Semanchuk.com - Genealogy - Bukowsko Spis Parafialny Records from Bukowsko Roman Catholic Church powiat Sanok, województwo Krosno

The following records were compiled by Debbie Greenlee. She is the owner and author of this page.

The PDF files to the left are a translation of the records contained in the “Spis Parafialny” (status animarum in Latin) for the villages within the jurisdiction of the Bukowsko Roman Catholic Church except for the village of Bukowsko itself. These villages include Bełchówka, Kamienne, Karlików, Kożuszne, Płonna, Przybyszów, Ratnawica, Szczawne, Tokarnia, Wisłok, Wola Piotrowa, Wysoczany, Zboiska and Wolica. Most of these villages were predominantly Greek Catholic however, since some Roman Catholics did live in the villages, the priest had to count them. A “spis” is a sort of census taken by the priests in Poland on an annual basis. However, this particular spis was used for many decades with no indication of when anything was recorded. Consequently I can not say when a record was first written in the “spis.” The “spis” should not be considered a document of proof since most of the information recorded happened after the event and was not compared for accuracy with the baptismal, marriage and death records by the priest. Most information was provided by those whom the priest “counted.” The dates of events in the villages vary greatly. However, except for the village of Bukowsko, the earliest date was 1809 in Bełchówka and the most recent date was 1979 in Zboiska.

It is strongly suggested that researchers check all villages regardless of whether the ancestors were Roman Catholic or Greek Catholic and regardless of their place of birth. Many records indicated that the birth and marriage occurred in a village other than the one the people were “counted in.” Even though the priest was counting the Roman Catholics, Greek Catholics were also listed if there was a familial relationship with the Roman Catholic.

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You will find numerous question marks in my translation as well as notations that I could not read the image. The “spis” is falling apart and it has torn pages. The pages did not have lines so the writing was often haphazard, written in pencil, colored pencil and pen. There were places where information was written over other information. There were inconsistencies when it came to the placement of information on the pages. It was difficult sometimes to connect families. It was impossible to put the “spis” information into a table so it is presented similar to the way it appears in the book itself.

Due to the fact that many people were Ukrainian, Łemko and so on, great care was taken to insure that I spelled given names, surnames and places correctly. I used several reference books to accomplish this.

If you have any questions or would like a copy of the spis image please contact Debbie Greenlee.

By the way, don’t hold your breath for the Bukowsko records. The spis has over 1,000 pages with Bukowsko filling most of them. I will translate them eventually but there are other Bukowsko records to translate first which I think will be more helpful.

By the way, don't hold your breath for the Bukowsko village “spis” records. The spis has over 1,000 pages with Bukowsko filling most of them. Two volunteers are helping me index the Bukowsko section of the spis listing surnames, page numbers and house numbers. That will be the extent of the transcribing of this section. Once the index is completed and put online, people will be able to request copies of the images of particular pages.

Works Cited

Polish Surnames: Origins and Meanings, William F. Hoffman

First Names of the Polish Commonwealth: Origins and Meanings, William F. Hoffman

Genealogical Gazetteer of Galicia, Brian J. Lenius

Słownika nazwisk współcześnie w Polsce używanych, Kazimierz Rymut
(Online at http://www.herby.com.pl/)