St. Florian Church, Chicago

St. Florian Church is on Chicago's south side in the Hegewisch neighborhood. A parish history states that the parish was founded in 1905. Records for the Polish community there started in 1900 when the parish was still part of St. Columba Church. One might expect to find some records for Polish families among those of St. Columba Church. You can follow some links to photos and history of St. Florian Church.

The earliest volume of St. Florian records is a bit unusual in that it contains baptismal, marriage, and other records within the same volume. The first section contains baptismal records, the second section contains marriage records. This is important to keep in mind because if you look for marriage records and see only baptismal records, it means you didn't advance the film far enough to get to the marriage section. One of the pages in the volume indicated it was from St. Columba before the parish was formally established. Father Chodniewicz, pastor, generally had good handwriting and did most of the record keeping. Other Slavic groups were also represented in the parish.

There's nothing particularly noteworthy about volume 2 of baptisms except that it is exclusively baptisms, unlike the first volume.

Filming in volume 3 of baptisms stops after December 1915. That is, the volume is much larger but we only have access to the filmed portion. This volume is significant because the place of origin of the parents is usually given. Most were from Galicia. The parish in Poland is often identified. This is unusual for most parish records. The marriage date of the parents also is included. This is also very unusual. Since the index does not record this bonus information, you will want to consult the film for details.

Among the marriage records for St. Florian, some of the most common places of origin in Poland are Wiśnica, Limanowa, Skrzydlna, Słopnice, and others. These are all south of Kraków.