Place Name Methodology

Use the following fields:
Village
Parish
County (Pol: powiat; Ukr: povit)
State = Galicia
Country:

• Country = Poland (before 1772)
  
• = Austria (1772-1866)
  
• = Austrіa-Hungary (1867-1918)
  
• = Poland (between WWI and WWII)
  
• = Poland or U.S.S.R. (after WWII).  (depending on location of village)
  
• = Poland or Ukraine (after 1991).  (depending on location of village)

Remember to enter these localities as they were AT THE TIME of the record. It is easier to document in one place all of the border changes for parish, county, and country.

If your software program doesn’t have enough spaces for these Place Name types, take out County. Parish is more important than County since your vital records were produced by the parish priest and the archives/microfilm/registry office would most likely house the record book by Parish.

The dates above are meant to be used as a generalization.  I realize that over the course of the centuries, parts of our region of Halychyna / Eastern Galicia came under control of other groups:

September 1939 - June 1941: the territory is controlled by the Soviet Union
June 1941 - July 1944: the territory is controlled by Nazi Germany
November 1918 - 1919: the territory is fought over by the newly formed countries of Poland and Western Ukrainian People's Republic.
Of course, one would have to do very detailed research to determine one's own village's border during these times; a task made especially difficult by the changing borders of advancing and retreating troops.  Of course, even in September 1939, a Polish government in exile was set up in London, still claiming itself as the legitimate government of pre-WWII border Poland.  So, could births taken place during the Second World War be considered Poland still?  To make things simple in a not-so-simple world, I suggest you use the dates listed at the very top.

House Numbers:
If you have an extra place for a Detail of the birth, marriage, or death, you should include the house number.

I use the following system for noting house numbers
Abbreviated Village Name + House Number
Example: Czer63  =  house no. 63 in village of Czeremosznia
               Usz63  =  house no. 63 in village of Usznia

Once you start researching your ancestors in the village, you’ll often find relatives going to and coming from neighboring villages. This way you can keep track easily. You can easily sort criteria in your software program to study household movements.

To learn more about House Numbers in Western Ukrainian/Eastern Galician records, visit my page dedicated to this often overlooked but interesting part of the vital record:  the House Number.