Re: Zielke

Jerry Frank †, Samstag, 22.10.2005, 19:56 (vor 7356 Tagen) @ Leslie

There were hundreds of thousands of Germans in Volhynia and Russian Poland. If you include Prussian territory (where Bromberg was located) you are dealing with millions. Your search, without a place name, is like looking for a needle in a haystack.

Since you are writing in a Volhynian / Wolhynien forum, is there any indication that the family once lived there?

It is important to conduct all possible research in your home region (I assume it is North America since you are writing in English?) so that you can get a name of a town or parish that will help you to narrow your search. Have you looked at ship records? They often show a place of origin. Church records, naturalization papers, censuses, family Bibles - all might point to the right location.

Where did they live upon arrival? Perhaps they moved near friends and you can find a place name that way. Give us more information about the research you have completed and we may be able to help you more.

Please note that Henry Cilke was probably not ethnically Polish. That is simply the Polish way to spell Zielke as the C carries a Z or Tz sound. Another variant you will have to consider in your search is Schielke.

There is an English language site that may be of additional help to you - [link]http://www.sggee.org[link] . It serves Germans from Russian Poland and Volhynia. However, before using the resources there, you still need to get a place name.