Progress Report

Jacob Piwetz

A New Waverly

Summary of Current Progress

At this point the research project is progressing slowly but steadily.  Sources that have been found so far are one internet source, and the vertical files in the Thomason room, specifically the file on the St. Joseph’s Catholic church, which includes history of the church, but, as it is so closely tied to the Polish settlement, also includes quite a bit on that.  So far the research is showing that there was a large shortage of labor after the Civil War ended.  To try to remedy this, a group of planters met together, and came up with the idea to recruit laborers from Poland, and to bring them over to create a new labor source.  Also, a timeline of the Polish immigration is beginning to form, and many individual immigrants are showing up.  New Waverly appears to be quite important to Polish immigration in Texas in general, as it was the first organized settlement of Poles in East Texas, and later immigrants would go there first, before spreading further afield.

Source List

St. Joseph Catholic Church vertical file, Thomason Room

http://tex-family.com/showmedia.php?&mediaID=275&medialinkID=&albumlinkID=&page=9

History of New Waverly Texas

 

 

 

 

 

Outline

1. Waverly Emigration Society
1. Civil War

1.     Lack of Labor

2.     Planters

2. Society

1.     Levey

2.     Contracts

    2.  Immigrants

                A. Poland

                      1.  Civil Unrest

                      2.  Leaving Country

                B.  New Waverly

                      1.  Arrival

                      2.  Settlement

                      3.  Impact