Joseph and Catherine Bartula

The plaque says the Bartulas overcame hardships; in 1894 Joseph wrote them down himself. The family left Brzostek, near Tarnow, on May 16, 1873 for New Waverly. In Montgomery County they lost their belongings and two sons, Czeslaw and Bronislaw, and the eldest, Stanislaw, died near Calvert. Reaching Bremond on January 6, 1875, he found one other Polish family, and "curious Americans came by to see the Poles." His son Joseph, born a year later, was the first child of the colony. The account, translated in 1991, also records the $1,200 wooden church of 1879.

What the plaque says

Joseph and Catherine Bartula Born in Poland, Joseph (1840-1919) and Catherine (1841-1907) Bartula overcame many hardships after migrating to Texas in 1873. They became the first Polish settlers in Robertson County in 1875. Assisted by J. C. and Mary Roberts, on whose farm he worked, Bartula wrote letters urging other Polish immigrants to join him. Soon 50 families arrived from Poland and 60 moved here from the Marlin area. By 1885, the town of Bremond had the largest Polish settlement in Texas, 345 families. Bartula later bought his own farm and became a leader in community and church affairs. The Bartulas had ten children. (1975)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Calvert — 13 mi
  A railroad cotton town of 1868 on State Highway 6 that claimed the largest cotton gin in the world and elected Black men to county and state office during Reconstruction.
• Milam County Courthouse and Jail — 29 mi
  Cameron's 1892 Renaissance Revival courthouse and the 1895 St. Louis-built jail beside it, now the county museum, are listed together on the National Register.

More markers nearby

• Bremond — 0.5 mi
• Paul Bremond — 0.7 mi
• Wootan Wells — 3.8 mi
• Site of Extinct Town of Hammond — 5.9 mi