Thanks for posting these links! The 400th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown is an important event in American and Polish American history. I was recently invited to participate in a radio documentary series for Virginia Public Radio, called "With Good Reason" in which I discussed this topic with other experts. (It will air in early 2007.) I am also writing a new foreword to the newest printing of Arthur Waldo's book True Heroes of Jamestown, which will be published in 2007.
Because of this I wanted to correct a couple mistakes I noticed in the two links you posted. First, it is highly unlikely that the Jamestown Poles were Catholic. Poland had a very large Protestant population in the early 1600s and because of the conflict with Spain and the anti-Catholic attitudes of the English, it is unlikely that they would have recruited Catholics. Second, we do not know for certain the names of the Jamestown Poles. Waldo's book quotes freely from a book said to have published by one of the Polish settlers at Jamestown. Unfortunately no copy of this book has ever been found and Waldo was never able to produce a copy during his lifetime.
Best wishes,
John Radzilowski
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Originally Posted by LisArno
A friend sent me an article about the Poles helping to settle (work in) Jamestown in 1619. If I ever learned this in school, I certainly don't remember it. Those of you with Polish heritage probably know about this already.
Similar info is at
POLISH NEWS - POLES AT JAMESTOWN
The Courtly Lives - Poles in America
I'm keeping the article for my children for them to compare this to what they learn in school. |