RESEARCH SERVICES OFFERED BY JONATHAN D. SHEA
Additional research resources to enhance your family's story
"We treat your research as if it was our own."
CATHOLIC PARISH REGISTERS
Registers for the Archdioceses of Hartford, Connecticut and Providence,
Rhode Island can also be researched at an hourly rate. Fee: to be determined.
INFORMATION FROM GAZETTEERS
Entries from your ancestral village from the 1934, 1967 and 1982
gazetteers of Poland. The 1934 gazetteer covers portions of Poland that are now in
Belarus, Ukraine and Lithuania. It omits, however, parts of western Poland that were under
German control at that time. Fee $1.00 per page.
LOCAL VITAL RECORDS OFFICES HOLDINGS LISTS
A list of vital records that existed in the Polish USC (local vital
statistics office) in the early 1980s. This list enumerates records of all religions that
were under the jurisdiction of the local civil authorities and covers records for the
1880-1945 period. These records were largely religious records that were seized by the
government and used as civil records. They are arranged by vital statistics office, so
please send all qualifying geographical information to help us determine which office is
the proper one for your locality of interest. Note these are lists of birth, marriage, and
death volumes for each locality and the years they cover. They are not lists
of names -- names can be found in the records themselves. These lists let
you know if the records you are searching for do exist and will give you concrete
information you can cite when writing to Polish archives and churches. Fee: $3.00 per
locality.
MILITARY MAPS
If you specify a location we can send you a photocopy of a portion of a
detailed map showing your village of origin. Fee: 50 cents per 8.5 x 11 inch sheet of
paper copied. If you provide incomplete or inaccurate info and we have to use other
sources to find the village, that portion of the hourly research rate will apply.
PASSENGER LIST RESEARCH
We will search the microfilm holdings of the ports of New York and
Boston. (1897-1942). Contact us for further details. At this time research for other ports
and time periods is not available. We speak Polish, Spanish, French, Italian, Russian and
have knowledge of Lithuanian, Belarussian which makes us distinct from others who offer
the same research service. Our extensive phonetic and linguistic knowledge helps us to
determine alternate spellings of both first and last names. Fee: to be determined.
POLISH-AMERICAN CEMETERY INSCRIPTIONS
We can check for inscriptions gathered principally from Polish-American
cemeteries in Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, New Jersey
and parts of Pennsylvania (mostly Central or northeast PA). Some but by no means all
inscriptions for non-Polish parish cemeteries are also in this collection. Your request
MUST specify a location. We also have inscriptions from the following cemeteries in
Poland: Dabrowa Bialostocka, Majewo, Rozanystok and Grodzisk in the former province of
Bialystok; Przytuly and Stawiski in the former province of Lomza, Myszyniec in the former
Province of Ostroleka; and Wola Ranizowska in the former Galicia. Fee: $2.00 per surname
per locality.
POLISH DIOCESAN CHURCH DIRECTORIES
Polish diocesan church directories, issued at periodical intervals by
diocesan officials, can be located for your ancestral parish. The guides vary in quality.
Some merely list the church's address, others provide a brief history, a photograph of the
church, a list of villages that belong to the parish and other statistical information.
Fee: $2.00 per page.
POLISH TELEPHONE DIRECTORY RESEARCH
Research can be done in our collection of Polish provincial phone
books. Because these directories are NOT one master alphabetical list, an hourly research
fee will be charged for a thorough search of the entire directory (average time is 2
hours). Most directories date from the 1990s, and after 2000 addresses are not
given. Still, this can be a way to find living relatives
in Poland when other leads fail you. Fee: for one surname in a specific locality, the fee is $2.00 per entry,
or $15.00 per hour to research the whole book.
SPEAKERS
Speakers can be provided to address your group or organization on
Polish/Eastern European or Italian Research. All speakers are credentialed professional
genealogists. Send your requests to the e-mail links below under Contact.
TRANSLATIONS
Translations are offered of vital registry entries in Polish and
Russian only. Available at a lower rate are extracts ($5.00 per extract)
in which the vital information is transferred onto pre-printed forms we have devised for
this purpose. You must send a sample copy of the material to be translated for
evaluation purposes. (Fee: varies according to the nature of the material to be
translated -- that's why we need a sample copy, so we can quote an accurate price.)
VITAL RECORDS AND OTHER RESEARCH in CONNECTICUT,
MASSACHUSETTS, and RHODE ISLAND
Document retrieval rates are dependent on what type of vital records
you need and the quantity (i. e., retrieving one record vs. general research of a whole
family unit). Fee: to be determined.
CONTACT:
For all inquiries, write
to: Jdmshea@aol.com. Please use this
address only
to order copies or services. Much as he would like to help you, answers to general
questions such as "How do I do genealogy?" are simply beyond the scope of what
he can offer here.