i dont know if an ancestor was polish or german

one of my great grandmonthers had a polish name, ludwika but i cant find her maiden name on her husbands last name & it is a common central northern german name or somthing like that(i forgot the name)& the only record i know of just says they are from prussia & came to america in the 1800s when all the other germans came was it common for poles & germans toget married back then since prussia was in germany & poland? do you think shes german or polish

You need to spend some time at wikipedia to check the history of Poland. There was a time when the country wasn't on the map.

This is a time when Polish people appeared to be Prussian, Russian, Austrian.

You really need the name of the town your family came from to get things in order.

The name of the town might be mentioned at Ellis Island Records or on the Ship's Manifest.

they came before ellis island opened because there kids were born in illinois in the 1860s & both ludwika & her husband where born in prussia

It's possible that she was Polish. Intermarriages were not too common, but did happen. I am proof of that. :-)

But, I also have a Ludwika in my line who was German. Her first name was recorded in the Polish form because they lived in Congress Poland (where vital statistics were by law recorded either in Polish, or later in Russian).

However, since your family were from the Prussian part of the partition, and her name is a Polish first name for Louise, I believe there is a good chance she actually was Polish. There would be no legal reason that I know of to change it to a Polish form. Maybe someone else will know more.

Again, find the town name, and you may also be able to learn what parish she was from, and look up the marriage record which would have her maiden name.

Good luck!

Names and birthplaces may provide hints but are far from conclsuive. Only genetic testing can determine true ethnicity. Even that is said to be flawed.

Then you need: castlegarden.org

I think she was Polish, Prussia was German occupied, many poles left in the 1880, unless you can find where she came from in Prussia (what parish) it's impossible to find records, my gr-grandparents left in 1883, I'm shearching ships logs to try to find a parish name. I hope this helps ,good luck, Rinny

in the 80s my dad did some reaserch on his moms side(only side he knew parents where divorsed) & found out that some of our family came over from france(now belgium) & can be traced back to 1300 because they where nobles or something & then found out some of his great great grandparents came from prussia but all what he could find was that there names where theadore & ludwika selhorst from prussia 1867 or before

Selhorst shows up at familysearch.

The entries may or may not be your family, but some are from Prussia.

It's worth checking.

maybe they left because of the ausrto-prussian war that was in 1866 or the schleswig wars where in the 1850s(eventhought that was in denmark)


i look on there once & think i found them but it only said prussia & didnt have ludwikas maiden name :(

familysearch.org/eng/default.asp
i found their page on family search!

bridget woolschock is the grandmother & i guess woolschock is a german name she might have changed her name to a more american one when she came here

but i still think they might be a bit polish

what kind of name is Ludiaseka? i feel bad for her because her brothers & sisters had "normal" names like elizabeth & john but she had that name

now i know they came over before 1850

p.s. no offence to people named Ludiaseka

This website helped me find my family. Lots of Americans find records in the USA that only say their family came from German-Poland. No villages mentioned or parishes. I got death certificates, ship's records, and censuses and all I could find was German-Poland. And a place that my aunt kind of remembered.

But, I knew the names of my grandparents, and great-grandparents and the name of my great-great grandfather and his wife's first name. I wanted to know what her maiden name was and the exact villages where the family originated.

Enter the Poznan Project, lots of people volunteered to transcribe the parish marriage records in Poznan/Posen, and put them in a searchable form online. I found my family, (it all fit....names and even the place that my aunt remembered), and then wrote to the parish and got the details of where the parents of the bride and groom were from, the witnesses to the wedding, etc.

bindweed.man.poznan.pl/posen/search.php

i looked but it said they dont have german names & when i put woolschock it had polish names like it but no ludwicka or theadore

I see that there is no exact match for Woolschock. But they do have German names. And some that are very close. Spellings of names changed a lot over the years. Maybe one is the way Woolschocck was once spelled. Or maybe Posen is not the area of Prussia that you need. It is a start at eliminating things and then investigating others.

