Polish

Joseph Parrish 8-13-1872 Dear Dad, After a long journey and many hardships along the way, we have finally made it to our final destination. After we left for the coast of Poland, we decided to take the cheapest route to America, considering how we were on money at the time. The cheapest method of transportation was a freight sailing vessel [JP1]. We were on this with 23 other families and all of them were Polish families looking to begin a new life in America. In our journey, many people on the boat died due to illness. 11 of the 23 families contracted diseases and died; however, our family remained in excellent health. Food was provided for us during our voyage, but what we were unaware of until we awaited our first meal is that we have to cook [JP2] the food ourselves. Unprepared as we were, we did not have any cooking utensils to prepare our meals with. This was a struggle as we had to prepare our meals using the tin containers that our food came packaged in. During our trip, the captain was in need of extra assistance [JP3], and being the strongest and most fit male on board, I was selected. Having never been on a ship in my life, I was nervous at first, but I managed to learn things quickly. With diligent work and a little sucking up to the captain, I was able to get my family more portions of food during for each meal and a few spare utensils. 12 weeks [JP4] after we embarked from the shores of Poland, we arrived at Ellis Island [JP5]. Before we could exit the ship we had to be examined and cleared by a doctor. The doctor cleared us and we stepped foot onto Ellis Island. Before we could cross into America we had to pay a fee. Unfortunately we had no money at all. The captain, being a generous man, gave me $3 for my services on the boat. With this I was able to pay my way onto America. I had heard about a town in Wisconsin called Milwaukee [JP6]. That was my goal because that is where many Polish immigrants were settling down. I was able to work my way to Milwaukee, make enough money to pay for my family’s trip, and have them sent to Milwaukee via boxcar on a train.

When we were all in Milwaukee we once again had no money. We decided to join the newfound movement of building the first Polish parish in Milwaukee. The church [JP7] was located in “Little Poland” which was the locals’ nickname for the South side of Milwaukee. The town was only 47 families large, so the more helped that was given, the better. We each helped in a different way to earn our living. I helped with the construction of the church on the corner of South Fifth Street and West Mitchel Street. Mother helped by cleaning the clothes of the workers and feeding the workers. Your other son decided to become a Pastor’s apprentice in hopes to one day become a certified pastor himself. He followed the primary pastor Rev. John Rodowicz and the secondary pastor Rev. Bonaventure Buczynski.

We are creating our own community while living here in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States of America. I hope that one day you can raise the money to join us here. For now, we will all miss you, and by the time you read this we will have a fully functioning new church.

Love,

Andrzej [JP8] (Andrew)

=Bibliography= Miller, Frank Hayden. __An overview of Polish immigration through 1896__. 1896. 28 August 2012 . Wisconsin Historical Society. __19th-Century Immigration__. n.d. 28 August 2012 . —. __A description of the early Polish immigrants to Wisconsin, 1901__. 1901. 28 August 2012 . —. __A Polish immigrant recalls coming to Milwaukee as a boy in 1868__. 18 June 1933. 28 August 2012 . Wikipedia contributors. "Polish American." //Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia//. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 1 Sep. 2012. Web. 28 Aug. 2012.

[JP1] Casimir Rozmarynowski, an immigrant from Poland took this method of transportation to get to America. This was used by immigrants who were short on cash. [JP2] Casimir Rozmarynowski and his family ran into the same problem with cooking their meals. They had nothing to their name and they did not think about utensils. [JP3] This was a common occurrence in long voyages such as this one. A crew member would get hurt or die and someone would need to fill his place. [JP4] The trip from Poland to America typically took anywhere from 9 to 13 weeks via sailing vessel. [JP5] All immigrants coming from the east had to first check in at Ellis Island and pay a fee. If the fee was not paid within a year’s time then the family was deported back to their home country. [JP6] From 1899 to 1931 the largest surge of Polish immigrants arrived to America through Ellis Island. The total number was 1.5 million Polish immigrants. Wisconsin had the highest concentration of Polish immigrants to America. [JP7] With the settling of many Polish immigrants in Wisconsin came the desire for churches. There was a surge of church building from the mid 1800’s to the mid 1900’s. Many Polish pastors came to America to fulfill the religious needs of the people. [JP8] This was a common name for a Polish boy to have during in the late 1800’s to early 1900’s. Upon going back and checking the records from Ellis Island, it was discovered that the Polish immigrants did not have a large variety of names.