Boston Daily Globe (1872-1922); June 29, 1902; ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Boston Globe; transcribed by Pamela Hodgkins 2025.
Photo Captions:
Joseph Burnosky, Pine Nook, South Deerfield. His son (at plow), Daughter and Hired Boy.
Francis Clapp, South Deerfield, who has found places for 3000 Polish people.
Joseph Hersnulis – Mary Styner – Nickoloy Meilnek; Polish children in Sunderland Schools.
Joseph August, Sunderland, Mass, and his two hired men, weeding in bed of tobacco plants.
Howells has spoken of the honor of being an ancestor. In New England alone several thousand Poles are planting an old race in a new country, and under new conditions are rapidly becoming the farmers of the section.
History is repeating itself where probably the majority of New England farms are still owned by men whose ancestors drove out the Indian, the time is near when they will be in a hopeless minority. This is already true in the hill towns.
The very great majority of those of original stock still tilling New England farms are old men. Their sons have gone into wider fields where the chances for advancement and gain are far greater than at home. One by one the farms are passing into the hands of former foreigners and in many sections these foreigners are Poles.
That they are the founders of strong families of the future for New England none who study them can doubt. Just now they are far too busy to think of family coats-of-arms or other trappings of ancient families. That those coming will find ample evidence connecting them with noble families of Russia, Germany and Austria does not admit of doubt.
Just now hundreds of these ancestors, men and women, with their children, are literally working on their hands and knees in the fields pulling the weeds in onion fields and doing similar work. In many instances the women discard their dresses, wear a short waist and overalls, and are without covering for their feet.
Several hundred Poles have accomplished much in the heart of the best farming land in New England, the valley of the Connecticut river. This district selected is composed of Sunderland and South Deerfield, the latter a portion of the historic town of Deerfield, the mother town of Franklin county.
It was the love of liberty and freedom, the hope of advancement and gain, which brought the Poles to this country. It was the old law of supply and demand that brought them to Deerfield, Sunderland and other farming sections.
It was about 20 years go that the Poles were first brought to the Connecticut valley. In the particular section under consideration, the farmers could not hire men and boys to work on their farms or girls and women to assist in the household work.
The demand was pressing. Charles Parsons of Northampton, who has since died, then a pushing, aggressive farmer, conceived the idea of going to New York and Castle garden and their securing enough of the strong and sturdy immigrants to meet the demand for farm and domestic labor.
The business grew rapidly. Mr. Parsons made weekly trips. Agents at New York told the incoming immigrants as pleasing stories as was necessary to make the Pole see the Connecticut valley farms as the promised land.
Being new and green to America, the Pole at first paid the highest price, and was given the small end of the bargain. The agent in New York had to have a fee for his trouble. Mr. Parsons had to advance the money to bring the Pole to the farm, and, of course, he had to have a profit also.
This meant, as a rule, that the immigrant was practically mortgaged for $10 when he commenced work. It was, of course, to be taken out of the wages to be paid for his labor. The contract was particularly bad for either the farmer or laborer. The men came first, and were followed by women and children.
How many Mr. Parsons took from New York cannot be stated. The number must have been in the thousands.
Next Francis Clapp of South Deerfield took nup the business. Mr. Clapp is one of the substantial farmers of the Mill river district in South Deerfield. He tells his story in this way:
“I began with the Poles in 1889. I continued it for six years, and then it was no longer profitable. The Poles had learned by this time to find their own places. In many cases their relatives, who had been working in this country for several years, sent for their friends. They secured places for them.
“During the six years I secured places for more than 3000. I sent them to places in each of the six New England states, men and women, boys and girls. I treated them well. I found many of them suspicious, but they were ‘square’ as a rule. The yarns told them by some of the New York agents and by others who desired to make money out of them, at times caused trouble.
“One day I brought 18 to South Deerfield. The New York agent had told them that they had friends in the vicinity. Of course I knew nothing of this. I did not have an interpreter, and we could not talk. They realized they had been deceived and they determined to go back to New York. They were frightened and went in a drove.
“I had a license from the town to transact the business. I secured a girl as an interpreter who spoke seven different dialects. She could also do as much work in the house as any girl we ever had. She went back to New York after a time, married and went to work in a cigar factory.
“While they were waiting for places, if such happened to be the case, or for other reasons, they were quartered at my farm. They seem when they first come to be entirely without nerves. They sleep well under all conditions. Their appetites are enormous. Of course they are given only coarse food.
“I have known the me to eat from 10 to 13 potatoes at a meal, together with meat and bread. They do not care for pastry. They are fond of rye bread. They are very rarely sick. They make good citizens. Almost without exception they are Roman Catholics, and faithful to their obligations.
“They are willing to pay the price to succeed. That price is to work hard and save. They do not keep their money about them. They place it in the savings banks. When I first went to New York to get them it cost the farmer nothing. The Pole had to pay the fee for the New York agent, the money which I advanced to pay his far and other expenses, and the profit I made. Then, as they grew to know the custom better, the Pole paid half ad the farmer half. Now the farmer has to pay the whole when the men come from a distance.
“As a rule, the men are hired for a season of eight months, the time of outdoor work on the farms. At first the contracts, on an average, were about $80 for the eight months. The Poles were given little money, only as they needed it. They had to work off the mortgage of $10 which they had contracted, They really needed little money. They were fed and lodged, and as a rule, they had sufficient clothing, for rthey had little occasion to dress finely. There was a chance, too, that if they had money they might leave the farmer without help, and so the settlement came at the end of the contract period.”