On the simple one name search, many German and Polish names came up:

Approximate matches
Protestant community in Poznań - Św.Piotr [Posen-Petrikirche], entry # 8 in 1850 score: Groom: 64%

Carl Ludwig Wilscheck (27)

Auguste Dorothea Buch (23)

Protestant community in Międzyrzecz [Meseritz], entry # 31 in 1835 score: Groom: 61%

Ferdinand Wolschke (37) father: Paul Wolschke

Johanna Kurzhan nee Albrecht (40) Additional information: Witwe Christian Kurzhan

Protestant community in Międzyrzecz [Meseritz], entry # 32 in 1835 score: Groom: 61%

Ernst Albert Wolschke (28) father: Gottfried Wolschke

Bertha Viebig (33) father: David Viebig

Protestant community in Międzyrzecz [Meseritz], entry # 4 in 1837 score: Groom: 61%

Johann Samuel Wolschke (34) father: Johann Paul Wolschke

Marie Dorothea Korduan (26) father: Gottfried Korduan

Protestant community in Międzyrzecz [Meseritz], entry # 8 in 1837 score: Bride: 61%

Ludwig Ferdinand Baum (42)

Caroline Wilhelmine Wolschke nee Hepke (42) Additional information: Witwer/Witwe des Heinrich Wolschke

Protestant community in Międzyrzecz [Meseritz], entry # 25 in 1840 score: Bride: 61%

Franz Ludwig Kirslauter (45)

Anna Rosina Wolschke (37) Additional information: Witwe des Friedrich Wilhelm Wolschke

Protestant community in Międzyrzecz [Meseritz], entry # 30 in 1868 score: Bride: 61%

Johann Gustav Schneeweiss (24) father: Beniamin Schneeweiss

Johanna Elisabeth Wolschke (27) father: Eduard Wotschke

it could also be an incorrect spelling of the surname Wolszczak (which is probably Polish)

they could of changed it because bridget is irish


oh just so you know i ment like bridget changed her first & last name bridget is irish & woolschock looks german

are there any geneology web sites for all of prussia?

Yes, there are plenty. And there are specific ones for specific areas. All you need to do is type in "Prussian geneology" on any search engine and you will find them.

One handy website has research links for Polish and Prussian research.
This is the link:

http://maxpages.com/poland/Prussian_Research

thanks :)

You're welcome! Good luck!

i still havent found out where they lived :( i need more help

I live near Miedzyrzecz in Poland, it was a German territory before WW II, but many Poles lived here as well.

i was doing some research & now im pretty sure they where catholic i think they have records on rootsweb from saint mary's help of christians & the whole list is from 1848- 1871 so the time is right too

Selhorst, Augusta Bride 149
Selhorst, Eduard aka 63
Selhorst, Elisabeth Witness 141
Selhorst, Ida Baptized 31
Selhorst, Ida Died 213
Selhorst, John Theodore Baptized 47
Selhorst, Ludovica aka 13
Selhorst, Ludvica aka 13
Selhorst, Ludwina aka 295
Selhorst, Ludwina Baptized 13
Selhorst, Mary Witness 159
Selhorst, Pauline Bride 141
Selhorst, Theodore aka 63
Selhorst, Theodore Father 13 31 47 141 149 213
Selhorst, Theodore Spouse 295
Sellhorst, Augusta Witness 137
Sellhorst, Eduard Baptized 63
Sellhorst, Elisabeth Witness 135
Sellhorst, Ludovica Died 295
Sellhorst, Theodore Father 63
Wolshock, Bridget Died 271
Wolshock, Ludovica aka 47 295
Wolshock, Ludovica Mother 149
Wolshock, Ludwina aka 31 149
Wolshock, Ludwina Mother 13
Wolshok, Ludovica Mother 47
Wolszak, Ludwina aka 213
Wolszak, Ludwina Mother 31
Wolszok, Ludovica Mother 213
Wolzak, Ludovica Mother 63
Wolzake, Ludovica aka 47 47

some of these names asre nothing like they are sapouse to be but they are close maybe some miss spellings occured

i looked up Wolszak & it said that its from radom, Wolzak is from kraśnik