After finding our great-grandparents Jan Maciejewski and Weronika Lewandowska‘s marriage record in what was then the district of Strasburg in West Prussia (see the the map below), I wanted to learn more about this area.
In searching for the birthplaces of Marcin Szczepański and Anna Kalinowska, it appears they may have come from this area as well. The church entries from their children’s baptisms appear to be a mashup of German and Polish, so I looked for more information from Słownik geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego. There were no names starting with “Szymbr-“, but there was a Szymbark page. It identifies two places, and gives the German name for each as Schoenberg.
Wikipedia states Szymbark may refer to the following places in North Poland:
Szymbark, Pomeranian Voivodeship (north Poland) Szymbark [ˈʂɨmbark] (Kashubian Szimbark, German: Schönberg) is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Stężyca, within Kartuzy County, Pomeranian Voivodeship, in northern Poland. It lies approximately 11 kilometres (7 mi) east of Stężyca, 15 km (9 mi) south-west of Kartuzy, and 39 km (24 mi) south-west of the regional capital Gdańsk. …The village has a population of 541.
Szymbark, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship (north Poland) Szymbark [ˈʂɨmbark] (former German name: Schönberg) is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Iława, within Iława County, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, in northern Poland. It lies approximately 8 kilometres (5 mi) north-west of Iława and 69 km (43 mi) west of the regional capital Olsztyn. The village has a population of 395.
Kartenmeister shows two villages called Schönberg in German and Szymbark in Polish located in West Prussia.
For Szymbark in Gmina Stężyca, within Kartuzy County, the LDS Family History Library has Roman Catholic parish registers and transcripts of births, marriages and deaths in Stnedsitz, Westpreußen, Germany; now Stężyca (Kartuzy), Gdańsk, Poland. Text in Latin, Polish and German from 1692-1933 and Parish register of baptisms, marriages and deaths for Berent (AG. Berent), Westpreußen, Preußen, Germany, now Kóscierzyna (Kościer zyna), Gdańsk, Poland.
For Szymbark near Iława, the LDS Family History Library has Civil registration of births, marriages, deaths for Schönberg (Kr. Rosenberg), West Prussia, Germany; now, Szymbark (Iława), Olsztyn, Poland, from 1874 to 1887 and Parish register of baptisms, marriages and deaths in Sommerau (Kr. Rosenberg), Westpreußen, Germany; now Ząbrowo (Iława), Olsztyn, Poland. Includes Groß Herzogswalde, now Laseczno; and Schönberg, now Szymbark. Also includes Schwarzenau, Groß Wolka, Klein Wolka, Wonno, etc. Left-side pages (l. S.) filmed separately from right-side pages (r. S.).
Update: I researched the church registers, but did not find records for Marcin Szczepański or Anna Kalinowska in these registers. I was eventually successful, see Finding Szembruczek.
My Family History Research 
Comments on: "West Prussia" (2)
[…] New Britain, Connecticut about patterns of Polish migration, I investigated places that had been in West Prussia, especially those that were Schönberg in German and Szymbark in […]
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[…] from Kościelna Jania, which was called Kirchenjahn, in the Prussian province of Marienwerder, West Prussia. […]
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