New Britain Herald
articles available in Local History Room.
The lives of these two women tell a good deal about the lives of the early Polish immigrants. The fact that Mrs. Traceski was the first woman to settle points out that the men arrived first for jobs, sometimes returning home later, sometimes bringing their families. The Traceskis came from Austrian controlled Poland; the majority of Poles came to New Britain from the Russian controlled area. Tomasz Ostrowksi is thought by some to be the very first Pole to permanently settle, but records are hard to find. (See Stanislaus Blejwas,
The Polish Community in Transition
, pp. 6,7.)
1. Date the real arrival of Poles to New Britain. From the other story you can see when the numbers increased rapidly.
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2. What function did Grandma Wiacek serve in the Polish community? What factors in the immigrants’ lives made staying close together necessary?
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3. What was the work load involved in being a housekeeper? What was the basic difference from today?
4. Trace the movement of the children of these 2 pioneers. What patterns do these families show in second generation movement?
“The Poles in Connecticut concentrated in the 4 counties of Middleses, New London, Tollard, and Hartford . . . While a great many Poles went into factory work, more went into farming than did representatives of any other immigrant group.’’
David Roth,
Connecticut
a Bicentennial History, p. 153.
(figure available in printed form)