James H. Bridges, a brother of warden Bridges of the state prisons, a deputy sheriff and leading business man in South Deerfield, whose business has brought him into close touch with many Poles, talks in this way of them:
“They are good citizens. As a rule they are ‘square.’ They work very hard. The women and children work in the field with the men. At the hours for meals the women go to house and in less than a half-
hour the meal is over and all hands are back in the field at work. Many work from sunrise to sunset. When they are working for themselves every second counts.
“There is very little sickness among them, particularly among the men. Out of the many hundreds that have come to this vicinity I do not recall that a single one has died from disease. There have been deaths from accidents. They work by the month at first and save their money. It goes into the savings banks. When they have accumulated a little capital then they are ready to work for themselves.
In the cultivation of onions, the owner of the land furnishes the land, pays for the fertilizer, which is a large item and pays half the cost of seed. The Pole pays all the labor. In good years the Poles make large money.
“While they are suspicious when they first come, it soon wears off. They are in a strange country, and, apparently, at home they have been handled pretty roughly. They are shrewd at a bargain. In purchasing land, for instance, they have learned just what kind of soil they want for onions, tobacco or whatever crop they propose to raise. Among the old New England families there is more or less prejudice against sell a farm that has been in a certain family for years to the Poles. The Pole watches his chance, and when he wants a farm his is ready to pay a little more than the market price. Under those circumstances sentiment about an old homestead goes to the wall, and money talks.
“It seems to me that the men are of higher intelligence as a rule than the women. The majority of the men, I think, are dark. The majority of the women are light complexioned. Both sexes, when living in the villages, dress better that those living on the farms outside. Of course, they do not save as much money. When they come to this country they want to purchase coarse rough articles, such as they have been accustomed to. In a little while they want a higher grade. You see, they are just like all the rest of us.
“The children in the schools are bright. They learn quickly. As a rule, the Poles have large families. The women are not afraid to bear children. Thus far they has been no intermarrying with a single exception. In Sunderland one good looking Pole married a Yankee girl. In the coming generation there will be plenty of intermarrying. The boys and girls are now in the schools, meet on nearly the same level. Their children will be stronger for intermarrying.
“The principal trouble that we have with the Poles grows out of their rather excessive celebrations which they have at their wedding and christenings. The celebrations that I complain of may come before or after the ceremony itself. Quite frequently the celebration come on a Saturday night and continue through Sunday.
“The custom isn the past has been for the men to chip in $1 each for the purchase of beer and stronger liquors. When they keep up the celebrations I have no doubt there have scores of these celebrations without trouble, but there have been many celebrations where there have been assaults, but nearly any of a minor nature.
“The arrests have been very largely for these assaults, and drunkenness and difficulties growing out of a lack of chastity have been the other causes. In proportions there are no more arrests among them than among Americans.
“When it is recalled that the celebrations at the wedding and christening are about the only times of relaxation and unbending which they have, it is surprising that they are so orderly and well behaved. The arrests will be less in future. The Poles are learning that moderation is all right, but that excess is expensive and is frowned upon.
There is much phonetic spelling of their names. When the descendants, 50 or 75 years from now, come to look up the pedigrees and names of their ancestors they will find that the short cuts taken by Yankees in spelling names has made the family tree rather obscure. In many cases such names as “John Smith” and “Sara Jones” have been bodily lifted to Poles who have too long and difficult names for us to learn easily. “
Joseph Burnosky, a man in middle life, now owns the Deacon Cleary fam at “Pine Nook,” South Deerfield. It is a farm of 200 acres or more, and the principal house on it is modern throughout. It must have cost when built a few years ago $3000. Everything is tidy about the place.
On the day when the writer made his visit, the father and mother and five children were all at work in the field. The father and oldest boy did no object to having their pictures taken. They did object to having the picture of Mrs. Burnosky and the other children taken as they were then dressed.
The social position of Mrs. Burnosky would not allow here to be photographed with bare feet. She knew something of snapshots and so she ran into the brush, taking her smaller children with her. The curiosity of Annie, six years old, was too strong. She came out of the brush and had her picture taken with the others.
Mr. Burnosky has been in this country about a dozen years. When he first started to work for himself he occupied an old henhouse. This has caused him to be generally known as “Hen House Joe.” He is a fine looking man. He intends to remain in America as long as he lives. “Freedom and happiness” is his way of saying why he loves his adopted land.
Roman Skibisky is a young Pole, who is quite a daring speculator, as well as farmer. He lives in what was formerly one of the fine old mansions on the broad main street of Sunderland. For several years he has been plunging more or less in onions. Last fall he made his heaviest strike. All told, he purchased about 6300 bushels of onions. They cost him on an average less than 40 cents a bushel. He kept then until this spring and sold them on an average of $1.19 a bushel.
Taking out the cost of cold storage and insurance he netted more that $400 of about $2600. At one time he could have sold his entire holdings at $1.25 a bushel. His success has not given him a big head. He works barefooted in the field this season just as though he had not made a rich strike. When Mrs. Skibiski was asked what she likes in this country, she replied, ”Me happy here.” They have three children.
“Joe” August is looked upon as one of the leading Poles of Sunderland. He speaks a number of languages. His English is remarkably good. He is 34 years old. He has several children and owns a nice little farm in the Sunderland meadows. He is a court interpreter and farmer.
Mary Styner, Joseph Kershulis and Nikoloy Mellnck are three representative Polish children, taught by Miss C. B. Sanders.
In the one building are 109 pupils, but Miss Sanders says that the Polish children hold their own with any. The boys as a rule are especially good in mathematics, while the girls excel in language and reading. The 30 or 40 school boys gathered about while Mary was having her picture taken, encouraged her by shouting, “See Mary smile while her picture is taken.” Mary, however, was not rattled in the least.
