ESWO roots

Searching our family roots, we were fascinated by the history of Poland-Lithuania. Our families were from the Suwalki, Vilnius (Wilno) and Hrodna (Grodno) regions originally belonging to the Rzeczpospolita Obojga Narodów (the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth). At the end of the 18th century they came under Russian rule for about 120 years. At actual times, the lands of the former Rzeczpospolita gave birth to different independent states : Poland, Lithuania, Belorussia, Ukraine. A brief history you can find at http://www.magma.ca/~pfeiffer/poland/history.htm. In Dutch you can read Kleine geschiedenis van Polen - Litouwen.

The oldest written Wojciulewicz records were found at Turgiele, date from the 17th century, and are in Polish, the state language of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The family (at that time bojary, bajorai, landlords) for centuries lived and had their lands in the border region between actual Lithuania and Belorussia (Wilno, Turgiele, Bojary, Giemzy, Sjostaki etc).

Over the centuries, the many dialects and languages used in the region created multiple spellings for the family name : Wojciulewicz, Wojciulewitsch, Wojtulewicz, Wojtalewicz, Wojtalowicz, Voiciulevic, Vaiciulevic, Vaiciulevicius, Vaiciulowic, ... .

Part of our ancestors were from the Chodkiewicz family. This family was of major importance in Polish-Lithuanian history.

Have a look at maps of the XVII Provinces of The Netherlands, the German Empire, and the Polish Commonwealth,..

We have listed many fine websites on genealogy and on Polish and Lithuanian History.

We don't claim expertise nor completeness, and we welcome any relevant additions or comments.

More details on the family tree are available for family members on our Family Pages, which are protected by passwords. A complete list of names is available in the Index of Names. If your name appears in that list, write us a note with your name and the country and city you live in, and we will send you the passwords.

The data included in our files are checked with various professional documentation, databases and archives, such as the Central Archive of Vilnius, the Historical Archive of Vilnius, the church archives of Turgiele, the Family History Centers of the Church of the Last Day Saints, the International Genealogical Index. Other references are the 'Encyclopedia Lithuanica', 'Naruszewicz : Historia Jana Karola Chodkiewicza, Warszawa 1805', 'Wolff : Senatorowie i dygnitarze Wielkiego Ksiestwa Litewskiego, Krakow 1885'.