Fifure 1.--

After the Irish and Italians, the Poles were the largest group of Catholic immigrants from Europe. At the time they arrived, however, Poland did not exist. Most Polish immigrants came from Russia and to a lesser extent Austro-Hungary. Polish immigration exploded in the late 19th century. A range of factors were involved, including both economic factors and the Tsarist's regime's steps to promote Russification of the ethnic minorities in the Empire. Exact numbers do not exist as Poland did not exist at the time and emmigration records were based on the country of origin, meaning mostly Russia. Census records are the best available source ad by 1910 about 0.9 million Poles had reached America. Polish immigration declined after World war I, bith because Poland gained its independence and the United States resticted immigration. Available estimates sggest that 2 million Poles had immigrated by the 1920s Many Poles came to Ameica intending to retuen with a nest-eff saved up. In fact modt Polish immigrants stayed. The fact that until after World War I, there was no independent Poland. Today one finds the descendents of Polish immigrants spread all over America. One researcher working on immigration describes how in a private conversation he first addressed the priest in Panna Maria in standard Polish and he was amazed to hear his own Annaberg (Silesia) dialect spoken in return. The name Panna Maria was given to the colony in honor of St. Mary's Church in Krakow. [Olesch] We note ??? Woycik who looks to be a second generation Polish-American boy. Another good example is John Czechatowski in 1928.

Created: 6:50 AM 9/19/2006
Last updated: 1:49 AM 3/28/2008