Posted: Sat Jan 01, 2011 12:50 pm
Post subject: "Highlander, don't you feel sad to leave your native la
My search for my paternal grandfather’s ancestors took me to two small villages in South Poland, Długopole, and Bańska (now Szaflary-Bańska) located at the foothills of the Polish Tatra Mountains in the district of Nowy Targ. Curious to learn more about my grandfather's heritage, I searched for any information I could get hold of on the area, its people, and its past. I found out that both villages, Długopole and Bańska, are located about 44 miles south of Krakow in a region known as Podhale that -- at the time of my grandfather's emigration -- was part of the province Galicia in the Austrian-Hungarian Monarchy and became part of the new Polish Republic after World War I.
Podhale was a very poor region with farming, shepherding, and pasturing being the major occupation of the villagers. Most farms were small and poor and only with great efforts kept a family going in good times. Landless villagers and those whose farms were too small to support a family were forced to find an income through other means with all members of the family, males and females of all ages alike, helping to support the family. They worked as farm helpers, maids, servants, day laborers at the farms and in the forests that belonged to the big landowners, at nearby manor estates, town houses, or in the gold, silver, copper, and iron ore mines in the Tatra Mountains.
Emigration for many was the only way to escape the troublesome and often hopeless struggle against the rugged soil, the harsh weather, against famines and epidemics, and against relentless poverty. What started as seasonal migration to big cities like Budapest that attracted impoverished peasants to work in construction and industry, to Northern Poland, France, or other European nations towards the end of the 19th century, became an often permanent trans-Atlantic emigration to the United States, Canada, South America, or Australia at the beginning of the 20th century. The enormous numbers of emigrants from Podhale who entered the United States at the end of the 19th and at the beginning of the 20th century makes you wonder who was left in some of the small mountain villages.
I always wondered what it meant for them to leave their home country and families behind, knowing that they would most likely never see them again in their life time. I just found the Highlander song "Highlander, don't you feel sad to leave your native lands" at http://spuscizna.org/spuscizna/ezine-3-1.html and thought I would share it.
Last edited by Ute on Thu Mar 03, 2016 7:00 am; edited 4 times in total
Bill Rushin PO Top Contributor
Joined: 14 Dec 2009 Replies: 311 Location: Virginia Beach, Va.
About emigration. IMO, I think that never returning to Poland was in the back of their minds but they didn't dwell on it as we (genealogists) do. We always dwell on how it was for them, the hardships etc. because we are recreating their lives through past history and we actually know their outcome because we can see what happened to them as we have it on paper a 100 years later.
It makes us sad reading about their hard lives. A hundred years from now what are they going to think and say about us? I would imagine as a young person or couple they were thrilled to go on a trip outside of their little village.(I see this excitement today in my cousins in SE Ohio-small coal mine towns) A new place, a new adventure = fun! When you and I were young we all wanted to leave home asap! Why not them? They all were hard working people, and they knew they could handle that part of it. My grandmother was so proud to own her own milk cow which was the greatest thing on earth to her with 8 sons to feed. Men could get a job just about anywhere, pay wasn't the greatest and the hours were long but that didn't discourage many to think of returning to the old country, it was worse over their if you think about it. You worked daylight to dark 6 days a week, washed up, ate and went to bed. Bad living conditions, you didn't own anything, you ate potatoes and cabbage a lot and meat was a luxury. The shepherds didnt lie on a hillside looking at the mountains sucking on a piece of straw and watched their flock. They were milking the sheep, carting water, making cheese all day in a smoke filled hut in the woods.
I think they plodded along and hoped some day to return to visit but in which that never happened. I'm sure that they wrote letters to keep in touch or passed info through others who were returning back home. Some like my GF's brother did work here in the US and returned home with more money just as he planned. Many more never did have that chance to complete that dream however. Most Poles could not have property in Poland my GF said. Your family out grew the farm with too many kids to feed. Immigrants were offered jobs and if they saved a little money they could have a little piece of the American dream. So it worked for them. When everyone else around you is just as poor when starting out you don't realize youre poor too.
My GP's had 2 or 3 farms after arriving here (1902-1912) and then 2 others in Ohio which they purchased in 1920. They were in heaven owning their little farm. GF mentioned missing the Tatra's more than his family. I'm certain his parents were dead by 1920 so what is there to go back to? I understand each family has different stories too. I think the folks back in Poland worried more about the children leaving and what was going to happen to them. But they didn't have as many mouths to feed so it was better for them too.
When a person gets older or after a close death of a family member a person thinks of family, the homestead and "good old days". We all do it; it's the nature of life. We as genealogists don't have access to all the "good times" in our old records, I wish we did, we might all think a little different.
Plus when WWI entered the picture (1914), more hard times; you couldn't go to the old country if you wanted to then. After the war the Bolsheviks and Russian problems, countries being divided and finally Poland was free from Austro-Hungary Empire. 1920-1938 was good start for Poland again. Then WWII hit, and after it ended what did they get? There was no celebration at all, the Russians took over control and if you mentioned you were a partisan you were shot. So the American Poles could not return to their country for fear of never getting back out. And this continued for 45 more years! How sad for the proud Poles, they couldn't go home if they wanted to.
