The Early History of Panna Maria, Texas Page: 14
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PANNA MARIA 1855-1861
The immediate need of the Silesians upon arrival at Galveston was to get in
touch with Father Moczygemba, who was not there to meet them. His absence
may have been caused by the fact that he had only recently assumed additional
duties as the superior of the Conventual Franciscan missions in Texas.36 What-
ever the reason, the Silesians were on their own in Galveston. Their subsequent
lack of an adequate interpreter may explain why Customs Collector H. Stuart at
Galveston classified them as "from Germany" in his quarterly report to
Washington.37
The Silesians made their way toward San Antonio, where they hoped to find
Father Leopold. Travelling either on foot or in hired Mexican carts, the colonists
went first down the Gulf coastal plain to the town of Indianola, a port on Lavaca
Bay. This first stage of their travel in Texas took about two weeks. From Indi-
anola, the immigrants turned inland toward San Antonio.
Having travelled overland through December weather for more than three
weeks, the Polish immigrants arrived in San Antonio on the 21st of that month.
Father Moczygemba came from Castroville to meet them there and guide them
himself to their future home fifty-five miles to the southeast.38
Upon their arrival on the little plateau above the two streams named San
Antonio and Cibolo, the colonists celebrated a Christmas Mass under the largest
tree of a clump of oaks at the site. The Mass served not only as a rite of thanks-
giving, but also as a petition to the Almighty for strength to carry on in the face of
adversity.39
Having travelled for nine weeks by sea and for an additional four weeks by
land in an alien country, the Upper Silesians were exhausted upon their arrival
at the site of their new settlement. One of the original settlers a few years later
recalled the first days like this:
What we suffered here when we started! We didn't have any houses, nothing but fields.
And for shelter, only bushes and trees... . the church we had been promised in Europe
wasn't there, nor even one poor hut, nothing at all for us to live in.... There was tall
grass everywhere, so that if anyone took a few steps, he was soon lost to sight. Every
step of the way you'd meet rattlesnakes. Oh, I tell you, in those days we knew what it
was to be poor! Sometimes people died of hunger.... If anyone took a step away he'd
be driven back by hunger. And several people died of snake bites. The crying and com-
plaining of the women and children only made the suffering worse. .. . How golden
seemed our Silesia as we looked back in those days!"4
Very soon after its founding, the Poles gave their settlement a name, Panna
Maria. The name translated to English means Holy Mary. There are two theories
about the exact origin of the name. The first theory is that the settlers, upon hear-
36. Method C. Billy, Historical notes on the order of Friars Minor Conventual (Rensselaer, New York:
Conventual Franciscan Publications, n.d.), 62; Swastek, Priest and pioneer, 6.
37. U.S., Congress, House, Annual report of passengers arriving in the United States, 33rd Cong., 2nd
sess., 1855, House Executive Document 77 (Washington: A. 0. P. Nicholson, 1855), 34-35.
38. Dworaczyk, First Polish colonies, 2-4; Kruszka, 365; New-Braunfelser Zeitung (Texas), 29 December
1854, 3.
39. Dworaczyk, First Polish colonies, pp. 4-5.
40. Bakanowski, Mole wspomnienia, 29.14
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Baker, T. Lindsay. The Early History of Panna Maria, Texas, report, October 1975; Lubbock, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1114543/m1/16/?q=%221852~%22: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.