The Laczynski Brothers farm was owned by one of the many Deerfield, Massachusetts, families of Eastern European descent. By 1900, Deerfield’s population was almost one-fifth foreign born. The first Eastern European immigrants arrived in the Connecticut River Valley in the early 1890s, attracted by opportunities to farm. By 1907, the foreign-born presence in rural Massachusetts was large enough to warrant concern among some native-born White residents. It was targeted for study by the Dillingham Commission, which eventually concluded that immigration should be restricted. However, the commission also found that Eastern European immigrants made significant improvements to the land they rented and owned.   Many of their descendants continue to make the Connecticut River Valley their home today.