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DOBZEN, PLOCK ? Need more information


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 Jul 14, 11, 17:38    #1
Just learned that my great-grandfather was born in Dobzen, Plock. Can anyone enlighten me? I know that Plock is a city but I don't know about Dobzen. Any ideas about how to do further research? He was born on 3/29/1873. I am uncertain about his religion. He died in the United States as a Catholic but I think only because he married my great-grandmother who was a devout Catholic whose ancestors were from Poland but I don't know where in Poland and have been unable to find out.
Thanks! I love this forum.

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 Jul 14, 11, 17:43    #2
SoaringSoftly:
Dobzen, Plock


u are missing an 'R' Dobrzen
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 Jul 14, 11, 18:12    #3
have a look at this. what u want is probably on the list, but with a different spelling.

http://www.traveljournals.net/explore/poland/locations/d/29.html
teresa55Threads: -
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 Jul 15, 11, 10:29    #4
Look at :

http://www.archiwum.plock.com/index_g.php
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 Oct 28, 11, 16:58    #5
Not finding the name here but so much of the site is in Polish which I can't translate.
boletusThreads: 47
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 Oct 28, 11, 18:24    #6
SoaringSoftly:
I know that Plock is a city but I don't know about Dobzen.

This is most probably a town "Dobrzyń nad Wisłą" (Dobrzyn on the Vistula), 32 km downstream from Płock. The Polish wikipedia has some info here: http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dobrzyń_nad_Wisłą , the English one has only some scarce information here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dobrzyń_nad_Wisłą .
[I was about to recommend to you the Polish official site of the town of Dobrzyń nad Wisłą, www.dobrzyn.pl/ , and suggest google translation of some of its selected pages, but for some reason the site crashed twice my WI-FI connection. So be warned.]

There are altogether eight Dobrzyń places in Poland, but the only realistic alternative for your search is Golub-Dobrzyń (actually two twin towns on both sides of Drwęca river) since it is not that far from Płock (85 km due North) and it used to be part of Russian Płock Province during Partitions.
SoaringSoftlyThreads: 2
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 Nov 2, 11, 15:45    #7
Thank you so much for the information! So Dobrzyn nad Wisla is probably not the one he was born in even though it is only 32 km from Plock? The one you think is the most realistic is probably the one as my grandfather stated on many documents that he was born in "Russia" and you state that Golub-Dobrzyn used to be part of the Russian Plock Province about that time. How does Pomerania figure in? My great-grandmother stated on her emigration docs that the last place the family lived was "Pomerania". That would have been in 1885.
How do I do further research on any Catholic church records from Golub-Dobrzyn? I'm not finding anything on familysearch.org nor ancestry.com for this family.
Thank you so much!
Yeah, my computer crashed on the site you mentioned too!
boletusThreads: 47
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Edited by: boletus  Nov 2, 11, 16:40    #8
SoaringSoftly:
Thank you so much for the information! So Dobrzyn nad Wisla is probably not the one he was born in even though it is only 32 km from Plock? The one you think is the most realistic is probably the one as my grandfather stated on many documents that he was born in "Russia" and you state that Golub-Dobrzyn used to be part of the Russian Plock Province about that time. How does Pomerania figure in? My great-grandmother stated on her emigration docs that the last place the family lived was "Pomerania". That would have been in 1885.
How do I do further research on any Catholic church records from Golub-Dobrzyn? I'm not finding anything on familysearch.org nor ancestry.com for this family.


I am sorry, there was some miscommunication here: I really meant that both towns/settlements are equally good candidates for your search - as opposed to other places from distant parts of Poland. Both are relatively close to Płock, both used to be part of Russian Province of Płock. I really have to add one thing with respect to Golub-Dobrzyń: Golub used to be in Prussian Partition, while Dobrzyń was in Russian one. Drwęca was a border river at those times. This may have something to do with your grandmother's reference to Pomerania. And historically, dating back, both towns were subjects to frequent border wars between Poland and Teutonic Knights.

I am not involved in any genealogy project, so I have no family search experience and I cannot provide you with any standard feedback regarding availability of records. All I can suggest is based on some common sense. To start with, you may try to dig some information about the perceived size of your grandfather's "Dobrzyń". Dobrzyń and Wisłą - even though historically old - is actually very small: it currently has 2,246 inhabitants. The "Dobrzyń" part of Golub-Dobrzyń, on the other hand, has 10,071 inhabitants. Apparently this "Dobrzyń" is few times bigger than the other one. I can only assume that the similar ratio existed in 19 century.

The next thing to check concerns religion. You seemed to be implying that your great-grandfather became Catholic just of the great devotion to his wife. So what religion was he born into? This might be an important piece of information. For example, Golub-Dorzyń is accessible via JewishGen Locality database, suggesting that there were Jews living in that area. Check for example this: http://data.jewishgen.org/wconnect/wc.dll?jg~jgsys~community~-502272 , or this: http://www.jewishgen.org/jri-pl/town/golub-dobrzyn.htm .


I should also add that - as suggested by other posters here - the name "Dobrzeń" could also be considered as one of the candidates. My cursory search shows that there are two such places, but they are located in Silesia and Opole Voivodship - South-West, way away from Płock.

Good luck.
boletusThreads: 47
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 Nov 2, 11, 20:57    #9
boletus:
Dobrzyń and Wisłą

My overzealous, self-correcting editors drive me crazy sometimes: this should obviously be "Dobrzyń NAD Wisłą", not "Dobrzyń AND Wisłą". I am sure I typed "NAD".
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 Nov 2, 11, 21:30    #10
Dobrzyń nad Wisłą had a very large jewish population before WW2. It was a wealthy trading port on the Wisla in times gone by.You can still find the ruins of a castle built by the Teutonic Knights

Here is a link http://www.castles-of-poland.com/?idzamku=dobrzyn
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 Nov 2, 11, 21:40    #11
Here is another link for you to look at http://www.jpreisler.com/MyWebsites.html



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