On September 14, 1999 I came across a posting on Poland Genweb from Mary Cervantes searching for information on the "Re~bisz, Rebisz, Rembisz" surname. My greatgrandmother's maiden name had been "Re~bisz, Rembisz" from the village of Stany, so I answered Mary's posting. One never knows what family connections can be made through the Internet, but up to this time we have not been able to make a connection between her greatgrandfather and my greatgrandmother other than the common surname.

It was the beginning of a mutually satisfying journey for us in the research of Mary's greatgrandfather Jan Re~bisz's origins, and secondly, his wife Wyktorja Chrza~stek's origins. The first thing we had to do was to determine Jan's village of origin. After some time we were fairly certain that the village was Nart Stary, and that this village was fairly close to my father's village of origin, Stany.

I contacted my English-speaking friend Andrew in Krakow, and he sent us a map indicating the location of Nart Stary. Nart Stary is very close to Stany! Andrew also telephoned the priest in Nowy Nart on our behalf and found out that although there is no church in Nart Stary, there were church records in Nowy Nart that had survived the war. What joy - perhaps there would be usable family records there! I had gone to Poland in 1998, met many of my cousins there and promised them that I would return for another visit in 2000.

While planning my 2000 trip, I realized that Nart Stary was very close to Stany so I offered to go there to see if I could get further family information for Mary. Perhaps if I was lucky, I would even find some of her cousins! Mary agreed, and sent me some copies of old family photos and all the family information that she had just before I left. I was prepared for the search!

To be continued...

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