While doing research for one of my clients, I stumbled upon a birth record that is a true treasure for any genealogist. It was a Greek Catholic baptism record from 1840 from the village of Stara Sól, Galicia (now Stara Sil, Ukraine), held at the Central State Historical Archives of Ukraine in Lviv.
Just this one record provided names for four (!) generations of the family I was researching. Such document alone can be the basis of a decent family tree. Let's have a look at it.
Baptism record of Baptism of Anna Solska
Translation from Latin
Date of birth: 9 (th of December, 1840)
Date of baptism: 9 (th of December, 1840)
Name: Anna
Religion: Catholic
Sex: female
Legitimate/Illegitimate: legitimate
House No. 139
Father: Joannes Solski, farmer, son of Elias Solski and Anna Plytycz, daughter of Peter Plytycz and Catharina Miklasiewicz
Mother: Catharina Zatwarska, daughter of Michael Zatwarski and Tatiana Hrycaj, daughter of Stephanus Hrycaj and Anna Łycan
Godparents: farmers of Stara Sol Ioannes Zatwarski, Helena, daughter of Peter Gurkas, potter Adalbertus Mariansky(?), Catharina, daughter of carpenter Georgius Turczyn.
So, not only do we have the child's parents' and all four grandparents' names, but also the names of maternal great-grandparents. Pretty good, isn't it?
Note, by the way, how the first names are Latinized (Joannes for Ivan, Elias for Illya etc.), while the last names are spelled in Polish. Also, it is interesting that denomination is not specified - Greek or Roman Catholic. It seems that the differences between the two were not accentuated. Unsurprisingly, intermarriages between Greek and Roman Catholics in Galicia were very common.
Now, as much as I would like all records from Galicia to be this informative, I must admit that this is rather an exception, than a rule. As you can see from this FamilySearch Wiki page on Austrian Poland Church Records, records from this region used to contain more limited information. I am guessing, it was up to the particular priest how much detail he was willing to record.
I just love finding such little gems!
