library heading

library heading

Thursday, April 11, 2013

Where is Fzilas Located?


"I am working on tracing my family history.  It seems that each online source of information has different spellings for individual family members.  At EllisIsland.org, I found someone I think may be the person I am looking for.   He came into Ellis Island in the correct year and is approximately the correct age.  I don't recognize the name of the town that was listed on the ship's manifest.  I know the area other family members came from in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, but I don't recognize the town of Fzilas.  Can you find where that is located."  The Newton Falls Public Library staff is always willing to get people started on their genealogy searches, and the library has many resources available for them. 

Using the search words "towns in Austria-Hungary" we located The AllGalicia Database.  This site covers vital and historical records from the old Austro-Hungarian Empire province of Galicia.  Fzilas was not listed, but it linked to JewishGen's community search.  We typed in the name of the town and narrowed our search by the pre-WWI country selection Austrian Empire.  Our search was successful.  We found that this town is now known as Puclice, Czech Republic; circa 1900 before WWI it was Pustlitz Bohemia, Austrian Empire.  He will now be able to compare this location with those of other family members to determine if this is the ancestor for which he is looking.

For those doing family trees and searches, a free version of Ancestry.com is available inside the library to our patrons. Patrons can access this by going to the library's homepage, clicking on Ohio Web Library, then choosing Resources, Genealogy, and Ancestry Online - In Library.  While we do not do genealogy, we are always willing to get people started by assisting them in finding sources of information in the library's collection and online.

No comments: