I have always been proud of my Polish heritage. So, with October being Polish Heritage Month, you might assume that my thoughts would be focused on Pulaski, Kosciuszko, Chopin and the like. But no, they are instead centered on Captain John Smith, the leader of the Jamestown, Virginia colony settlement in 1607. As proof that you are never too old to learn something new, I recently discovered that Smith had brought the first Poles to the new world in 1608.
In the late 1590s Smith was an authentic adventurer and soldier of fortune. He fought for both the French and the Dutch against the Spaniards. Smith also was a mercenary for the Hapsburgs in Hungary. In 1602, while combatting the Crimean Tatars, he was captured and sold into slavery. He escaped and made his way through the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth which was still very powerful at the time. It was here that he observed the abilities of Polish artisans and craftsmen. By 1604 Smith was back in London and affiliated with the Virginia Company of London which was planning to establish a colony in North America.
Smith knew the colony would require some skilled workers to succeed and he convinced the company directors to recruit some Poles to come to Virginia. After a disastrous first year, Jamestown was on the brink of failure. On Oct. 1, 1608, a ship finally arrived with some badly needed foreign workers including a few dozen Polish pioneers. The Poles included a blacksmith, a specialist in the production of glass and someone experienced in working with pitch and tar for ship building. The Poles dug the initial well in the colony and produced the first industrial products in the new world in the form of glassware. Smith was deeply appreciative of their skills and willingness to work. I can’t help but wonder if he ever sat with them and shared some pierogi and a cup of tea.
The Poles were indentured servants until they repaid the company for the cost of their ship’s passage. This generally took 2-3 years and, during the time Smith was present in the colony, they were well respected. However, once he returned to England after suffering a serious injury, the Poles and other foreign workers were treated as social inferiors to the point that they were even disenfranchised from the vote. The Poles were furious and abandoned their workplaces and went on strike in 1619. This was the initial civil rights protest in America and the management of the Virginia company soon agreed to restore all rights to the Poles.
Thus, the first Poles had arrived in America a dozen years before the Pilgrims in Plymouth and 22 years before the Puritans in Boston. During the 1640s the Dutch brought a group of Polish craftsmen to New Amsterdam — present day New York City. Historians generally agree that there was a continuous small immigration of Poles into the 13 colonies before the Revolution. They were usually either religious dissenters, adventurous nobles or tradesmen, all of whom were respected and accepted into society.
In the mid-18th century, the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth was slowly being decimated by the Russians, Austrians and Prussians whose troops continuously defeated the Polish army. This resulted in many Polish military officers, such as Pulaski and Kosciuszko, being forced to flee for their safety to America where they fought against the British. It is estimated that a thousand soldiers of Polish descent fought on the American side.
Polish immigrants continued to trickle into the U.S. throughout the early 19th century but there was a huge surge between the years 1870–1914. These latter immigrants were mostly uneducated impoverished farmers who were fleeing the oppressive policies of the Russians, Prussians and Austrians who had partitioned Poland in 1795. Since Poland had ceased to exist as a nation, these Poles were usually classified as coming from either Russia, Prussia or Austria. Poland again became a recognized country in 1918, but the severe restrictions created on the number of new arrivals by the Immigration Act of 1924 meant there were few immigrant Poles admitted to América from 1924 to 1948. That changed in the aftermath of World War II when displaced persons were allowed entrance.
On a personal note, around the turn of the 20th century, all four of my grandparents had separately emigrated to America from the part of the Austrian Hungarian empire known as Galicia. Through hard work, they were able to own homes and, between between them, raised 12 children. I am sure they were unaware of it, but their efforts at leading meaningful lives maintained a tradition that had begun centuries earlier in Jamestown when their first countrymen arrived in America.
Richard Szlosek lives in Northampton.