Family Book of Babitz / Babice

Church records, families, and local history since 1660

From the village's centuries-long connection with the Hospitaller commandery of Gröbnig to the church and civil records from which the families of Babitz and Wernersdorf are reconstructed.

Welcome to the Family Book of Babitz / Babice

Babitz, today Babice, lies in present-day Głubczyce County in the Opole Voivodeship of Poland, about 5.4 km northwest of Bauerwitz (today Baborów). Historically, the village belonged to the Leobschütz district in Upper Silesia. For many centuries its Catholic parish was closely connected with the Hospitaller commandery of Gröbnig (today Grobniki).

Babitz and Babice are different names and chapters in the history of the same place.

For genealogical reasons, this family book focuses primarily on the families who lived in Babitz and in Wernersdorf, which was closely connected with the parish, up to 1945. The village itself, however, did not end in 1945. After the Second World War, Babitz became part of Poland and today bears the name Babice. The village now belongs to the Gmina Baborów and is home to its Polish inhabitants. Despite the profound changes in borders and population after the war, the history of the village continued. This page therefore seeks to document the earlier history of Babitz without losing sight of the present-day Polish identity of Babice.

$Parish Church of St. Catherine of Alexandria in Babice$

Parish Church of St. Catherine of Alexandria in Babice. Photo: Kamil Czaiński / Wikimedia Commons. Image source.

The family book

The Babitz family book contains extracts from church and civil-registration sources from 1660 to 1945. In addition to the Babitz parish registers, entries from the duplicate church registers of the former Archdiocese of Olomouc and from the holdings of the State Archive in Opole were also used. For the period of state civil registration, the civil registers covering Babitz and Wernersdorf were likewise incorporated.

Earliest church book 1660–1717 A surviving copy of the oldest Babitz church book provides the principal basis for reconstructing the earliest families.	Church records 1718–1945 Later baptisms, marriages, and deaths were assembled from the microfilmed church books together with supplementary duplicates and archival records.
Olomouc duplicate registers through 1852 Babitz appears as both a filial church and parish in the duplicate records of the former Archdiocese of Olomouc; some series begin as early as about 1700.	Civil registration 1874–1912 The civil registers of Babitz and Wernersdorf that are available online have been incorporated into the OFB through the end of 1912.

Wherever possible, individual persons have been linked into families. Some entries may still remain unconnected and may be joined later. Family names have often been standardized to one spelling, with alternative forms noted where possible. Especially rare surnames and place names are not always easy to decipher in the older handwriting, so occasional reading errors cannot be entirely excluded.

Special thanks are due to those who helped preserve the oldest church book. The copy of the Babitz church-register entries from 1660–1717 survived through the efforts of several family historians. Particular thanks go to Edmund Heide, Josef Schink, Max Mende, Reinhard Klose, Wilhelm Hoffmann, and all others who contributed to its preservation.

History of the village

For many centuries Babitz belonged to the sphere of the Hospitaller commandery of Gröbnig. In 1454, Duke John the Pious transferred the sovereign dues and princely rights connected with the village to the town of Leobschütz for ecclesiastical purposes. The legal and economic circumstances of the village nevertheless remained closely linked with the Gröbnig commandery.

The early modern history of the village was also shaped by the Reformation. Toward the end of the 16th century, a large part of the population adopted the Protestant faith. As a result, Catholic pastoral care temporarily ceased, and Babitz was again served from Gröbnig. Only during the 17th and 18th centuries did independent Catholic pastoral care gradually become established again.

1633–1776 — a long period of changing parish administration.
In 1633 Babitz again received a Catholic priest. By 1639, however, the poorly endowed position was once more vacant. Babitz was subsequently administered for a time from Zauchwitz and later again from Gröbnig. During this long vacancy, current church income was invested at interest, causing the parish property to grow considerably.

Babitz and the commandery of Gröbnig

The connection with Gröbnig is known not only from later local histories. Early modern documents and administrative records also name Babitz among the places belonging to the property and jurisdictional sphere of the house of Gröbnig and the Order of St. John. For a long period, Babitz was therefore integrated into the same manorial and economic structures as Gröbnig, Leisnitz, Dittmerau, and other villages in the surrounding area.

With the secularization of the order's estates in 1810, this centuries-long connection with the commandery came to an end. For genealogy, however, the relationship remains highly important because many of the village's property, dues, and administrative arrangements can only be fully understood in connection with Gröbnig.

Church and parish

The Catholic parish church of Babitz is dedicated to St. Catherine of Alexandria. A church is mentioned in connection with the year 1582. The building history of the present church, however, unfolded in several stages: the older structure was repeatedly altered over the following centuries and was extensively rebuilt in the late 18th century. Its present appearance therefore does not belong to a single building phase.

From 1776 to 1828, Babitz was continuously administered as a parish administration. During the 19th century it again developed into a permanently independent parish. Wernersdorf, today Bernacice, was also closely connected with the parish. Older descriptions of the village particularly emphasized the unusual size and imposing character of the rectory.

Babice after 1945

After the Second World War, Babitz became part of Poland and received its present name, Babice. The former German population left the village, while new Polish residents made their homes there. This marked the beginning of a new chapter in the village's history. Today's inhabitants of Babice continue the history of the community while preserving the church, cemetery, field landscape, and other visible traces of its earlier past.

The Catholic parish also remained an important part of village life. The present-day culture of remembrance encompasses both the history of the village itself and the origins and experiences of the families who settled there after 1945.

Sources used for the family book

Babitz church book, 1660–1717: copy of the original church book containing baptisms, marriages, and deaths. Genealogische Bibliothek Roland zu Dortmund. Special thanks to Edmund Heide, Josef Schink, Max Mende, Reinhard Klose, Wilhelm Hoffmann, and all others who helped rescue and preserve these copies.
Duplicate church registers of the former Archdiocese of Olomouc: Babitz appears in part as a filial church of Gröbnig; sporadic baptisms and marriages from about 1700 through 1852, and deaths from 1714, each series with gaps.
Babitz church registers, Family History Library / FamilySearch: baptisms, marriages, and deaths from 1718 to 1947 with gaps; used for the OFB through 1945. FHL films no. 937077, 937078, 2162429, 2084487, 2084488, and 2084489.
Archiwum Państwowe w Opolu (State Archive in Opole): Babitz church books for 1800–1846 as well as additional duplicate registers and district-level records containing Babitz entries into the second half of the 19th century, insofar as used for the OFB.
Civil registers of Babitz and Wernersdorf, Family History Library / FamilySearch: births, marriages, and deaths, 1874–1884. FHL films no. 1899169 and 1899170.
Archiwum Państwowe w Opolu (State Archive in Opole): civil registers of the Babitz registration district for Babitz and Wernersdorf: births, marriages, and deaths, 1874–1912, insofar as available online and used for the OFB.

Literature on local history

Robert Hofrichter: Heimatkunde des Kreises Leobschütz. Geschichtliches der einzelnen Ortschaften des Kreises Leobschütz mit 111 Abbildungen und Plänen, Leobschütz 1914.
Georg Beier: Die Dörfer des Kreises Leobschütz, Dülmen 1990.

Further links

Historical place names are given according to the language and period of the respective sources. For the present-day village, the official Polish name Babice is used.

Local heritage book of Babitz