My Polish immigrant grandparents who immigrated around 1906 sent $5 twice a year to thirteen sets of families they left behind in Poland. The Polish cousins who told me this story didn’t mention the years but emphasized how this gift helped them get through some very desperate times. The entire family in this small Polish village was severely impacted by the two world wars, the worldwide depression, and then the decades behind the Iron Curtain. A few of their oldest siblings also immigrated, but the immigration act of 1924 made coming to America almost impossible for most Central and Eastern Europeans. The law discriminated in favor of those immigrants who came from Northern and Western Europe. The younger siblings were forced to stay behind in the villages and work as poor farmers.
My great-grandmother Jadwiga, a widow in Poland, born in 1865.
My Polish cousins whom I met on two trips in 2016 and 2018 remember the stories of my grandparents’ generosity to this day−a hundred years later! Like the scarf my grandfather sent to my cousin, the stories were handed down through the generations.
Scarf my grandparents sent to my cousin Maria
My cousins were shocked when I told them my grandparents, in my opinion, were rather poor. They assumed my grandparents had become rich Americans. They owned their own house, but my grandfather, according to the 1940 census was a floor sweeper at a local steel mill. He became a crane operator in later years.
A family history book I wrote about my grandparents’ family history
My cousins’ perceptions made me wonder how much this $10 a year gift was worth in today’s dollars, so I did some research.
| $10 a year in today’s dollars* |
Total to 13 families |
| 1910 |
$258 |
$3,354.00 |
| 1920 |
$122.56 |
$1593.28 |
| 1930 |
$146.78 |
$1898.00 |
| 1940 |
$175.08 |
$2276.04 |
| 1950 |
$101.70 |
$1322.10 |
*From US CPI index
Those are pretty hefty sums of money, but then consider how much more they would have been worth in a depressed economy such as Poland’s during these decades. In addition, my grandparents sent medicines and clothing. I remember my First Communion dress being sent. It probably was sold on the black market for more necessary items.
Zofia, an elderly cousin who was about twenty during WWII, told me a poignant story that brought tears to my eyes. After the war, the villagers who had to evacuate their homes in 1942 were allowed back in the village. Zofia had only one tattered and worn dress, but my grandparents sent her some printed fabric. This is what she said: “Because of your grandparents’ gift, I made some nice printed dresses for myself, and I was the prettiest girl in the village. A nice man asked me to marry him, and it was all because of your grandparent’s gift of that fabric!”
My visit with Zofia in 2016
I remember her telling me that story with the same seriousness as she would have related any other war story. The end result of this gift was a good marriage, and that was a fact!
Those of us with such generous immigrant ancestors should be so proud!
Donna Gawell 