In 2003, Tadeusz H. Pilat  became an Accredited Genealogist specializing in Polish research, including all partitions of the former Commonwealth of Poland. This accreditation was awarded by the International Commission for the Accreditation of Professional Genealogists (ICAPGen) http://www.icapgen.org/icapgen/. Because of his study of Information Science, Tadeusz is very interested in creating electronic databases, and he is working on a Lemko Extraction Project http://lemkorusyn.org/index.php. Currently Tadeusz is also involved in a project of early (pre-1830) Mennonite property records in Polish archival repositories. There are many researchers in North America who are interested in the long history of Dutch Mennonite ancestors in Poland (and later West Prussia) http://www.plettfoundation.org/wp/. He enjoys traveling to foreign countries such as the USA, Denmark, Germany, Czech Republic, Lithuania, Ukraine, Slovakia, England, Russia, Mongolia, and Libya (North Africa) where he lived for a while. In addition to being fluent in Polish, German, and English, he can read Latin, Russian Cyrillic and so-called Kurrent and Sütterlin which are old German scripts. Right now Tadeusz is working on the extraction of the St. Joseph Benevolent Society which was created in the 1670's in Jemielnica (Himmelwitz). It includes thousands of members and is a great source of genealogical information. Tadeusz has given lectures on genealogy in Warsaw and Opole, Poland, as well as San Antonio, Texas; Salt Lake City, Utah; New Britain, Connecticut and also webinars for the PGSA in Chicago and Ukrainian History and Education Center, New Jersey. He participated in the 150th Anniversary of Panna Maria, Texas, a community which was settled by Silesian immigrants. He is going to participate in the opening of the Panna Maria Heritage Center.

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The September 2020 Issue of News From the Nest has been uploaded to the Members Only Section.  You must be logged in to access this secure area.

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It is with extreme pleasure that the Polish Genealogical Society of Michigan (PGSM) announces the completion of the project devoted to the Polish funeral directors and their families. We are grateful to the following board members for the time expended on this project:  Valerie Koselka, Therese Leszcz, Veronica Singleton, and Trudy Krueger.  This project was originated through the devotion and dedication of PGSM Board of Directors member, Kenneth A. Merique.  Over the years, Mr. Merique, has gathered  a vast collection of  material which he has generously shared with the PGSM.  The collection entitled,  Funeral Director Families Collection by Ken Merique, is housed in the Member Only Section, under Death Notices, there are a total of 561 obituaries in this collection.  In some way, the obituaries all have a connection to the families and the funeral home directors. 

 

The first Polish funeral director in the Detroit area was Marcin Kulwicki (1858-1936), whose funeral home was located on St. Aubin Street directly across from St. Albertus R.C. Church.  In 1887, Marcin's brother, Jan Kulwicki (1852-1910), joined the business. On August 1st, 1894 the Detroit City Directory shows a  lisiting  of 28 undertakers in the area with the Kulwicki Bros being one of the establishments.  At one time the number of Polish Funeral directors in the Detroit area increased to 65. As an ongoing project the PGSM is compiling a list for inclusion to the website listing all 65 Polish Funeral directors.

 

It is our hope that these obituaries will assist you in your genealogy.

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Have you moved, are there changes in your contact information?  Send updated data to the membership committee at membership@pgsm.org

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Polskie Towarzystwo Genealogiczne w Michigan Witamy i zapraszamy do przeglądania naszej strony zawierającej przydatne w poszukiwaniach ganealogicznych linki i informacje o naszym towarzystwie - Polish Genealogical Society of Michigan(PGSM). Nasza siedziba znajduje się w amerykańskim stanie Michigan. Staramy się jak najlepiej dotrzeć do naszych członków mieszkających w Stanach Zjednoczonych i w Polsce komunikując się z nimi drogą elektroniczną: uaktualniając naszą stronę internetową, wysyłając biuletyny i maile. Polskie Towarzystwo Genealogiczne w Michigan jest członkiem Rady Genealogicznej stanu Michigan (Michigan Genealogical Council) i Federacji Towarzystw Genealogicznych. Aby dowiedzieć się więcej o naszych organizacjach, proszę kliknąć na symbole znajdujące się w prawej części głównej strony.

 

 

 

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12/10/2018   tk

 

Because of the seriousiness of the Corona virus pandemic effecting the world, the PGSM hopes that everyone is following the directives issued by the federal, state, and local governments.  Michigan is under a statewide stay-at-home order to combat the virus outbreak with many businesses being shut-down unless they are considered "critical".  With that being said, the PGSM can not receive any mail as the Burton-Detroit Public Library is shut down until further notice.  So that members can still communicate with the Society we have opened a post office box.  The new address for the PGSM is listed on the homepage of the website at the bottom on the left hand side. If you wish to become a new member or renew your membership, that may still be accomplished by using the payment module (Join/Renew) on the website.  Payments can be may with a charge/debit card or a PayPal account.  A Paypal account is not necessary to complete the payment process.  Once you choose the membership plan  click "Buy Now".  The next image you will see is new dialog box.  Click "Pay by Debit or Credit Card" or if you want to use your PayPal account click "Log In".  If you have chosen to pay by debit or credit card, the dialog box will say, "PayPal Guest Checkout", enter your card information and click "pay now".  That's all there is too it.  Any questions or concerns can be directed to the webmaster.

 

The members of the PGSM Board of directors are working on solutions to stay in touch with members on a regular basis in lieu of in-person meetings.  Check back to the website and check your emails for updates.

 

Please stay safe and healthy during these difficult times.

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