Describe the Polish immigrants in Texas. Why did they emigrate from Poland to Texas? What were some of the challenges they faced?

Panna Maria, the first Polish settlement in the United States.

In December 1854, one hundred Polish families arrived in Galveston on the Weser. Traveling by wagon down the coast to Indianola and then inland, the group reached a spot on the coastal prairie about 55 miles southeast of San Antonio. With the celebration of a Christmas Mass, they founded Panna Maria, the first Polish settlement in North America.

Today there are at least 228,309 Texans of Polish ancestry, according to the 2000 U. S. census, making them the seventh largest ethnic group in the state. But, the history of Polish Texans goes back before Panna Maria.