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TATRA AREA RESEARCH GROUP
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© TARG All rights reserved.

Newsletter for June 2002
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Hello and special welcome to all of the new members this month. And
since July Fourth is only a few days away, happy Independence Day to all of
our TARG members.
As many of you know, my family and I moved this month. We are now
finally settled to some degree. Thank you for your patience with TARG
questions and replies this past month.
Now for an updated report on our TARG website normally at:
www.ancestral.net/Home.html. As you know, it has not been available at this
URL address for about six weeks. You can, however, find it at:
www.2msrv7.com/~ancestra/Home.html.
The old TARG webpage at: http://ns1.iols.net/users/bingham/, has now
been put back into "Bingham family service" and no longer has TARG
information on it. (But you can see our family's new house and son's
graduation, if you want!) All of our other past TARG sites on Delphi, Xoom
and FreePages have all been removed now, too.
Thanks to all of you who've sent village photos for the TARG webpage. I
have recently received photos for Nowa Biala, Dursztyn, Frydman, Lapsze
Nizne, Poland and Velka Frankova, Slovakia. If anyone else has village
photos you can send them either in an e-mail or by snail mail. (See contact
info at the end of the newsletter).
However, I have not posted the newest photos to the TARG website yet. As
you know, I have been trying to resolve the issues associated with a switch
in servers at 2MHost, our hosting service, and the Ancestral.net contact
information at Verisign, the URL registration service. So far it has been a
frustrating exchange where each says they need to hear verification from the
other to make the contact and server information update so TARG members can
access the original "ancestral.net" site.
But hold the phone. I have learned by a little sleuthing this month that
the TARG website contents are not on a web server in Alexandria, VA as I had
originally thought, but on a server in Alexandria Egypt. As it turns out,
the web hosting company is run by an Egyptian architect named Muhammad Noman
in Egypt. I can find little else out about him or his company, except that
his ties in the U.S. are now in Clifton, NJ.
Given the present world climate, I am not comfortable in upgrading our
TARG site with functions like a guestbook where TARG information (including
member's names, e-mail addresses and other specific contact information)
might be kept on a server in the Middle-East. I don't know who has access to
this server and whatever TARG information it might eventually hold.
This makes me very nervous. I am in the process of finding another
hosting company (State-side) and moving the TARG website to there before I
do any more upgrading. But once the information is on a new server, the old
"ancestral.net" URL should work again. For now, the temporary TARG website
has no one's contact info listed except mine, which is my e-mail and a P.O.
Box address. (If anyone thinks I'm over-reacting, please feel free to
contact me.)
As a side-light, if any of you want to know who actually owns and runs a
hosting site, website or ISP you are dealing with, or who is sending you
e-mail, there is a very handy website called "Whois" that can give you the
information. Their URL is: www.netsol.com/cgi-bin/whois/whois. Just type in
the URL address and the latest information for it will be displayed.
-- Paul K. Bingham
TARG Founder

WEBSITES TO CHECK OUT________
1) Article "DNA Testing Dispels a Genealogical Myth" by TARG's Megan
Smolenyak at: www.everton.com/learn/showcontent.php?id=2051
2) John Hudick's recently published book "Finding Your Ancestral Village in
the Former Austro-Hungarian Empire." For more information go to:
www.slavicroots.com
3) Awesome Polish Website in English at: www.polhome.com
4) Good Polish info site:
http://www.absoluteauthority.com/polish_genealogy/
5) There's a Polish <--> English dictionary online at:
http://galaxy.uci.agh.edu.pl/~polak/slownik/
6) Tom Brenzovich has a new family website at:
http://tabrenzo.tripod.com/brenzogenealogy/ covering
Brenzovich/Branzovich/Brenzovics, Pohanics, Chuma/Csuma, Dorkod/Durkat,
Galinovsky/Kalinowsky & Kavulic/Kavlick.
7) Noreen Hasior shares this site to hear some Slovak fujara songs:
http://bluyovo.misto.cz/.
8) "Whois" website and webhost infor site:
www.netsol.com/cgi-bin/whois/whois.

