Ewa Felińska was a

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...

author and prosaist. She is most notable for authoring several novels and for her contributions to Orgelbrand's ''Universal Encyclopedia''. She was the mother of

Zygmunt Szczęsny Feliński Zygmunt Szczęsny Feliński (1 November 1822 in Voiutyn, now Ukraine – 17 September 1895 in Kraków) was a professor of the Saint Petersburg Roman Catholic Theological Academy, Archbishop of Warsaw in 1862-1883 (exiled by Tsar Alexander II to ...

Biography

Felińska (née Wendorff) was born on 26 December 1793 in eastern Poland. Her family was considered moderately wealthy, members of the landed middle class. Though born in the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

, her family was culturally Polish (Sluck, the province she was born in, had been partitioned by Russia the year of her birth). Ewa married Gerard Felinski (brother of writer

Alojzy Feliński Alojzy Feliński (1771–1820) was a Polish writer. Life Feliński was born in Łuck. In his childhood he met Tadeusz Czacki. He was educated by the Piarists in Dąbrownica, later in Włodzimierz Wołyński. In 1778 he settled in Lublin, wh ...

) when she was 18, and they went on to have six children, among them

, a future archbishop of

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

. Following her husband's death in 1833, Felińska moved her family to

Kremenets Kremenets (, ; ; ) is a city in Ternopil Oblast, western Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Kremenets Raion, and lies north-east of the Pochaiv Lavra. The city is situated in the historic region of Volhynia and features the 12th-c ...

, which she hoped would have better educational opportunities for her children. Felińska became involved in a growing pro-independence faction in the city, which wanted to gain Polish independence from the Russian Empire. Using her writing talent, she gained a position of importance in the organization, eventually being appointed as the secretary for the independence group. However, in 1839 the group was broken up by the Russian authorities, resulting in Felińska's arrest, sentencing, and exile to Siberia. Following her exile, Felińska remained in Siberia, before being relocated to

Saratov Saratov ( , ; , ) is the largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and administrative center of Saratov Oblast, Russia, and a major port on the Volga River. Saratov had a population of 901,361, making it the List of cities and tow ...

in 1841. During her time in Siberia, Saratov, and other places inside Russia, she wrote a number of memoirs documenting her experiences. She also published accounts of Siberian and Volgan folklore. In addition, she wrote several novels and entries in Samuel Orgelbrand's ''Encyklopedia Powszechna'' - the first modern Polish

encyclopedia An encyclopedia is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge, either general or special, in a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into article (publishing), articles or entries that are arranged Alp ...

. She died in 1859.

Biography

References

Further reading