Polish Emigration

Every thing happens for a reason. The mass immigration from Europe to America is no exception.

The Timeline of Polish History on the PolandGenWeb site mentions in the 1890's of the mass emigration of Pole to the US due to poverty.

Poland experiences mass emigration due to poverty. Approximately 4 million out of 22 million Poles emigrate to the United States prior to World War I.

After reading a chapter from The Polish Peasant in Europe and America; Monograph of an Immigrant Group by William Isaac Thomas, Florian Znaniecki, I feel many of the Poles that came to America were looking for a better their life than what was there for them in Poland.

The conditions the Kingdom of Poland were bleak for the average family earning only enough to barely live on. Farms were small and produced just enough food. Work in the industrialized cities was very competitive employing only 30% of the men. Without many options available, either through brokers or by borrowing money from relatives they came to America.