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This webpage was written in order to better understand the Belchatow Book of Residents. According to the ELA Database in Poland (Database of the Registers of Population in Archival Materials) Books of Residents were compiled and updated in Belchatow from 1906 - 1932. Despite this, there are listings of people who left Belchatow before the census was created. I have no explanation for why they were still listed except that their departure may not have been officially reported.
According
to the
A surname list for the Belchatow Book of residents is available by clicking here:
Click image below to enlarge
Columns:
1. This is the signature number or the fond or location number in the archive.
2. The page number is the number of the page in the ledger/registry. (#69 listed in table)
3. This is the house number (see #10 in table) which equaled mortgage number [means in general: the lower the number, the older the house and also the closer to the center of town]
4.
The entry
number lists each person living in the
household. Every head of the household
started with # 1 and every household
unit (i.e. family unit) is listed on a
separate page (even if they lived
in the same apt). So if a couple was
living with one of their parents, they would
be listed on 2 different pages since each
male was considered the head of his
household. Rojza
Fajga is the head of her household (and the
only person listed in that household). Look
at Jekiew Hersz. He is the head of his
household and Chaja Rywka (#2) also lived
with him. Sometimes children are listed as
2, 3, and 4.
5. Surname and given name MALE or surname and given name, maiden name of first marriage FEMALE. Children living with parents are listed below parent (s) with same page number.
6. Surname and given names of parents and maiden name of mother
7.
Date of birth: day - month -
year
8.
Place of birth
9.
Means of Support: in addition to
occupations, this column contains additional
information about family members living
together. For example, the wife's entry
may say "living with husband."
There are several places to
view translations of occupations. Two such
listings can be found at http://tinyurl.com/ytmro3
and http://tinyurl.com/25y6tv
10. Previous place of domicile may contain useful information about where the person lived before Belchatow.
11. Remarks: This column may list information
about military service, death,
incarceration, moves to other locations,
etc.
A copy of a page in the Book of Residents is shown below in the original Cyrillic. Not all the columns shown here were extracted by the archivist and therefore are not included in the index. Omitted were the columns translated as Civil Status (marital status) and Social Class (descent i.e. social class. E.g. townsman) as well as the column stating the religion, since only the Jewish residents were indexed for this database
Click on images below to enlarge
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As with all data found in documents, one must corroborate the findings with other known information, or substantiate the data listed here with other records. There were some errors made by the census taker as well as misinformation provided by responders either intentionally or unintentionally. For example, there were many reasons why people misrepresented their ages. Check dates of birth given here with actual birth records and other documents that list this information before accepting it as fact.
An overview about Books of Residents can be read at: http://www.jri-poland.org/bor.htm
The information
contained in this database was indexed from
the Book of Residents at the Lodz Polish
State Archives. Noted
For more information on Belchatow see the Shtetlinks page.
June 2007
