Jewish records (and other minority religions such as Lutheran and Mennonite records) are available in special archives in Poland and JewishGen is a helpful database site for Jewish records.
So far GENETEKA is primarily Roman Catholic and Greek Catholic records. Appearing in Greek Catholic records may indicate that the person is of Ruthenian (such as Lemko) heritage or of a different ethnic heritage than Hungarian or Polish. Research the surname as well, however, because there was intermarriage, especially as we go through the 1800's into the 1900's. Also given names will be a clue as to religion and ethnicity- more on that in another post.
Be aware that if a couple moved to a village where there was only a Roman Catholic church, they might attend and worship there, and so it was with Greek Catholic churches in villages. In America they might settle where an ethnic church and belong there. There might also have been agreements between the couple to raise some children in one religion and others - the other. Typically, if the mother was Greek Catholic, she might want her daughters raised in that church but might allow her sons to follow their Roman Catholic father. **
Just think practically. A person would work hard all week and want to see Church as a pleasure - a respite - and a social opportunity - but how far do they really want to travel? On foot?
If the town also had a Jewish temple, that might indicate that it has a larger population than a village.
What might indicate a "mixed" marriage? Well, if the priest writes in that Banns of Marriage have occurred in two different parishes or churches, that is a clue. Sometimes the name of the church or the name of the other village appears. Check these out on church and village history sites! You may find the name of the church, see photos of it, even find it on a YouTube video tour.
What are banns of marriage? A public announcement - back in the day usually from the pulpit - that a couple plan to marry. Usually three Sundays in a row. The idea was to give people who know the individuals to voice an objection to the marriage and stop it. A popular story device on soap-operas for sure! Check those dates for the day of the week they occurred. Usually this was right before the marriage - but not always. How much time passed between the third announcement and the marriage ceremony?
What were the good reasons to object?
Knowledge that a person is already married to someone else. Or that the person promised marriage to someone else who is alive.
In some cases, that there is some dispute involving the inheritance (of land usually) that needs to be resolved first. (Remember that Old Europeans did a lot of match making and that villagers might have decided what child would marry who when they grew up long before. Sure there were love matches but these were practical people.)
Knowledge that the man - potential father in particular - is not capable of supporting a family.
Too close a relationship. You will find that whole villages are somehow genetically related - many families intertwining. Still there was a general idea that too close cousin marriage was not a good idea.
A strong parental or authority figure objection or for some reason the marriage is seen locally as not good for the community.
The priest will record the names and parentage of the bride and groom including their ages. In some records the actual birth date is listed. If it says 11/3/1879 that means March 11, 1879. The day is first, the month is second.
Did people really not know how old they were? Or lie. It seems sometimes this is true. In my experience they are not too far off.
Legitimacy.
This is not just about being celibate until married for holy religious reasons. The priests baptized so many babies and the illegitimate ones tended not to thrive without the support of a father and everybody knew it. Remember at this time most women were wives and mothers and outside income was the husband's role. Sad to say but some women were taken advantage of by seducers, sexual harassers, and rapists. And sometimes people had affairs. The most important aspect of marriage was for the bearing of and raising of children. You see the death records and you see how few children made it to adulthood and begin to feel a sense of amazement when you notice someone died in their 70's because of senility (they were just old.)
The socio-cultural-religious system endorsed marriage as the best economic way as well.
One of my ancestors was married three times due to his wives dying before he died.
If you see one woman with multiple illegitimate children - no father's name or heritage mentioned - she may be someone who is unlucky in love, a prostitute, or having an affair with a married man. Follow her if you can and see if she every marries. ****
If you take the DNA test and it proves you are not the actual genetic heir of a person on your chart, well it's not unheard of.
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This post is part of a series on the subject. To pull all the topics up, click on the tag Pro Genealogy Tips - Galicia
Added note Feb 3 2022 Greek Catholic records do not conform to the Julian Calendar at all times and are usually behind. I.e Roman Catholic Christmas is December 25th, Greek Catholic (or Orthodox Christmas) is January 16th. Which means that if a person you are seeking on records was baptized in a Roman Catholic Church on Christmas, that same person baptized in the Greek tradition would show in records baptized on January 16th - and a different year! However, you'll have to research to find out when and where there was conformity and my feeling is this. If the records are in Latin or Polish and not Cyrillic script, then they are likely following the Julian Calander.
** But since the Roman Catholic Church used to insist that anyone who married there would promise to raise their children Roman Catholic, you may find the children all follow the parent whose church they married in.
*** see also how long the children live.
Added note April 2023 JewishGen appears to have sold their database to Ancestry TM.
Added note April 2023. Geneteka is uploading some Lutheran records under the term Evangelical.
