 West Prussian Land Register Webiste – Al’s Polish-American Genealogy Research (apagr.com)