DUANE
Duane's take
The official marker tells this story, and here's how I'd lay it out for you. December of 1854. Polish settlers begin arriving in eastern Bexar County — not a flood, mind you, a trickle.
Fewer than twenty families, all of them carrying the dust of Upper Silesia on their boots and the weight of an ocean crossing behind them. They called their little settlement Martinez, and they got to work. By 1857, those families had something to show for the effort: a mission log church, built right there on the land of a man named Ludwig Zaiontz, about four-tenths of a mile west of where we're standing now.
And right next to that church, they laid out a cemetery. Traveling priests would come through to serve the congregation — nobody permanent, just whoever could make the ride. Then comes the kind of moment that echoes.
November of 1863. The Reverend Julian Przysiecki — one of the few Polish-speaking priests who could truly serve these people — fell from his horse. And that fall killed him.
His was the first known burial in that cemetery. The marker doesn't editorialize much, but it doesn't have to. A community that had already crossed an ocean now found itself without a Polish-speaking priest for some time.
Let that sit with you a moment. But they kept building. In 1868, they raised a new church, this one dedicated to the Virgin Mary.
Four years later, in 1872, they chartered a brand new cemetery right here at this site — and they reinterred the burials from the original ground, bringing their dead along to the new place. That's a community that didn't leave anyone behind. And somewhere along the way, they changed the settlement's name.
No longer Martinez — now St. Hedwig, named in honor of Silesia's own patron saint. A long way from Upper Silesia, but they planted a piece of it right here in Bexar County.
Walk through the gravestones today and you'll read the story of a community that grew well beyond those first twenty families. Polish surnames, yes — but also German, Hispanic, Irish, Alsatian, and more. A whole county's worth of heritage pressed into stone, right here in the same ground where a priest was buried after a fall from his horse on a November day in 1863.
That's the kind of place this is.
What the marker says
In December 1854, Polish settlers began arriving in eastern Bexar County from their homeland in Upper Silesia. The early community of fewer than 20 families was called Martinez. In 1857, residents built a mission log church on the land of Ludwig Zaiontz (0.4 mi. W). Adjacent to the church, which was served by traveling priests, the local settlers established a cemetery. The first known burial was that of the Rev. Julian Przysiecki in November 1863. Przysiecki's death, the result of a fall from his horse, left the church without a Polish-speaking priest for some time. In 1868, the community built a new church dedicated to the Virgin Mary. In 1872, church members chartered a new cemetery at this site, reinterring burials from the original site. Residents changed the settlement's name to St. Hedwig in honor of Silesia's patron saint. Today, gravestones indicate the ethnic heritage of the community, which has included residents of Polish descent as well as those with German, Hispanic, Irish, Alsatian and other surnames. Historic Texas Cemetery - 2005