Bajgier Family Papers

Background on Bajgier Family

Joseph Michael Bajgier was born on March 13, 1903, in the village of Odrzykon, Poland, near the city of Krasno. He was the youngest of three sons of Michal and Agnieszka (Szafran) Bajgier. Joseph’s father died when Joseph was three years old and his mother and oldest brother, Janek, brought him up. Joseph attended school until the third grade and had to leave in order to help on the family farm.

He joined the First Air Division of the Polish military in 1924 and served for three years. In 1927, he received sponsorship to immigrate to the United States from his other brother, Frank, who had already settled in Chicopee, Massachusetts. Joseph arrived at Ellis Island on November 4, 1927 and quickly settled into an apartment in Chicopee with two other Polish immigrants. Joseph met his future wife, Martha Misiaszek, at a dance at the local Polish National Alliance, and they married on May 12, 1930. They eventually had two sons, Casmir and Edward.

Joseph’s first job in the United States was with H.L. Handy, a meat processing company, where he slaughtered pigs. Eventually, Bajgier saved enough money to start a small grocery store in Longmeadow, Massachusetts. Around 1935 Bajgier moved back to Chicopee, opening a grocery store and Polish deli, Bell Market, which he and Martha ran for thirty-six years.

He was also very involved in the Polish community in Chicopee as a member of the Polish National Alliance, St. Stanislaus Bishop and Martyr’s Parish, and the Polish Veterans of World War II. He remained in contact with the Bajgiers left behind in Poland, especially his brother, Janek, both before and after World War II. Joseph and the rest of the family visited the Polish Bajgiers twice during his life.

Joseph Bajgier died in Chicopee on June 20, 1995, at the age of 93, after suffering a stroke. His wife followed him a few years later on March 24, 1999.