LETTERS_______________
---Dear Paul, Just a quick e-mail to let you know that Karen Melis has been
of tremendous help over the past few weeks getting me started with tracing
my family in Niedzica. She's already taken my family tree back further than
I could have hoped. Many thanks for your and her efforts in helping us find
our roots! -- David Chmiel
***Hello David, Thank you for your wonderful note. I'm so glad you were able
to find us and that Karen has done so much to help you! By the way, Karen is
super, one of the most dedicated TARG researchers we have. -- Paul
---Paul, Can you give me the e-mail addresses of those who may be
researching the same Slovakian towns that I am? Malatina, Lucky, and now
Pribiss and Pukov, which are just a couple of miles north of Malatina?
Thanks. -- Bob Macak
***Hi Bob, We'll ask any TARG members who can help with these villages to
e-mail me and I will pass their notes on to you. -- Paul
---Hi Paul, I just had a chance to see the photos on the web from the new
digital camera. They look great! (These are at:
www.izoo.krakow.pl/~lsoltys/album/.) Have you considered having Lucjan
collect photos of village flags, seals, crests & symbols? Also,
do you know if the church records for Bialka, Poland have been filmed by
anyone? Thank You. -- Marc Kuklinski
***Dear Marc, Thank you...and the village pictures you us sent are
outstanding, too! Thank you! Cousin Lucjan is buried in college finals, but
may be available in July for such a photo project. As for Bialka records:
no, they have not been photographed. That is my next assignment when I go
back next year! -- Paul
---Hi Paul, I'm leaving for Pittsburgh to take the Slovak language course at
the university. During August I will be going on Helene's 3 Country Tour and
hope to be able to speak to my relatives for the first time. Wish me luck
since I'm not sure that this old brain can take it all in! -- Paul H., CT
***Hi Paul, Bravo! I think you will do well in your Slovak class -- and how
wonderful you are going again with Helene! I'm green with envy -- wish I
could go in August, too. Have a wonderful, safe trip and tell us all about
your adventures when you return! -- Paul
---Dear Paul, I am researching the name LACH. I have no living family that I
know of that is researching or has heard of this Polish line. I believe my
LACH ancestor, Maria, married a Frank SIECKNIECE, but am not sure. Any
insight on this would be great. Thanks! -- Lisa
***Hello Lisa, I would like to help you if I can. LACH is a fairly common
Slavic surname, especially in Poland. There are 442 listings for Polish
LACHs on the Ellis Island website alone. We have quite a few LACH families
from the villages in our TARG area of study near the Tatra mountains, too.
The surname SIECKNIECE I cannot find anywhere. Perhaps you can help narrow
the search by giving me more information I can use. Around what year did
Maria LACH immigrate to North America? How old was she then? What religion
was she? Could her name have been spelled Marya or was it officially Maria?
Did she meet and marry this Frank SIECKNIECE here or back in Poland? Could
it really be spelled "SIECZNIEC" or "SIECLWIEC" or something else? Are you
reading any of these names off of an old document where you may have trouble
reading the correct spellings? Where did they enter North America and where
did they settle? Are there any old documents or letters from or to these
individuals with a postmark or other stamp that might indicate a town of
origin and/or dates? Are there any birth, marriage or death documents or
newspaper clippings that would list witnesses or godparents names? Are there
any old photographs of these people
or their relatives with foreign writing on them? If you can give me more to
go on, perhaps we can have some success. Thanks! -- Paul
---Dear Paul, I am planning a trip next spring with my husband, sister
and cousin to Hniezdne, Slovakia. We plan to fly into Berlin, spend 3 nights
there (researching my husband's family as well as seeing the local sights),
then renting a car to drive to Prague for one night, then
on to Poprad or Tatranska Lomnica for 4 nights, touring Hniezdne and
surrounding areas to research our roots. (Family surnames are HOBOR and
RAAB, the local Catholic Church is St. Bartolomaeus) Our ancestors
immigrated from Hniezdne to Philadelphia around 1895. We plan to continue
driving to Budapest and then fly home from Vienna. We only speak English, so
please advise if we are getting in over our heads. -- Ginny from PA
***Hello Ginny, What you intend to do next spring may work, but there are
some things you should know that will make your stay in Slovakia much more
pleasant and productive. If you are going to Hniezdne wanting to look for
your ancestors in the parish records at St. Bartolomaeus, you will likely be
disappointed. The communists took all of the church records out of the
parishes and put them in regional archives when they took power. What
records you do find in the local parish church will not go back before the
turn of the century, which is where you need to look. The good news is that
most of the records in Slovakia's regional archives have been microfilmed by
the LDS church (Mormons) and are available for viewing at any LDS Family
History Library. Another place to look at the records is in the Catholic
archives in Spisska Kapitula, SL. They have copies of what are called
"second writings" of the original parish records. The public is allowed in,
but arrangements will have to be made ahead of time. Your best bet is to
look in the LDS microfilms first. I brought a phonebook back for this area
and sure enough, there is one HOBOR and three RAABs listed in Hniezdne, so
some exist today. (If writing to potential relatives over there is of
interest to you, I can e-mail you free back issues of our TARG newsletter
covering that.) The last item of concern is an English speaker. I hired a
great cab driver, Marian Kovec, who spoke English and lives in nearby Stara
Lubovna. He drove me all over every day and also translated for me at every
stop. My total cost for his daily services was about $40/day. One warning:
there are other cabbies. In Kezmarok all the cabs are owned by one company
and they charge $100 for half a day and do not give good service. So go with
a good one. In my case Marian found me a room at a nice hotel overlooking
the Castle in Kezmarok and negotiated to get me the room with private bath,
satellite TV, breakfast, a clay tennis court (and a ski lift in the winter)
for just $7.50 US per night. And he was waiting for me outside bright and
early the next morning to take me to my next village. On the last day he
insisted on taking me home to meet his family, feed me lunch and see me off
at the bus station! I will try to find his card if you are interested. One
last note: If you take the train from Prague you will lose a whole day, and
you risk getting on a wrong train in transfers or missing your stop. If I
were you, I would fly from Prague to Kosice...its only an hour flight.
(Sorry, flying into Poprad -- which is closer to Hneizdne -- won't work
because flights in and out of Poprad airport are limited to the military.)
But from Kosice to Hniezdne is only a few hours by cab, and the countryside
is gorgeous! Also consider joining a tour (like the one below) after your
few days in Berlin and leave all of the headaches and guesswork to someone
else. -- Paul

