BOOKS IN BRIEF
Reviews by David Trawinski
Polonia is amazingly alive and, as the Pondering Pole column proves each edition, it is scattered far and wide across these United States. This review of two compilations proves that fact impressively. The first volume details the contributions of the Polish American community of Toledo, Ohio, while the second outlines the surprising Polish history of the great state of Texas.
LEADERS OF TOLEDO
POLONIA 1830 - 2020
Published by the Toledo-Poznań Alliance, copyright 2022
Jacqueline Koralewski Konwinski
Editor and Writer
Sometimes I wonder how volumes such as this will reach out and touch me. I was very surprised just how much this collection did. I was very impressed with its layout, consisting of 75 biographies nicely broken down into the categories of: The Arts, Business and Work, Education, Faith, Government, History, Law, Medicine, Military and Sports. All of this is thanks to the research of sixteen individuals who have done a remarkable job.
Generally, the bios are only two or three pages long and are nicely accented with photographs. This makes for great “Snack Reading,” meaning one can pick it up and rip through five or so bios at a time and find each one very enjoyable. I love to keep books like this on the coffee table to nibble on while I am waiting on something or other.
Here are a few notable bio entries:
The Arts: Zigmunt “Iron Lip” Maćkiewicz, 1902 - 1993
Beautifully detailed with photos, this bio reveals that Mr. Maćkiewicz earned the nickname “Iron Lip” from his impressive command of the trumpet. It was taught to him by his father, Edmund, who had played in the Russian cavalry. Edmund came to America with his family (including young Zygmunt) in 1913 on the SS Prinz Adalbert and then made the trek from Philadelphia to Toledo. Over his fifty year career, Zigmunt rose from playing in his father’s Polish American Concert Band to become its fourth conductor, and ultimately to become the first trumpet for the Toledo Symphony Orchestra. All the while “Iron Lip” shared his love of music through his teaching of trumpet, trombone and baritone horn for five decades whenever he was not hard at work in his day job as a tool and die worker.
Constance Henrietta Mierzwiak, 1949 - 1995
A great bio highlighting Constance’s love for singing. It was the only job she ever had, rising notably under the stage name Ruby Starr to become a member of the rock band, Black Oak Arkansas. She went on to have a solo career where her voice was often compared to that of Janis Joplin.
Military: Alexander Albert Drabnik, 1910 - 1993
Born the fourteenth and last child of parents who emigrated to America in 1888, Alexander Drabnik fought for his country in World War II and became the first Allied soldier to step onto German soil after crossing the Remagen Bridge over the Rhine. This sergeant of the 9th Armored Division did so at great peril, as this last bridge standing was rigged by the Nazis with explosives and covered by snipers. But this was nothing new for Drabnik, who had already survived the “Battle of the Bulge” at Bastogne. Drabnik earned the Distinguished Service Cross for “extraordinary heroism against the enemy” and “unflinching valor.”
Sports: Richard “Dick” “Peaches” Szymanski
This bio jumped out at me, as having grown up in East Baltimore, I was well aware that Dick Szymanski was the center for Johnny Unitas in the heyday of the old Baltimore Colts. Dick also played linebacker and played in 1958’s “Greatest Game Ever Played,” notable for not only proving football and television was a match made in marketing heaven, but also was the game that moved Lamar Hunt to create the American Football League. In those days the players did not earn outrageous compensation, and Szymanski like so many others, held jobs to make ends meet in the offseason.
So, if you love music, history or sports as I do, you’ll enjoy this compilation. It is available for $35 from The Toledo-Poznań Alliance, PO Box 2555, Toledo, Ohio 43606. Worth every cent!
THE FIRST POLISH COLONIES OF AMERICA IN TEXAS
The Naylor Company
San Antonio, Texas
(Copyright 1936, 2007 Reprint)
Compiled by
Rev. Edward J. Dworaczyk
One doesn’t immediately think of Texas as a bastion of Polonia, but the lure of the frontier’s extensive tracts of land and its love of freedom proved irresistible to our ancestors. In 1854, a group of 100 Polish families from Silesia escaped the German Kulturkampf by ship arriving in Galveston after a nine-week sailing, with not much more than farming tools, some family possessions and beautiful renditions of Our Lay of Czestochowa and Saint Stanislaus Kostka. From there, they were led by Rev. Leopold Moczygemba on foot pulling rented Mexican carts behind them to their tract about 55 miles south of San Antonio which they would name Panna Maria, “Our Lady, Mary.” That migration/procession of Poles in their traditional colorful garb was quite a memorable sight for the local Texans. The first mass held upon their arrival on Christmas Eve was at midnight out in the open under a Live Oak tree which still stands today. Their first church was built next to that oak the following year and its second incarnation still stands there to this day.
Panna Maria is celebrated as the first permanent Polish settlement in the United States, and while some may dispute that claim, it certainly was well ahead of the Polish mass migration to America in the latter half of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This is a very interesting read as other communities were soon founded nearby (with their Texas town’s spellings) in San Antonio (1855), Saint Hedwig (1855), Cestochowa (1873), Kosciusko (1892) and Polonia (1898). Further north, closer to Waco was the town of Bremont (1876) which still holds its Polish Festival every summer.
A great read, especially if you’ve ever lived in Texas. It might be hard to find but check out AbeBooks. Cost should be about $25.
