US Records · Cemeteries
A Polish gravestone in an American cemetery can carry the one fact the family has lost: the place of birth, carved in Polish. The cemetery office often holds even more.
Where Polish Americans were buried
Most Polish Catholic families were buried in Catholic cemeteries run by the diocese or by the Polish parish itself. Large cities had cemeteries that became almost entirely Polish, such as St. Adalbert in Niles and Resurrection in Justice outside Chicago, or St. Stanislaus in Cheektowaga outside Buffalo. Polish National Catholic parishes and some fraternal societies had cemeteries of their own.
Reading Polish inscriptions
| Inscription | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Ś.P. (świętej pamięci) | of blessed memory, before the name of the deceased |
| Tu spoczywa | here lies |
| ur. (urodzony, urodzona) | born |
| zm. (zmarł, zmarła) | died |
| rodem z | native of, followed by the village or town |
| w parafii | in the parish of |
| żył lat, żyła lat | lived … years |
| Pokój jego duszy, Pokój jej duszy | peace to his soul, peace to her soul |
Burial and interment records
- Interment records give the date of burial, the grave location, the address of the deceased and often the funeral home
- Lot ownership records show who bought the grave, which links family members buried together
- Funeral home records can give parents’ names and the name of the informant
- Parish burial registers record the funeral Mass, sometimes with the birthplace
Online indexes
Volunteer sites such as Find a Grave and BillionGraves have photographs and transcriptions of millions of graves, and some Polish genealogical societies have indexed whole cemeteries. Transcriptions are often wrong for Polish names and dates: always look at the photograph of the stone.
Graves next to your ancestor’s are often those of relatives or people from the same village. Photograph the whole row, not just the one stone.
How we can help
We use gravestones, interment cards and parish burial registers within Immigration & Passenger Records to confirm dates and recover the place of birth.