Marias Prized Possession

Maria Fietzek Motzko was 24 years old with a husband and a 6 month old baby when she and her little family immigrated to the United States from Poland.  It must have been incredibly hard for them all, especially in the 1800s, to leave everything and almost everyone she knew and loved behind for an uncertain future.  I am sure Phillipp and Maria were more than excited about what lay ahead, but unsure and scared as well.  I cannot even begin to imagine what they must have gone through emotionally as well as physically to make this transition.

Maria never learned English...my grandmother (Mary Motzko Troyer) would have to translate everything for my mother and her sister when they would visit their grandmother. My mom and her sister knew little, if any, Polish.

 One of Maria's most treasured possessions was this map of her homeland.   She would sit for hours on end just looking at it.  How she must have missed her parents, her brothers and sisters, her home.  Did she ever regret that she left there? In the 21st century it's so easy to travel from one country to another and back again - but in the 1800s it was next to impossible.

Maria was fortunate her sister Francesca Reh (in picture on left) also came to the United States. They lived in the same area in Idaho and were able to raise their children together. I don't know if they traveled to the United States at the same time and on the same ship, or how long it was before they were together...but it must have been a huge relief for Maria (and Francesca) to have each other.





 

Mary Post Warren

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