At least nine million people in North America today can trace their ancestors to Polish immigrants; and those immigrants have had a profound impact on society and the economy in the areas in which they settled. Today, Polish-Americans can be found all over the United States, with large concentrations in Illinois, New York, Michigan, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Ohio, Wisconsin, California, and Florida.
Polish Immigration to North America
Although Polish immigrants came to North America starting in Colonial days, most of America’s Polish immigrants came to the U.S. between 1880 and 1913. They had been farmers, miners, or factory workers in Poland and in nearby countries such as Germany and Austria.
Poles emigrated from all three sectors of Poland: the areas controlled by Russia, Prussia/Germany, and Austria. Jonathan D. Shea, writing in Going Home, stated that the first wave, principally those from Prussian Poland, accounted for about 20% of the Poles who emigrated to the U.S. Another 40% came from the Russian partition, with another 40% from Galicia, or Austrian Poland.
Polonia: People of Polish Origin Living Elsewhere
Like many other immigrants the world over, Poles tended to travel in established groups: friends, relatives, and neighbors from the old country stuck together in the new. Even neighborhoods in large cities might have several Polish Catholic churches, each one populated by Poles originally from specific regions of Poland.
Once settled in America, Poles tended to stay in their original communities as long as it was economically feasible. When better opportunities arose elsewhere, many went. Where they went, they established Catholic churches, and centered their communities around them.
Social life in Poland revolved around the church and its celebrations, and many Polish American communities mirrored the communities they had left behind. Under domination by Russian, Austrian, or Prussian military and bureaucratic authority, the church had remained the one area that Poles could retain for themselves.
Early Immigrants Founded Farming Communities
Those first immigrants, the Poles from the Prussian-dominated sector, left because of unemployment and discrimination against Catholics. They numbered about 434,000, and came in the 1850-1900 timeframe. They settled principally in the Great Lakes area, Pennsylvania, the Midwest, and Texas.
One of the first of those farming communities was Panna Maria, Texas, where a group from German-occupied Poland built a farming community about 60 miles from San Antonio. Another group established themselves in Parisville, Michigan, and others settled in Polonia, Wisconsin. In addition to these farming communities, a number of Poles in this first wave of immigrants found employment in cities and in coal-mining areas.
Some later immigrants, those who had the resources to purchase farms, often did so in Connecticut and Massachusetts, as well as in the Midwest.
Polish Workers from Galicia Took Factory Jobs
Galician crop failures and job losses led Poles from Austrian Poland to leave starting around 1880. Many of these emigrants settled in New England; towns like Middletown and Hartford, Connecticut, and Chicopee, Massachusetts, were settled largely by Galician Poles. On the other hand, New Britain, Connecticut, and Greenfield, Massachusetts, each had a large population of settlers from Russian Poland.
Few of the Galician Polish immigrants had specialized skills when they arrived, so most were funneled into the growing number of factories, mills, and mines in the northeastern area of the U.S. They worked in coal mines in Pennsylvania and West Virginia, factories in Massachusetts and Connecticut, and textile mills in New Jersey, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts.
Poles in Meat-Packing and Industry
Poles are perhaps most visible in the Chicago area, where they settled in large numbers and worked in the meat-packing plants. Many others found jobs in the automobile industry in Detroit, and in the steel mills of Pittsburgh and Cleveland. Wherever there were jobs requiring hard work – there the Polish immigrants and their children found employment.
Polish-Americans Today
Americans of Polish descent can now be found all throughout the United States, as many people have left the communities their ancestors settled. Some who grew up in colder northern areas of the country have migrated further south, so that sizeable numbers can now be found in Arizona and Florida, as well as Texas. The closing of mines and factories in the Northeast, as well as the desire of retirees to find warmer climates, accounts for some of the migration. Perhaps the rest, like many other Americans, simply go wherever they can work for a better life for themselves and their children.
More Articles on Polish Migration and Genealogy
- U.S. Polish Immigration Patterns Before WWI explains why millions of Poles left their homeland in the 1800s.
- Polish Immigration to the U.S. After WWI describes the waves of more recent emigrants to the U.S.
- Resources for Finding Ancestors From Poland lists books and websites to help the new genealogist find Polish resources.
Sources
Jonathan D. Shea, Going Home: A Guide to Polish-American Family History Research. Language and Lineage Press, 2008.
Jason C. Booza, “A Profile of Polish Americans: Data from the 2000 U.S. Census,” Polish American Studies, vol. 64, No. 1 (Spring 2007)
Helena Znaniecka Lopata and Mary Patrice Erdmans, Polish Americans. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 1994.
Katharine Garstka - Katharine Garstka specializes in genealogical research and in historical and genealogical writing.
