1854 A Letter from Father Moczygemba and Immigration to America
(Link to Video: The Land They Left Behind V2)
In their homeland, conditions were difficult. Peasants were facing poverty, disease, and rising taxes. Then, in the summer of 1854, historic floods in the region of Upper Silesia swallowed farmlands, devastated harvests, and destroyed houses and towns. Now, the people faced starvation over the coming winter.
Father Leopold Moczygemba, a Franciscan missionary working in Texas, wrote letters to his family urging them to join him in America. These enthusiastic letters were shared outside of his own family, and their wide circulation planted seeds of hope among the people. Dozens of families, inspired by Father Moczygemba’s words, decided to go to Texas.
Illustration, Wood, Ronsaville, Harlin, Inc., Annapolis MD
The first group of approximately 150, left the Opole region by train in the fall of 1854. They traveled, by wayof Leipzig and Berlin, to the Port of Bremen where they negotiated passage to America aboard the sailing ship Weser. The journey to Galveston would take nine weeks.
