Cookie wrote: > > Ralph Lewis wrote: > > > > In many cases, I have seen someone write > > > > ">Those who immigrated in the early 1880's came to the coal mining area > > >of central PA. Some then went to the Chicago area ..." > > > > Why? I know about the coal mines in central PA. But why there, or > > Chicago? (As opposed to New York City, Baltimore, Cleveland, Detroit, or > > somewhere else?) I *know* they went where there were jobs, but why *those* > > jobs? Why *those* areas? > > > > Was there an organized effort? I know there was the effort to get > > Polish/Russian Jews to enter the US through Galveston, TX, and then settle > > in Texas, Colorado, etc. Was there such an effort in Galicia to assist > > Polish Catholics? My grandfather-in-law KAMYKOWSKI came through Baltimore, > > and moved to Minersville, PA. Why did he go through Baltimore, stay with a > > family named JENKINS (doesn't sound like *they* were relatives), and move? > > Why did his cousin enter Baltimore, and go directly to Chicago? > > > > Can we discuss some of the cultural/societal issues? Can we discuss some > > of the 'color' - some of the 'fabric' of these immigrations? These people > > were more than names and dates and descendants. > > > > Ralph Lewis, Harrisburg, PA - rllewis@usa.net (also RalphLewis@aol.com) > > > > ***** Researching these families: (Genealogy is my hobby) > > CHATCHKALEVITZ/KHATCHKALOVITZ > > (Latvia,Vilna,Svencionys,SouthAfrica,Silale,Kovno,MA) > > BRUKARZ/BROOKS, ROCHAKOVSKY/ROCKOFSKAYA/ROCKOFF > > JACUBOVICZ/JACOBSON (Pultusk,Lomza), SALANT, RUDNITZKY, MATZKIN > > ROSEN (Switzerland, Poland[Pultusk?] ,Russia), SCZUPAK/LEWIS/LOUIS, > > STENBECK(sp?) > > KAMYKOWSKI, LENAR/LENART > > ---------- > > How well do *you* know Macintosh? Check out the EvangeList web site at: > > <http://www.evangelist.macaddict.com/> > > I totally agree! My great grandfather & his wife came to America > directly from Poland. They lived in Minersville. However, most of the > family (sons & daughters) eventually moved to Chicago. What is up with > that? > Curious > Ann Marie Writing about the Slovaks in a scholarly book titled Immigration and Urbanization, the Slovak Experience, 1870-1918, M. Mark Stolarik documents that the movement of the Slovaks was characterized by chain immigration and endogamy. The summary of Chapter II reads in part: "Thus did Slovak immigrants to America cluster in certain regions of the United States and in certain parts of cities, and gradually adopt some aspects of American culture while rejecting others. The industrial northeast portion of this country attracted the majority, especially the state of Pennsylvania. They eventually turned parts of cities into ethnic neighborhoods that reflected village life not only in the close proximity of their dwellings but also in the continuing practice of marrying partners from the same or neighboring Old World villages. While the earliest comers, in the absence of such neighborhoods, often had a difficult time adjusting to the New World, later arrivals headed straight for these ethnic areas and found it relatively easy to live and work in America because they had the security of the "ghettos" to fall back upon..." Maybe this was a pattern in other eastern European groups as well, I don't know. Jim