Immigration, Ocean Voyage, Families Who Came to Texas 1854–1890
During the 19th century, families from the ethnically Polish region of Upper Silesia faced persistent poverty, hunger, and disease. In the 1850s, Father Leopold Moczygemba, a young Conventual Franciscan priest from the village of Płużnica Wielka in Upper Silesia, was serving as a missionary in Central Texas. He saw that the recent German immigrants were thriving and decided that cheap land, tall grass, and low cost of goods might offer great opportunities for his own people. In 1853, Father Moczygemba wrote to his family and urged them to join him in America. Thefamily shared these letters with their neighbors, sowing seeds of hope among the desperate people. When floods devastated farms and villages during the summer of 1854, many families were already emotionally prepared to abandon their homes, and even to leave Europe, to escape their dire circumstances.
