Jan Raczkiewicz Arrives in the U.S in 1910

“You can have more than one home. You can carry your roots with you, and decide where they grow.” Hanning Mankell ***** Jan Raczkiewicz (my grand uncle) arrived in the United States on February 18, 1910. When his mother Katarzyna (nee Kaszucka) said goodbye to 21 year old Jan, it was likely she was never going to see him again. A year and a half later, 16 year old Anthony (my grandfather) and 21 year old Joseph (my grand uncle) also left. As a mother, I am sure she was going to miss them but was concerned about their future. The economic, religious, and political reality for her sons must have seemed pretty bleak because of the events that were happening all around them. ***** Jan,, at age 22 and a farmer/day laborer, left from Hamburg, Germany on 3 February 1910 on the ship The Pennsylvania. Before sailing, he traveled over 700 miles from Tomaszow Lubelski to get to the ship. He traveled with three other men from the same area. One was Stanislaw Czarnopys, age 20 who left behind an uncle Jan and was going to his father Jozef, who was already in the U.S. The other two men were Moische Raische, 25 and Jozef Benko, 45. Fifteen days later, the ship arrived in New York. Everyone’s initial destination was Stanley Czarnopys’ father in Linden, New Jersey, about 20 miles away. By 1913, Jan was living at 409 Stocking Ave. NW in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He was working as a cabinetmaker at the Phoenix Furniture Company, in the flourishing furniture industry. ***** General factors that drove Poles to leave Poland in the late 1800s to the early 1900s were poverty, a shortage of land, the military draft, political or cultural repression and religious discrimination. The factors that pulled them to the other countries were the promise of jobs, cheap farmland and chain migration--where migrants from a certain town follow others to a new location. Jan’s mother Katarzyna grew up in a family of furriers that had been marrying potters, weavers, shoemakers and other trades people. They were likely suffering economically because people would not have had much money to buy their goods and services. She married a farmer. It is unknown if Jan’s father owned his own land. In 1883, in the Russian area, the Peasant Bank was established to help some peasants buy farmland which kept some people in Poland. They would likely not have had enough land to pass it down to every son in their family. Her son's economic future staying in Poland probably did not look good. ***** It is hard to imagine the sacrifice and planning involved in having family members leave like this. Information was not readily available like it is now and people had to wait for a letter to arrive. Either their parents or they themselves needed to come up with the money for the ticket and the journey. The family would have still been raising Stanislawa, Piotr, Marion, Paulina and Boleslaw so there would have been a lot going on. ***** How did Jan know where to go in the United States and how to get there? This would be an example of chain migration -- there were already some people in Grand Rapids, Michigan from Tomaszow Lubelski before Jan arrived. Working with Curt Wolf (4th cousin), I found out that his relative Konstantine Eifler came to the U.S. in 1908. Konstantine’s sister Pauline would marry Joseph Niedzwiedz (my 1rst cousin 3x removed--and this name should be familiar to some since Eileen (Racczkiewicz grew up knowing her uncle Andy Nezwed--he is the son of Jozef Niedzwiedz and Paulina nee Eifler.) They would definitely have been some of the people that left Tomaszow Lubelski and ended up in Grand Rapids before Jan and could help him and others who came later. Joseph Niedzwiedz would have been Jan’s second cousin since their grandparents were siblings -- Jozef and Julianna Kaszucka. They would have been part of the welcoming community that helped Jan and his brothers to make this huge change. Later, I know my grandfather Anthony and his wife Pauline did that for other people, writing letters, letting them board in their house, sending money and providing other encouragement and material support. ***** Image: https://www.facebook.com/groups/Polish.Genealogy/permalink/10160733499088266 ***** Read “Why Did They Pick Grand Rapids As Their Destination?” on the Polish Family History blog at: