THE EARLY HISTORY OF PANNA MARIA, TEXAS ... - Repositories

early in 1854, spent several days riding over lands that
Twohig owned in the area of the Hernandez Grant about
15
fifty-five miles southeast of San Antonio.
After examining
the land from horseback, the two men came to an agreement
over the settlement of Father Leopold's Silesians on a
low plateau about two miles above the confluence of the
San Antonio River and Cibolo Creek in Karnes County.
Although the details of the contract are unknown, the
general arrangements were that Twohig would hold the land
until the Silesians arrived and then would sell it over
long terms to them exclusively.
It is not known whether
or not the prices to be paid for the land were discussed
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at this time.
By the beginning of 1854", the prospective emigrants
in the Opole Regency were making earnest preparations to
leave for Texas. As early as 1852 there had been agents
of sailing companies circulating through Upper Silesia
recruiting emigrants to-fill the steerage quarters of ships
(March, 1946), pp. 1-2; Dallas Morning News, October 14,
1891, p. 2; Vinton Lee James, Frontier and Pioneer
Recollections of Early Days in San Antonio and West Texas
(San Antonio: privately printed, 1938), p. 138; "Memorial
Tablet to John Twohig," Frontier Times, I, No. 11 (August,
1924), p. 27; San Antonio Express, July 2, 1911, pp. 9-10,
April 11, 1920, p. 1 A; Leonie Rummell Weyland and Houston
Wade, An Early History of Fayette County (La Grange, Tex.:
La Grange Journal, 193677 P- 329.
29
Edward J. Dworaczyk, The First Polish Colonies
of America in Texas (San Antonio: The Naylor.Company,
1936), p. 1; Deed Records, Vols. A-L, Karnes County
Courthouse, Karnes City, Texas.*