About
the mid 1800s, a priest by the name of Father Leopold Moczygemba came
to South Texas as a missionary. He was soon writing home to his
family and friends encouraging them to sell everything they had and
come
to Texas. The polish were under severe economic depression at
that
time, so they did. There were three groups that came over between
1854
and 1856. By 1856, economic conditions were better in Poland, and
the Poles in South Texas were under a severe drought and having very
difficult
times, so the immigration only lasted for three years. Father
Leupold
helped acquire land in Karnes County, Panna Maria, Texas. This
brought
about the first Polish Catholic church and school in America.
There
were probably about 1,500 Poles that immigrated during this period.
My family
came over in the third immigration wave in late 1856 from upper Silesia
to Karnes County, Texas. My GGG Grandfather Francz Grzegorczyk
came over with two children, John age 13, and Anna age 3.
The Gregorczyks I am tracing are all descendants of Francz (Frank), his
son John, and his daughter Anna. Since Frank was the only
Grzegorczyk that came over to Texas, this should cover just about all
the Gregorczyk's in Texas. In fact, after researching the U S
Censuses from 1850 through 1920, I found that all the Gregorczyks in
Texas during this time period were from our family. After a
while, half of John's children dropped the first "z" to make the last
name Gregorczyk, and later, some future descendants dropped the second
"z" to make it Gregorcyk. I have over 1,300 people in my database
that are related to his descendants.
His wife, Mary Johanna died on the ship between New York and
Texas. Their daughter Anna, who was six years old at the time,
remembers when they threw her mother overboard, burying her at
sea. Their son John married Albena Bomba and had 16 children,
twelve of which made
it to adulthood. Their daughter Anna married Frank R. Moczygemba,
nephew
of the Reverend Leopold Moczygemba that was responsible for the Polish
immigration between 1854 and 1856. If you are a Gregorczyk living
in Texas, there
is a good chance you are a descendant in our family.
We are particularily interested in locating any information on Francz
(Frank) Grzegorczyk 1822-1889, his wife, any family Bible that may have
existed, and any information on his ancesters and descendants.
Feel free to browse the pages on this site. If you have any
corrections or new information, please contact me. Thanks.
