This database, accessible for FREE, contains information relating to immigrants who passed through the Port of New York between 1855 and 1890 (prior to the opening of Ellis Island). Unlike the Ellis Island database, searches produce derivative information only with no access to passenger manifest images.

Due to the nature of U.S. immigration records, searching for your immigrant ancestors may be extremely difficult due to spelling differences.

This database, accessible for FREE, allows you to search for immigrants who passed through Ellis Island upon their arrival to the U.S. Upon locating a potential ancestor, the site now allows you to access free images of the passenger manifest and the ship (if available).

Due to the nature of U.S. immigration records, searching for your immigrant ancestors may be extremely difficult due to spelling differences.

This database, accessible through Ancestry.com for a monthly fee, contains information relating to emigrants who departed Germany/Poland from the port of Hamburg.

The lists consist of direct and indirect lists; direct meaning the person traveled straight from Hamburg to the U.S. and indirect meaning the person traveled from Hamburg to another port (usually in England/Scotland) and then to the U.S. These records list important information about each immigrant, including their last known place of residence and destination (if known).

These databases, accessible for FREE via the New York State Archives for New York State residents, contain a number of records from New York starting as early as 1600 and running up to 1969. For Polish-American genealogy, access to the 1915 and 1925 NYS Census images will be the most valuable. Records pertaining to Civil War soldiers is one of the more valuable sets of resources for general genealogy research. Personally, the most interesting database is the Cartes-de-Visite (CDV) 1860-1865 collection consisting of CDV portraits of Civil War soldiers from New York.

To access, simply enter your NY zip code and select a database to search from the bottom of the page.

This database, accessible for FREE, contains indexed information pertaining to births, marriages, and deaths occuring in Poland. The main page allows you to select a province to search within and the specific search options allow for distinct towns/cities to be selected for searching.

This is the most useful database for online searching of genealogical resources within the Kujawsko-Pomorskie Province at this time. The major downfall is that the site is only available in Polish. The options for searching are basic and the site is easy to understand despite the language barrier. This BLOG entry describes the specifics of searching the database.

This database, accessible for FREE, consists of information relating to towns located within the German/Prussian regions of what is now Poland. The database allows for a German or Polish name to be entered as a search term with the result being information relating to the history of the town itself. This database is extremely helpful for transcribing Polish records or Catholic records that list a town name in a German form. When entering the German town name (old name), the current Polish name of the town will be given along with information relating to other historic names, population information, nearby towns and larger political divisions.

The search results for each town will also list the nearest Catholic and Lutheran parishes. This is extremely helpful for small hamlets and towns when attempting to locate religious records through the LDS church.

This database contains indexes of "Metrical" books from parishes located in Pomerania. Today, many of these parishes exist in the province of Kujawsko-Pomorskie. The database provides a list of parishes and includes links to associated indexes for baptisms, marriages, and deaths. Not all parishes are indexed at this time.

This database, accessible for FREE, consists of recorded marriages occuring in the Poznan Province roughly between 1835 and 1884. The information is drawn from LDS microfilms and original Polish marriage records and provides the user with options to leave comments on selected marriage records as well as retrieve original records by linking towns and parishes to related LDS microfilm reel numbers.

When searching, simply enter the surname of either bride and/or groom, select a first name (optional) for either via the drop-down menus, and select "Extended Search." Use caution and only click the search button once, the website will block ISP numbers that make multiple requests (click the search button more than once per query). A region, if one is known, can also be selected.

This website, dedicated to the history of Albion's Polish community, contains a wide range of databases and information pertaining to Polish-American families.

The OPAC, searchable through the LDS Church and FamilySearch.org, allow you to locate available microform records within the LDS holdings at Salt Lake City. You can then order the films and have them sent to a local Family History Center in your area for viewing.

When ordering, you have two options; one-month and extended. The one-month option sends the film to a local FHC for the period of one month to which it is then returned to Salt Lake City. The extended option allows for the film to remain at the FHC for an indefinite period of time. The record will only be returned to Salt Lake if it sits unused and is taking up valuable space (for FHCs with limited space and resources).

The fee schedules are available online. The one month option costs around $7.50 and the extended around $17-$18. In Western New York, there are FHCs in Brockport, Buffalo, Orchard Park, Pittsford, Rochester, Warsaw, and Williamsville and the Batavia Library, Central Library (Rochester), and Lewiston Library are all partner organizations with the LDS Church so microfilms can be sent to those locations as well.