Tom, Time period you wondered about -- Jarecki applied for Homestead grant in spring of 1868. Karen ----- Original Message ----- From: "Thomas E. Lassek" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, July 06, 2011 9:47 AM Subject: Re: [NEPLATTE] Galacia and Prussia > > Margie May - > > A comment to your comment concerning my comment based on a comment by > Karen - (smile) > > Professor Ivor Norman Richard Davies FBA, FRHistS > http://www.normandavies.com/ makes for good reading. I see he has several > publications available and any one of them would be a treasure to own. I'm > sure he's quite correct in his analysis of the Austrian Hungarian > partition. > > In the end though, and to answer Karens question, we need a > statistical analysis of Polish immigrants, by partitioned areas, that > settled in and around Columbus Nebraska, but even then, the results may > not tell us what we need to know since she didn't mention a general time > period which could possibly have a bearing on the end result. The > immigration of Poles into the US, by general area, was not simultaneous. > Emigration from Prussia began in the 1870's and peaked around 1890, > Austrian controlled Poland began in the 1880's and from the Russian > partition in the 1890's (Bukowczyk "And my Children did not Know Me"). > > Polish emigration continues to this day - only the numbered amount, by > comparison, changes - so does the legality. > > Tomasz > > > > > > On Jul 5, 2011, at 5:35 PM, Marge Sandlier wrote: > >> Tom, >> >> A comment on your comment: >> >> I agree that the Austrian Hungarian Empire seemed to be much more >> relaxed in their treatment of the Poles in the Austrian partition, from >> what I've read. But...I've also read that Galicia was by far the >> poorest of the Partitioned Poland. The area was mostly agricultural, >> there was very little industrialization. My cousin Roman in Poland has >> also mentioned this from time to time in our chats. >> >> Some time back Roman highly recommended to me the book "God's >> Playground: A History of Poland" by Norman Davies. It is a two volume >> set...which I have not read all the way through. It is a great >> reference though. Davies writes about the Austrian Partition: >> >> Economic, social, national, cultural and political factors combined >> to aggravate the poverty in which most of the people lived. The ... >> "Galician Misery" was proverbial. A well-informed analyst, writing in >> 1887, contrived to demonstrate that rural overpopulation in Galicia had >> outstripped that in all other parts of Europe, and was approaching >> levels prevalent in China and India. According to his study, the >> cumulative effects of inefficient agricultural techniques were >> compounded by rigid, conservative attitudes, by crippling taxation, and >> by the inordinate number of unproductive petty officials; some 50,000 >> people were dying each year as a result of near-starvation conditions; >> and one-quarter of the total inhabitants could safely emigrate before >> any improvement might be expected. Of all the three Partitions, Galicia >> had the highest birth-rate and the highest death-rate, together with the >> lowest rate of demographic growth and the lowest level of >> life-expectancy. Galicia was in a worse predicament than Ireland at the >> start of the potato famine. As compared with the standard of living in >> England at that time, the average Galician produced only one-quarter of >> the quantity of basic foodstuffs, ate less than one-half of the standard >> English diet, possessed only one-ninth of the Englishman's propertied >> wealth, and received barely one-eleventh of the English farmer's return >> on his land; yet he paid twice as high a proportion of his income in >> taxes. One need not necessarily take Szczepanski's figures as gospel to >> accept the obvious conclusions. All available statistics point in the >> same direction. Galicia could fairly claim to be the poorest province >> of Europe. (Volume II, page 145) >> >> Davies goes on to write: >> >> For many peasant families, emigration offered the sole chance of >> survival. In the twenty-five years before the First World War, more >> than two million people left Galicia for good. No less than 400,000, or >> almost 5 per cent of the population, departed in 1913 alone. Some went >> to the industrial areas in Silesia, and in particular to the Duchy of >> Teschen where the Polish element in the expanding mining community at >> Karwina grew quickly into a strong majority. Others went to France or >> Germany. But most took the ship from Hamburg for America, joining the >> ceaseless tide of Europe's weary and oppressed who passed through Ellis >> Island on their way to the mines of Pennsylvania or to the frontier land >> of the mid-West. (Volume II, page 147) >> >> I imagine Davies made his comparison between the Galician population and >> those in England, because Davies is English. He is married to a Polish >> woman. One of the reasons Roman recommends this particular history, is >> because Davies is English. Therefore, Davies sees the Polish history >> from an outsider's perspective and writes with less bias than someone >> from Poland. >> >> Marge >> >> Thomas E. Lassek wrote: >>> Comment : >>> >>> >>> Another thought - I think the odd's would favor more Polish immigrants >>> firstly from Prussia than Galacia, from Russia than Glacia, from Prussia >>> than Russia. Everything that I have read over the years seems to support >>> this. Prussia always seems the worst, followed by Russia, and then >>> Galacia. Galacia was administered by the Austrian Hungarian Empire, >>> which in my opinion, are always credited with humane (more or less) >>> treatment which was carried over to occupied Polish lands. >>> >>> Tomasz >>> >>> >> >> >> >> ------------------------------- >> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to >> [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the >> quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message