The Other Polonia: Polish Rural Settlements in Central and Northern Wisconsin, 1850-1920

To understand the history of the United States is to understand the history of all its peoples, the native and the immigrant. Regrettably, the interests of those two groups have often come to conflict, but despite their differences, the native Americans and the immigrants faced the same challenges dealt by nature and vast wilderness of the land. Quickly, the newcomers found refuge in the relative comfort-of the cities that began to spring up in the expanse. But the bravest of them accepted the challenge and with backbreaking labor and uncountable tons of dynamite transformed wild woods and swamps into farm land that has until now sustained ever growing numbers of those who call the United States home. This dissertation focuses on just one group of those pioneers, sampling the emergence of Polish rural settlements in Wisconsin between 1850 and 1920. More specifically, this work looks into some of the selected patterns of Polish immigration to Wisconsin, settlement, forces, motivations, and individuals and groups involved in placing Polish immigrants on Wisconsin land..