Explanation of the HalGal Database
Using the HalGal Database is easy!
First, type in the village or parish name
You can type in:
- Polish without the diacritic marks (no hooks, slashes or accents)
- Ukrainian in English transliterated form (not Cyrillic). For a
list of Ukrainian letters and their transliterated equivalent, please
visit my
HalGal Database Transliteration
Table. For searching this database, do NOT type apostrophe ( '
) for the Ukrainian soft sign.
Then just click the OK button.
There are two separate search methods:
- Proper Polish Search will yield results in
proper Polish spelling with diacritic marks (hooks, slashes and
accents) plus transliterated Ukrainian. This is not Ukrainian in its
proper Ukrainian alphabet, but rather a transliterated form using letters in
the Roman alphabet (like English).
- Proper Ukrainian Search will yield
results in
proper Ukrainian Cyrillic spelling along with a transliterated form.
The Polish results is a simplified format that does not use proper Polish
letters of the alphabet that contain diacritic marks (hooks, slashes and
accents.)
What villages and parishes are currently in the Database?
This Database is based on the holdings of Greek Catholic parish registers
housed at the Central State Historical Archives of Ukraine
in the city of Lviv. Any village or parish that is listed in that
archive's Greek Catholic parish registers' inventory will be in the HalGal
Database. I've also included any of the popular spelling variations for
each of the villages.
Important Note: Please understand that some village names were popular.
One can find dozens of villages with popular names across western Ukraine and
southeastern Poland. Sometimes, the archive's inventory includes specific
information on the specific county of the particular village. But in many
cases, such information is not listed. The only way to determine the
correct village is to read the particular church register.
Explanation of Results
Several items will be given if the village or parish is found in the HalGal
Database.
The first table/row contains the locality's name in the following formats:
- Simple Polish, which is Polish without the diacritic marks.
- Polish, which contains the specific diacritic marks.
- Ukrainian Transliteration, which is the Ukrainian spelling using my
English Transliteration Format. For further information on the
transliteration system I use, please consult my page on
my transliteration table.
-
Ukrainian Cyrillic, which is how the name appears in proper Ukrainian.
-
UkrNoApostrophe, which is an incorrect transliteration, but a field that
is necessary for the database to work. (It's simply a proper Ukrainian
Transliteration without the apostrophe.)
Important Note: Getting the different alphabets of the world to
work correctly on a website is a challenge....not only for the programmer, but
for the user (which is you!). You may have to set your browser to
read the text on the page in the right language setting....commonly known as
ENCODING. For Internet Explorer users, when you are looking at a
particular page, click on VIEW on the top line of your computer. Then
click on ENCODING. Choose one of the following:
- For Polish, choose the encoding Central European Windows. (this will
make the Ukrainian Cyrillic NOT work)
- For Ukrainian Cyrillic, choose the encoding Cyrillic Windows or Cyrillic
1251. (this will make the Polish NOT work)
The second table contains the specific information on that locality's
church registers housed at the Central State Historical Archives of Ukraine,
city of Lviv. Here's an explanation of each of the columns:
Sprava: This is the file number used by the archives. You
can use this file number when requesting information from the archives to help
speed the process. Please note that you MUST ALSO include the information
FOND 201, OPYS 4a. This is the catalog number used by the archives
to organize their enormous collection of documents, books and records.
So, for example, if you are interested in Sprava number 6247, the full catalog
number for this church registry is: Fond 201, Opys 4a, Sprava
6247.
DocDescription: This is a full description of the type of
document as listed in the inventory. Please note that Bishop's Copy means
that this is a copy of the original church register that had to be made by each
parish priest for the Bishop.
Dates1 and Dates2: Sometimes, the inventory lists two sets of
dates for the particular church register. It is not clear which dates are
correct. In my own experience, I've found that sometimes the first set of
dates is right, sometimes the second. Again, the only way to determine
which is correct is to read the actual church register.
Additional Information: Sometimes, the inventory listed
additional information, such as the name of the county (povit, powiat) of the
particular village and/or parish. This information is especially critical
for names of localities that are common across the region.
Film: This is the Film Number of the records as cataloged by the
Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah. These films are available
for use either at the Family History Library or your local Family History
Center. For information on requesting the microfilms from your local
Family History Center, please visit my page on the the Family
History Library and Family History Centers.
I would like to thank the administration and staff of the Central State
Historical Archives of Ukraine, city of Lviv, especially its director, Dr. Diana
Pelts!
Ready to try some searching yourself? Visit the
HalGal Database of the Greek Catholic Church Registers of
TsDIAL.