Cemetery Surname Records
About the Cemetery Records
Starting in 1981, volunteers from the PGSCTNE began collecting names and dates from cemeteries in the Northeast, Canada and from their ancestral villages in Poland. They drove from town to town collecting this valuable information and spent many more hours indexing all of it.
The cemeteries from Poland in our listings are all in rural areas. Some were overgrown with dense vegetation during our visits and it was not always possible to get to all the headstones. We copied all the gravesites that were accessible.
Monuments in many of these cemeteries date only from the late 1800s. In rural areas, wooden crosses and metal plates were commonly used as grave markers, most of which have decayed and rusted with the passage of time. Thus, although these cemeteries are hundreds of years old, most of the surviving monuments are a century old or less. The older monuments that survived were constructed of stone and wrought iron.
To date, we have over 125,000 surnames in our index alone. The actual number of individuals we have recorded is in the hundreds of thousands.
Although we copy all information on every stone, our index only contains surnames. Each plot in each cemetery is given a specific plot code number. This code number consists of the cemetery code, which designates a cemetery and a plot number, assigned by the society. If you have found a surname of interest with plot number, you can order all of the information found in that plot.
Example Plot Code - US Cemetery
CTA100
- CTA is the cemetery code assigned to St. Joseph’s Cemetery in Stratford, Connecticut.
- 100 is the plot number we have assigned a specific plot which contains information on everyone buried in this plot.
Each plot number can contain any amount of names, various surnames and first names. A small number of plots only have a surname, as this was the only information which appeared on the gravestone.
Sample Plot Number CTA100
BRZOZOWY
Tu spoczywa Stas Brzozowy
ur. 6 list 1916-2 mar 1917
Jozef i Marcyanna BRZOZOWI
Walter Edward 1906-1964
son of Joseph and Marcyanna
Joseph 1871-1930
wife Marcyanna NODOTEK 1878-1969
son Joseph E. BROZO
Pvt USA WWI
d. May 22, 1977
wife Catherine 1900-1958
Example Plot Code - Poland Cemetery
LOD100
- LOD is the cemetery code assigned to the cemetery in Myszyniec, Mazowieckie province.
- 100 is the plot number we have assigned a specific plot which contains information on everyone buried in this plot.
Each plot number can contain any amount of names, various surnames and first names.
Sample Plot Number LOD100
KOZAKIEWICZ
śp. Jan Kozakiewicz
zm. 14 VI 1926
jego żona
Aniela z WIRKOWSKICH
zm16 IV 1937
ich corka
Anastazja z KOZAKIEWICZÓW KORZENIECKA
zm śmiercia tragiczną
22 VII 1944
Please remit $2.00 per item (FREE for Members). Mail your check (along with the form) to:
Polish Genealogical Society of Connecticut and the Northeast, Inc.
Cemetery Inscription Project
8 Lyle Road
New Britain, CT 06053-2104
The money we receive will immediately go into our Cemetery Project Fund allowing us to continue this massive project and collect more names and information to help all of us search for our missing ancestors.
Poland Cemeteries
At present, our database covers the following areas:
Czarna Białostocka, Dąbrowa Białostocka, Grodzisk, Poryte, Przytuły, Rożanystok, Majewo, Myszyniec, Stawiski, and Wola Raniżowska.
United States Cemeteries
This database includes Polish cemeteries in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and several other states outside the Northeast (FL, IL, IN, OH, WI).
Canada Cemeteries
This database covers Polish burials in Canada, specifically from Quebec province.
It includes St. Michel Cemetery in Sherbrooke and Notre Dame Des Neiges Cemetery in Montreal.
