In 1908, sensing the winds of political change were howling in Russian occupied Poland, Franciczek Debicki wanted more for his children than what he could see in a future in Poland.
He and his wife Ewa Domugalska Debicka decided to arrange a marriage for their oldest daughter, Wladyslawa, to a young man who had emigrated to America with his family; this meant her passage was paid and she would have a place to live.
Wladyslawa, 20-years-old with less than $15 in her pocket, arrived at Ellis Island on July 8th, 1908. She was met by her intended and his family and brought to their home in Schenectady, NY. There was only one huge problem – she found her betrothed repulsive.
Wladja did the only thing she knew to do – she went to St. Adalbert’s Church to pray. It was there she met the love of her life, Michael Jan Murawski.
Michael had come to America in 1904 from Russian Poland to work when he was 18, following his brothers. Originally landing in Baltimore, the brothers eventually moved to Schenectady where they found work at the newly-founded General Electric.
A regular communicant of St. Adalbert’s, he was as smitten with Wladja as she was with him. The two decided to work to pay back the family who had sponsored her passage; she as a domestic and he as a laborer.
They were married in St. Adalbert’s Church on November 12, 1910. Shortly thereafter, they moved to Pittsfield, Massachusetts, where he worked at General Electric and they raised their family of twelve children. My mother, Irene, was child number eleven and the first one not born at home.
When six of the eight boys entered the service for World War II, they discovered that all of their last names were spelled differently on their birth certificates, neither Michael nor Wladja could read or write English.
Immigrant Stories is a collection readers’ family history stories highlighting the struggles of their immigrant ancestors. Read more stories here or submit your own story.
Illustration: Polish immigrants Michael and Wladyslawa Murawski’s wedding photo.
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