Practical guides for Americans tracing Polish ancestors: what Polish surnames mean and how they changed, how and why the family came to America, where Polish Americans settled, how to search American records, and how to research the Polish side step by step.
Each guide is a starting point with in-depth articles below it. For individual record types, from Polish baptisms to American naturalization files, see the Polish-American genealogy records section.
The five guides
Guide 1
Polish Surnames
Meanings, endings, spelling and name changes
- The Most Common Polish Last Names and Their Meanings
- Polish Female Last Names: -ska, -owa and -ówna
- Did Ellis Island Change Your Polish Name? How Polish Names Were Americanized
- Polish First Names in Old Records: English, Latin and Russian Equivalents
- Polish Coats of Arms and Noble Families: What Your Surname Can and Cannot Tell You
Guide 2
Polish Immigration
Why they left, when they came and where they settled
- The Partitions of Poland: Why Your Ancestor Was Born in Russia, Prussia or Austria
- Where Polish Immigrants Settled in America
- Polish Displaced Persons and the Displaced Persons Act of 1948
- Haller’s Army: Polish-American Volunteers of the First World War
- Polish American Heritage Month: History and Ways to Trace Your Roots
Polish Immigration to America: A History for Family Historians
Guide 3
Polish America
Chicago, Detroit, Buffalo, Pittsburgh and the rest of Polish America
- Polish Chicago: Neighborhoods, Parishes and Genealogy Records
- Polish Detroit and Hamtramck: Parishes, Neighborhoods and Records
- Polish Buffalo: Broadway-Fillmore, Parishes and Genealogy Records
- Polish Milwaukee and Wisconsin: Parishes, Farms and Records
- Polish Pittsburgh: Polish Hill, the Mill Towns and Genealogy Records
- Polish Cleveland: Warszawa, Slavic Village and Genealogy Records
- Polish Pennsylvania: Anthracite Coal Towns and Their Records
- Polish New York and New Jersey: Greenpoint, Jersey City and Beyond
- Polish New England: Massachusetts and Connecticut Mill Towns and Farms
- Polish Texas: Panna Maria and the Silesian Settlements
Guide 4
US Records
Ellis Island, the census, first papers, churches, newspapers and cemeteries
- How to Search Ellis Island Records for Polish Ancestors
- US Census Records 1900 to 1950: What Each Census Tells You About a Polish Immigrant
- The 1950 Census: Finding Polish-American Families
- Declaration of Intention: Your Ancestor’s First Papers Explained
- Catholic Church Records in the US: How to Request Baptism and Marriage Records
- Polish National Catholic Church: History and Genealogy Records
- Polish-American Newspapers for Genealogy: Obituaries and Death Notices
- Polish-American Cemeteries: Gravestones, Burial Records and Polish Inscriptions
US Genealogy Records: How to Search American Sources for Polish Ancestors
Guide 5
Research How-To
A step-by-step method, the databases and the archives
Research notes
Shorter pieces on single problems: why the village name on your ancestor’s papers is probably wrong, what Polish records look like before 1918 and the American documents that name a Polish village. All of them are collected under Research Notes.
When a guide takes you as far as you can go on your own, the research projects pick up from there.