Pick a project size, pay once, and give us your question. Every project is a fixed number of research hours at a fixed price, with a written report at the end. No quotes, no hourly invoices, no surprises.
Prices are in US dollars. Payment is handled by Stripe: card, Apple Pay or Google Pay. Archive correspondence, copying fees and translation are included in every project.
Research projects
A research goal is one question: which village did my great-grandfather come from, or trace the Kowalczyk line back as far as the records go. Pick the project size that matches how many goals you have and how deep you want to go.
One narrow question, answered from the records.
The entry point most American families need: identify the ancestral village from the American documents, or obtain the first Polish records once the parish is known, or document one emigrant’s crossing from Poland to the United States.
- One research goal
- Written report with images and full translations
- Source list including unsuccessful searches
- Recommended next step
Professional research on one family line. One research goal.
Find the village and then go into the Polish registers: births, marriages and deaths of the emigrant’s parents and grandparents, or a complete account of one family’s emigration and settlement, or the evidence file for a citizenship case.
- One research goal, followed across archives and record types
- Written report, document images, full translations, sources
- Family group sheets for the generations found
- Recommended next step
Extensive research on your family tree. Up to two research goals.
Two lines back to the early nineteenth century, or one line as far as the registers survive; brick-wall ancestors; a family that moved between parishes and partitions; the Polish side and the American side documented together.
- Up to two research goals
- Everything in ESSENTIAL25, plus a documented pedigree chart
- Historical context for the villages and the period
- Priority scheduling
The most expansive research for your family tree. Up to four research goals.
All four grandparents’ Polish lines, or one family followed through land, court, military and residence records as well as the parish books, or a complete multi-generation history written to be handed down.
- Up to four research goals
- Everything in STANDARD50, plus a narrative family history
- Maps of the ancestral villages and their parishes
- A 30-minute video call with the researcher to walk through the findings
Included in every project
- Research in original Polish and American sources, on site where needed
- A written report in English, delivered as a PDF you can share and keep
- An image of every record found, with archive, volume and entry references
- Full translations from Polish, Russian, German and Latin
- Archive fees, copying and correspondence - no extras
- Negative searches documented, and a concrete recommendation for what to do next
Hours are research hours: time spent in records, correspondence with archives, analysis and writing. If a goal is reached early, the remaining hours go to the next step you choose. If a goal cannot be reached within the hours, the report says exactly how far the search got and what a further stage would involve. See the refund policy and the FAQ.
Research goals you can choose
These are the questions we are asked most often, with what each involves and the project size it usually fits. You can combine them in a STANDARD50 or PREMIUM100 project, or set a goal of your own.
Ancestral Village Identification
The right starting point for most American families. Before any Polish record can be found, we must establish which specific parish or civil registry district your family came from. We read the US immigration, naturalization, draft and church records for Polish clues, test the candidates against historical gazetteers and parish lists, and confirm the parish in the Polish registers. You receive a written identification with the reasoning shown, or, where certainty is not possible, a ranked shortlist with the evidence for and against each candidate. Usually FOCUS10; ESSENTIAL25 when the first Polish records should follow.
Parish & Civil Record Research
Once the parish is known, we search its registers for your family: births, marriages and deaths, generation by generation, in Roman Catholic parish books, civil registration, diocesan archives and the digitised collections that cover the parish. Marriage records are used to jump to earlier parishes. You receive every entry found as an image with a full translation, and family group sheets for the generations reconstructed. Usually ESSENTIAL25.
Family Tree Reconstruction
Several generations across parishes and record types, with every link proven by a record rather than a family story: registers, population books, land and notarial records, conscription lists. You receive a documented pedigree chart, family group sheets and a narrative of the family’s movements. Usually STANDARD50; PREMIUM100 for all four grandparents’ lines.
Immigration & Passenger Records
The crossing documented end to end: European departure lists, every arrival manifest at every port with its annotations read, naturalization files, alien registration, and the interwar Polish passport file with its photograph where one exists. You receive the documents, their translations and a written account of how, when and with whom your family came. Usually FOCUS10 for one person; ESSENTIAL25 for a family.
Polish Citizenship Evidence
For Americans with a Polish-born parent, grandparent or great-grandparent who want their citizenship confirmed. We assess the line of descent against the citizenship acts in force at each date, then locate and obtain the Polish records the application needs, in the form the Voivodeship Office accepts, with a checklist of the American documents to order. How citizenship by descent works. Start with the Citizenship Assessment below; the documents usually fit ESSENTIAL25.
Additional services
Fixed-price services for a single record, a single document or a single question, with no project required.
Single Document Retrieval
One specific birth, marriage or death record located in the Polish registers, obtained from the archive or parish, imaged and translated in full. For families who already know the parish, the name and the approximate year. Archive copying fees included. Official certified copies for legal use are quoted separately.
Buy nowArchival Document Translation
A record you already hold, in Polish, Russian, German or Latin, transcribed and translated in full with notes on what it tells you. One record is one register entry or one page of a letter. What is included. Sworn translations into Polish for official use are quoted separately.
Buy nowCitizenship Assessment
A written assessment of your line of descent against Polish citizenship law: whether the line holds, where it is weak, and exactly which Polish and American documents an application will need. If the line is broken, you find out here, before spending more.
Buy nowAncestral Village Travel Plan
Before you travel to Poland: a personalised plan for one ancestral village built from your research - the parish church and its records, the location of the family’s house or fields where the records allow, the cemetery, the archive that holds the registers, and practical notes on visiting. Available after a research project.
Buy nowPrinted Heirloom Report
Your report printed on archival paper in a cloth-bound binder with the document images, shipped to a US address. Made to be handed down. Available with any project.
Buy nowWhich project should you choose?
- You do not know which village your family came from: FOCUS10 with the goal Ancestral Village Identification.
- You know the parish and want the family’s records: ESSENTIAL25 with Parish & Civil Record Research.
- You want two lines, or one line as far back as it goes: STANDARD50.
- You want all four grandparents’ Polish lines, or a written family history: PREMIUM100.
- You need one known record, or cannot read one you have: Single Document Retrieval or Document Translation.
- You are thinking about a Polish passport through your ancestors: the Citizenship Assessment first.
How it works after you pay
- Stripe emails your receipt and takes you to the intake form: names with spelling variants, dates, places, your goal, and copies of any family papers.
- We confirm the research plan by email: which archives, which records, in what order. If your goal is not realistic within the project, we say so now and propose what is.
- Research, with a short progress note at the halfway point of larger projects.
- Your report, with every record, every translation and the next step.
Read how it works in full, or the FAQ for timelines, negative results and what happens if the records were destroyed.