Roman-Catholic parish registers as a source of information about Polish society living under the Russian rule in the period of Partitions in the second half of the 19th century
Roman-Catholic parish registers as a source of information about Polish society living under the Russian rule in the period of Partitions in the second half of the 19th century

Summary/Abstract: The paper focuses on register books of the Biłystok and Grodno deaneries from the years 1865–1918. These deaneries used to form a part of the Vilnius diocese, located in the north-east of the former Polish territory. The 19th century presents a special period in the history of Poland; this country existed only in the minds of the Poles as it had been divided among Austria, Prussia and Russia and thus erased from the political map of Europe for a long time. The investigated territory belonged to the Russian Empire, and the Russian language, implemented by the Russian authorities, gradually penetrated more and more spheres of the social life. The aim of the paper is to point out the research value of the register books for the knowledge of the society in the given period, and also the general description of anthroponymy, characterizing the social strata after implementing Russian as an official language of the Roman Catholic Church administration. And also, because the 19th century anthroponymy of the given regions has been so far for several reasons paid little attention, there are also presented methods of identifying individuals registered in these books.

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