PG 103. Births from the Baptismal Record of Saint Stanislaw Kostka Church, 1879-1889. Thomas L. Hollowak 1992. 76 pages, indexed, paper. $2.95 [ISBN 1-8871-2402-0]

In March of 1879, the Rev. Piotr Koncz, along with the St. Stanislaw Kostka Benevolent Society organized this first Polish Roman Catholic Parish in the Archdiocese of Baltimore. The first baptism took place in a house Father Koncz rented on Bond Street, in one of the rooms he converted into a Chapel until the church on Ann Street was completed in 1881.

Until Rev. Koncz's death in February 1886, St. Stanislaus Kostka Church was the only Polish Parish in the Archdiocese. After his death a second Polish parish, Our Lady of the Holy Rosary was organized. In 1889 the St. Stanislaw Church was replaced with larger building on the same site.

This book is unique because it is not a faithful transcription of the baptismal record, but an altered abstract. The volume provides the names and dates of birth for individuals baptized during the first decade of Baltimore's premier Polish Parish. It is arranged alphabetically by family groups and includes the names of parents and godparents.

When the first Polish immigrants settled in Baltimore around 1868 they attended the German parish of St. Michael's, on Wolfe Street, in Fell's Point. Since the majority of them had emigrated from the Polish provinces under Prussian domination they were familar with the German language. In 1872, they joined the Czech members of the parish and formed the Slavic Congregation known as St. Wenceslaus. It wasn't long before friction between the Czechs and Poles surfaced and some of the Poles return to St. Michael's until the formation of the first Polish parish of St. Stanislaw Kostka in 1879.

The first decade of St. Stanislaw Kostka was a tumultous period of protracted struggles for control of the parish between the pastor and lay members of the congregation. This would eventually lead to the formation of the second Polish parish, but until that occured some of the Poles returned to St. Michael the Archangel. After the death of Holy Rosary's first pastor, Rev. Piotr Chowaniec strife arose in that parish between the new pastor and the laity. Once again some of the Poles returned to St. Michael's. Of course, there had always been a small group of the early Polish settlers who had taken a German spouse and remained at the parish during the entire period covered by this volume.

Like the St. Stanislaw's book this volume is arranged alphabetically by the father's surname and provides name of child, date of birth, parents full name and their place of origin.