SPECIAL TARG TRIP IN 2003!!!____________
Now that Helene B. Cincebeaux has left for this summer's tours in
Slovakia, Poland, Czech Republic (and even the Ukraine this year), it is
time to announce that we will be planning a NEW TARG tour to the Tatras in
summer of 2003! This tour will be similar to those in 1999 and 2001, but we
are determined to have it be the best ever in 2003!
Helene and I are in contact by e-mail throughout the summer while she is
there. She will be checking out new destinations for us to visit and new
places to stay in the Tatra region both in Slovakia and Poland. There are
many new historical, genealogical and cultural locations we want to look
into. If you know of something we should check out, or if you are
contemplating going with us and have a "request", I'd like to hear it!
Please let me know by contacting me personally at bingham@iols.net.

POLISH PHONEBOOK COPIES___________
Last time I wrote about the new Polish law which will strip all
address information from future phonebooks. Some of you contacted me about
obtaining photocopies of the 1998 South-Central (Nowy Sacz) phonebook which
contains all of the Polish TARG villages. The price would be $26 plus
shipping. (If you are interested, please contact me with your mailing
address and I can get you an exact total.)

CONTACTING TARG_____________________
To contact TARG the e-mail address is: TARG_NET@hotmail.com. Our mailing
address is: TARG, P.O. Box 3533, Escondido, CA 92033. Our website is
temporarily at: www.2msrv7.com/~ancestra/Home.html. Thanks for
participating!
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