Walker County Group Seeks Polish
Ancestors
By Sondra Bosse
Minnie Fisher Cunningham
famous for her contribution to
Texas politics, was from New Waverly
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Only a few reminders exist of the once prosperous community of Waverly.
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In western San Jacinto County there is a store, a few
homes and one
historical marker commemorating the
community's heyday. |
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In the 1800s, pioneers drawn to Texas by its untouched
land settled in the
Waverly area to set up plantations hoping to yield bountiful crops.
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Following the Civil War, and the emancipation of
slaves, Waverly planters found their workforce depleted
and relied oh Polish immigrants to work the plantations,
according to Clara Malak, first vice president of the
Walker County
Historical Society. |
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In
1867, Polish merchant Meyer Levy journeyed to his native land to bring
back Polish workers. |
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Now, on the 135th anniversary of their landing, the
Walker County
Genealogical Society is honoring the first
Polish families and looking for
descents of those who landed in
New York aboard the City of Antwerp steamship
April
9; 1867. |
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According to information from the Society, almost all of
the earlier immigrants first made their way to the homes
of relatives and friends in New Waverly before scattered
into Montgomery, Grimes, Brazos, Robertson,
Washington, Austin and other surrounding counties. |
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Now
the Society is seeking descendants of the first
transplants as it prepares for the
Texas Genealogy and Family History Fair June 22 in Huntsville. |
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The event is sponsored by the Walker County
Genealogical Society for the purpose of individual
researchers to meet and swap information on their families
with other researchers. |
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Society members encourage attendees to submit surnames
to be entered into a booklet to be distributed at the
fair. Also please mail ancestor'
charts and family group sheets with registration. |
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The
society will also offers sessions in "Beginning
Genealogy," "A Fool Proof Filing
System," and "Native American Research." |
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The
2001 fair had more than 60 vendors and exhibitors and 400 in attendance. |
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The Texas Genealogy and Family History Fair will be
at the Walker County Fairground four miles west of
Huntsville on Texas
30 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. |
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Registration is $15 and exhibitor tables are $10. |
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Several hundred are expected to come seeking their
roots — with maybe a few tracing a line back to the
Waverly community. |
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According to
information from the Polish Genealogical
Society, the town was named by Maxey
Lewis for Sir Walter
Scott's Waverly novels he was so fond of reading. |
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The
first man to come to the Waverly area is James W. Winters, who arrived
from Alabama in 1835. Then others flocked in to secure a suitable
location to settle. |
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The town became very prosperous boasting several
stores, businesses
and the Waverly Institute, a school that
gained a noted status in education at
the time, according to information from the Polish Genealogical
Society. |
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However, soon the Civil War came which brought the emancipation of
slaves. |
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"All of the sudden the planters needed a work force,"
Malak said. |
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So
12 cotton. planters meet on Sept. 19, 1866 and organized
the Waverly Immigration Society in Mayer Levy's general store in
Waverly. |
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Levy returned to his homeland in 1867 and recruited
workers from his native village of
Exin, Smogulec, Szubin and the surrounding area in Poland. |
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Records indicate Levy and 45 families arrived in New
York on April 9, 1867 aboard the "City of Antwerp'
steamship. |
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The immigrants then boarded the C. W. Lord which
brought them to
Galveston April 23, 1867. |
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The
immigrants then traveled to Waverly to work on
plantations in return for
transportation costs and coming to America. |
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The
Polish immigrants were paid salaries and were to
repay the funds advanced for
transportation. |
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According to Malak, the
one trip by Levy
started a movement which brought
more Polish citizens to the Waverly area. |
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"This area was called the cradle of
Polish immigration in this part of Texas," Malak said. |
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Only in Panna Maria
near San Antonio
boasted a bigger and older Polish population. |
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However, Waverly began its gradual fade with when
the railroad came its
way following the Civil War. |
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According to Malak the people of
Waverly did not want the railroad to come through their town. |
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"They were hardworking
people who didn't want the
riff raff associated
with a railroad in their town,"
Malak said. |
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So
track was laid about eight miles to the west of
Waverly and that area became known as Waverly Station. |
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As area around the railroad
became settled, the
town of Waverly began to
die, Malak said. |
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The area around New
Waverly also produced
one of its most famous
residents. |
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According to information from the
Texas State Historical
Association, Minnie Fisher Cunningham was born March 19, 1882 on
Fisher Farm near New Waverly. |
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Cunningham was introduced to
politics by her father Horatio White and
educated by her mother Sallie
Comer (Abercrombie) Fisher. |
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At
16 she earned a teaching
certification before becoming
one of the first women to
receive a degree in pharmacy in Texas. |
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She
married lawyer Bill Cunningham and
grew more interested in
politics. The couple moved to
Galveston and Cunningham lobbied for the 19th amendment. |
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She was the first woman
in Texas to run for the
United States Senate
and worked in Washington as an
information specialist for the Women's Division of the
Agricultural Adjustment Administration. |
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There President Franklin
D. Roosevelt gave her
the nickname "Minnie Fish." |
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Cunningham also ran for and lost against Texas governor Coke Stevenson
before retiring back at Fisher
Farms in 1946. |
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Today a historical mark
is three miles north
of New Waverly on Texas 75 and commemorates her contribution to Texas
politics.
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For more information
about Waverly, New
Waverly and the Genealogy fair call (936) 295-5551 or (936) 295-9483.
Reprint from
The Courier, Sunday, June 9, 2002,
pages 1c, 6c. |
