Geographic Regions

Narrowing Your Geographic Search 

Searching by a geographical region is one way to focus your search in the general area where your ancestors lived. (Or you can use geographical coordinates.)

It is important to note that there is some data in the JRI-Poland database that is not referenced to any geographical area (the data in these collections comprise a broad area that covers many Gubernia/Wojewodztwa). For these collections, such as the Monitor Polski data and Polish Aliyah Passports, you must search the entire database – do not narrow your search by geographic region or coordinates. 

Looking up your town in JRI-Poland’s Your Town section will provide you with the name of the Gubernia where your town was located during the period when most of the records in the database were recorded. For Galician researchers, there is currently no master list of Wojewodztwa where your towns were located. JRI-Poland’s Your Town section will be updated to capture this information. 

Below is a list of the Gubernia and Wojewodztwa where entries in the JRI-Poland database can be found:

Country/Region Gubernia/ Wojewodztwa Main Towns
Congress Poland Kalisz Kalisz, Kolo, Piatek, Wieruszow
Kielce Checiny, Kielce, Stopnica
Lomza Grajewo, Lomza, Ostrow Mazowiecka, Szczuczyn, Tykocin
Lublin Chelm, Kazimierz Dolny, Lublin, Zamosc
Piotrkow Czestochowa, Lodz, Piotrkow, Tomaszow Mazowiecka
Plock Ciechanow, Mlawa, Plock, Plonsk, Przasnysz
Radom Ilza, Opatow, Radom
Siedlce Biala Podlaski, Siedlce, Sokolow Podlaski
Suwalki Augustow, Mariampol, Sejny, Suwalki
Warszawa Gora Kalwaria, Pultusk, Radzymin, Warszawa
Russian Pale of Settlement Grodno Bialystok
Volhynia Kremenets
Austrian Galicia Krakow Krakow, Tarnow
Lwow Drohobycz, Lwow, Przemysl, Rzeszow, Sambor
Stanislawow Horodenka, Kolomyja, Stanislawow, Stryj
Tarnopol Brzezany, Jagielnica, Skalat, Tarnopol, Zloczow
Prussia   Bytom, Gliwice, Wroclaw, Torun


Surviving records less than 100 years old are held in the Civil Records Offices (Urzad Stanu Cywilnego) of each town.

For information on the 20th century records available for your town, visit the Routes to Roots Foundation website, click on the 'SEARCH DATABASE' button (on the right side) and enter the town name. Look for the town name in the Repository/City column of the search results. There are typically links to lists of available births, marriage and death records for the town.

Note, however, the Routes to Roots Foundation database may indicate turn of the century records that have already been transferred to the appropriate branch of the Polish State Archives where they can be indexed for the JRI-Poland database.

JRI-Poland is an independent non-profit tax-exempt Organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code.
For all general inquiries about JRI-Poland activities and indexing, address email to: questions@JRI-Poland.org
For specific town information, write to [TownName]@jri-poland.org
For information about towns in close proximity, write to MultipleTowns@JRI-Poland.org
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