Q.  How do I determine which province the town is in?
A.  Microsoft Expedia Maps will display the province name along with the name of the town.  However, since the reconstruction of the provinces on 1 January 1999, the maps have not been updated to reflect the boundaries of the new 16 provinces.

Q.  I checked MapQuest, ShtetlSeeker, and/or Microsoft Expedia Maps and discovered that there are three towns with that name.  How do I figure out which one is the right one?
A.  If you're lucky, at least one of the towns will be in a different part of the country.  Remember, Poland was partitioned until World War One.  If the U.S. Census record you have for your ancestor states he was from Russian Poland (and you know this to be true) and only one of those towns is in the former Russian territory, it is very likely that is the town you are looking for.  Likewise, if one of those three towns is not in the Russian part of Poland, you can eliminate that one.  And be sure to check your local FHC to see if records were microfilmed for any of these towns.  You can order the film(s) and see if your ancestor's record is found there.

Q.  All four towns are in the same area of the country.  What now?
A.  Did you check the records for the parish your ancestors belonged to in the U.S.?  Some parish records may have detailed information, including the immigrant's town of birth.  Did you check to see if the records for those towns have been microfilmed by the LDS?  You can visit your local LDS Family History Center and rent whichever films are available, if any.  It'll be much less expensive than writing to several towns in Poland requesting information that may not be there.  And it will certainly take a lot less time than waiting months for a reply from Poland.

Q.  The town doesn't seem to exist any longer.  Where do I go from here?
A.  Perhaps, the town is no longer in Poland but in one of the surrounding countries.  Maybe you have the old German spelling for the town when it was under Prussian rule.  Or it's possible that the immigrations worker (or the funeral director, employer, county official, etc.) wrote the name as it sounded to him.  Remember, the Polish alphabet pronounces certain letters differently.  Of course, the town may have merged with another town and truly doesn't exist any longer.  This is when you need to visit a good library and consult detailed, older maps of Poland.  You may also want to subscribe to one of the mailing lists for Polish research.  There are many knowlegeable subscribers to these lists who may be able to offer suggestions.