Ute PO Top Contributor
Joined: 13 Dec 2009 Replies: 597 Location: Germany
Bill Rushin wrote: "About emigration. IMO, I think that never returning to Poland was in the back of their minds but they didn't dwell on it as we (genealogists) do. We always dwell on how it was for them, the hardships etc. because we are recreating their lives through past history and we actually know their outcome because we can see what happened to them as we have it on paper a 100 years later ....
Bill,
If I look at it from a rational standpoint, I fully understand our ancestors' situation after immigration to the United States, but looking at their life situation a little more deeply and trying to imagine what their everyday lives were like and who they were inside is a whole different dimension. They had feelings like us, and I cannot help it, hearing their life stories and struggles and looking at their pictures moves me to tears sometimes.
Last edited by Ute on Fri Jan 28, 2011 8:13 am; edited 3 times in total
This is very interesting... I think that your discussion shows real, deeply ingrained reason, why we are doing all the "genealogy stuff" and we are getting into it deeper and deeper in time.
We ask ourselves questions: How did their life look in the Old Country? Why did they do what they did? How did they go through the hardship of traveling from areas located far away from any sea to the New World at that time? How did they start in the new, completely strange for them, place? How our life would look like if they took different decisions?
And below 'Góralu czy Ci nie żal' pefromed one of the Góralska Kapela (Gorals band) illustrated by pictures of Góral Tomasz Adamek. (In many restaurants in Zakopane every evening there are playing Górale groups their beautiful, authentic music).
Zenon wrote: "This is very interesting... I think that your discussion shows real, deeply ingrained reason, why we are doing all the "genealogy stuff" and we are getting into it deeper and deeper in time. .....
Zenon,
Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts about our discussion. That's what I like about PolishOrigins, that we are not only answering genealogical queries, but also have the opportunity to share links to interesting literature and music, discuss issues we are interested in, and share our thoughts and opinions on the forum.
Thank you also for the links to Prof. Keely Stauter-Halsteds book and the Gorale song. The book sounds really interesting, I would love to read it, and the song is very nice. I love Gorale music -- the unusual mix of sadness and melancholy and deep joy of life all to be found within one song. Some time ago I found a website with Gorale music on it by a group named 'Gorales de Dourges', here is the link to their website with some of their music:
I also just came across an article named 'The Golden Yoke' that fits to our discussion about emigration. It deals with emigration from the village of Dlugopole, my paternal great-grandmother's home village, and the mixed feelings about emigration shared by people who have this experience:
Oh Ute! Thanks so much for the link to the Golden Yoke article. It was great! I should have told the forum about Prof. Keely Stauter-Halsted's book when I first got it. I don't why it didn't occur to me to do so! Let me know when you get the book so we can discuss it!
Ute PO Top Contributor
Joined: 13 Dec 2009 Replies: 597 Location: Germany
Oh Ute! Thanks so much for the link to the Golden Yoke article. It was great! I should have told the forum about Prof. Keely Stauter-Halsted's book when I first got it. I don't why it didn't occur to me to do so! Let me know when you get the book so we can discuss it!
Shellie,
I was also really thrilled to find that article today because it's a good addition to our discussion and I have the names Dlugopolski and Kowalkowski that are mentioned in the article in my family tree! I also found some older photos of Dlugopole online on the weekend -- the first ones Ive ever seen of my great-grandmothers home village Im going to post them this week.
Ute PO Top Contributor
Joined: 13 Dec 2009 Replies: 597 Location: Germany
Oh Ute! Thanks so much for the link to the Golden Yoke article. It was great! ...
Shellie,
I just found another article this morning entitled 'Sour Feelings in the Land of Milk and Honey'. It was published in the Chicago Tribune in 1998, and like 'The Golden Yoke' it deals with emigration from the village of Dlugopole, my great-grandmother's home village. Interesting to read and again some familiar names ...
Shellie,
It seems to be my lucky week. I tried for years to find out more about emigration from the village of Dlugopole, and here are these great articles on exactly that topic. I didn't know they existed when I started the discussion on emigration until I went through my folders yesterday and found a list of references that I had printed out and put away for later use some years ago when I started researching my Podhale ancestors. Ill transcribe the list of references and post it, perhaps we'll find more interesting information about Podhale and its people.
BobK PO Top Contributor
Joined: 11 Nov 2008 Replies: 231 Location: Portland, Oregon USA
He also has a list of Parishes that have been indexed with birth/marriage/deaths on another page.
Bob,
Thank you for sharing the link to this article with us. It's interesting (and shocking at the same time) to read about how life was like at the time. And, yes, it gives us a better understanding of how far we've come in a little over 100 years, thanks to our ancestors who had the courage and strength to leave their home country in search for a better life.
Ute
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Posted: Sat Jan 01, 2011 12:50 pm
Post subject: "Highlander, don't you feel sad to leave your native la
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