Journey To America
Since 1608, when a small number of Polish artisans arrived in Jamestown, Poles have played a big part in shaping America. During the American Revolution, General Casimir Pulaski became known as the “Father of the American Cavalry” and the military fortifications built by General Thaddeus Kosciuszko helped the Patriots defeat the British at the Battle of Saratoga (1777). But Polonia, the Polish American community in the United States, only emerged during the era of mass migration when 2.5 million Poles immigrated between 1850 and 1920. Many of them settled in western Massachusetts, especially after 1880 when cities like Chicopee, Holyoke, Ludlow, Palmer and Westfield developed vibrant Polish communities attracted by the prospect of finding work in the local industrial mills.
Circa 1910s: This is a framed photograph of Karolina and Jan Wrzesien before their arduous journey from the small Polish town of Izbiska to Chicopee before World War I, in the hope of achieving the American dream.
A manifest list would include family name, given name, nationality, gender, occupation, etc. Above is a photograph of the SS Lapland. #13 on the list is the Wreszien's, the oval photograph from the first picture in the Journey group of pics.
Imagine you had to leave your home, relocate to a new country, and could only bring a very small number of your belongings with you. What would you take? For Michael Alfred Peszke, the answer was his toy soldiers. Born in Deblin (eastern Poland) in 1932, Peszke immigrated to the United States with his mother shortly after the outbreak of World War II.
Circa 1910s: This is a framed photograph of Karolina and Jan Wrzesien before their arduous journey from the small Polish town of Izbiska to Chicopee before World War I, in the hope of achieving the American dream.