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At the time of its greatest
territorial expansion, localities
belonging to the parish included:
Bagny, Bity
Kamien, Brzozowo, Chmielówka,
Czarnorzeczka, Dąbrowa, Grabowo,
Grodziszczany, Grzebienie, Hamułka,
Harasimowicze, Holiki, Jaczno,
Jałówka, Jałowo, Jasionówka,
Juryzdyka, Kalno, Kamienna Nowa,
Kamienna Stara, Kierejewszczyzna,
Kropiwno,
Krugło, Kuderewszczyzna, Lewki,
Łozowo, Małowista, Małyszówka,
Miedzianowo,
Nierośno, NowaWieś, Olsza,
Osmołowszczyzna (aka Smołowszczyzna),
Ostrowie, Podbagny,
Podolsza, Reszkowce,Romanówka,
Różanystok,
Sadek, Sadowo, Sławno,
Stock,
Suchdolina, Świerzbutowo, Szatrycha,
Szawelszczyzna, Szuszalewo,
Trzyrzeczki, Twardowszczyzna,
Wiążowka, Wesołowo, Wroczyńszczyzna,
Zaścianek, Zwierzyniec Mały, and
Zwierzyniec Wielki.
Click on Map
to Enlarge
Due to the restoration
of the parish at Różanystok
in 1918, the establishment of
new parishes in 1943 at Grodzisk and
in 1980 at Zwierzyniec, the parish
is smaller today numbering
approximately 8,000 parishioners.
Immediately prior to partition,
Dąbrowa was located
in the województwo trockie (Province
of Troki). The area became part of
the Russian partition during the
late 1700s. It briefly fell under
Prussian jurisdiction (part of
Prowincja Nowowschodnia) as the
partitioning powers traded and
fought over pieces of Polish
territory. In 1807 the area became
part of Imperial Russia under whose
control it remained until the
conclusion of the First World War.
For most of the time under Russian
rule the town was located in the
Province of Grodno (Grodzieńska
Gubernia), in the County of
Sokółka and was known by the name
Dąbrowa Grodzieńska until 1945.
In the latter part of the
nineteenth century
mass emigration out of the area
began. Poor economic conditions, a
high birth rate, and a lack of
industrialization forced many
residents to seek a better life in
other countries. The bulk of the
emigration was directed to the
United States with much smaller
numbers going to Brazil, Argentina,
Cuba, Canada and France. Some
Dąbrowa area families migrated
eastward as well and
settled in the Wołyń region, notably
near the city of Łuck. The
town
suffered extensive
damage during the Second World War
and its population declined
considerably. The bulk of the town’s
Jewish population was murdered or
sent to Nazi concentration camps
by the Germans. Shortly after the
war, Dąbrowa counted a mere 535
inhabitants, even less than its
population of 737 in 1800. Today
Dąbrowa is a small town of
approximately 6,000 inhabitants
located in the Province of Podlaskie,
County of Sokółka.
EMIGRATION TO THE NEW WORLD
The undisputedly
largest concentration
of persons from Dąbrowa Białostocka
outside the borders of Poland is New
Britain, Connecticut. Names of
persons originating in Dąbrowa begin
to appear in the city’s vital
records in the early 1890s. In 1892,
the first Roman Catholic marriage of
a couple, in which at least one of
the spouses was from the parish at
Dąbrowa, was recorded when
Stanisław Abramowicz wed Zuzanna
Mościcka from Kamienna. In 1893, the
second Dąbrowa couple was married
when Wincenty Kułak of Malyszowka
and Ewa Ławrynowicz of Ostrowie were
joined in matrimony. An analysis of
the geographical origins
of persons getting married at the
city’s then only Polish parish
(Sacred Heart, numbering 10,000
parishioners by1920) indicated
clearly that over one third of the
marriages prior to1925 involved at
least one spouse who traced origins
to the parish at Dąbrowa Białostocka.
Many of the immigrants of the
Eastern Orthodox faith who
established Holy Trinity Russian
Orthodox parish in New Britain also
traced their roots to the villages
surrounding Dąbrowa, most notably
the villages of Ostrowie, Grzebienie,
Szuszalewo and Kropiwno.
One can
only speculate why the first
settlers chose New Britain as their
home in the new world. New Britain
was a bustling industrial city, the
world’s largest producer of hardware
at the time whose factories were in
constant need of labor. Undoubtedly
these first settlers came to the
city seeking employment
opportunities. Aside from the
abundance of jobs, another factor no
doubt heavily influenced the
prospective Dąbrowa immigrant to
choose New Britain. That factor was
the Rt. Rev. Lucjan Bojnowski.
The
arrival
of Msgr. Bojnowski in the city in
1895 exerted a strong influence on
the migration patterns of Dąbrowa
area immigrants. Bojnowski, whose
pastorate was to last until the time
of his death in 1960, was a native
of Świerzbutowo. His presence,
coupled with New Britain’s healthy
economy, made New Britain a popular,
attractive and thus likely point of
settlement for the farmers leaving
the villages surrounding Dąbrowa.
Smaller
concentrations
of people from Dąbrowa can be found
in other localities in the US.
Providence, Rhode Island had a
notable colony of Dąbrowsczcznie as
well as Middletown and Bridgeport in
Connecticut. Smaller groups of
immigrants from the parish are also
to be found in Worcester, Hatfield
and South Deerfield, Massachusetts
and in the coal mining towns near
Scranton and Wilkes Barre,
Pennsylvania, especially in Pittston
and Kingston. In the Midwest, Grand
Rapids Michigan is perhaps the
largest concentration of Dąbrowa
area immigrants. Some chose the coal
mining areas of southeastern Ohio,
as well as the City of Steubenville
as their home. There was also a
small colony of Dąbrowa families in
Paterson, New Jersey. Others from
Dąbrowa disappeared into large
cities such as New York, Chicago,
Philadelphia and Detroit. However,
in none of these localities was the
presence of Dąbrowa immigrants as
pronounced as in New Britain.
Recent
immigrants from the parish continue
to come to New Britain, although in
smaller numbers, well over one
hundred years after the initial
settlers arrived.
DĄbrowa
BiaŁostocka AREA NAMES IN
New Britain
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