Rudolf Korwin-Piotrowski

Cpt. Rudolf Korwin-Piotrowski was born near Lublin in 1814. For his bravery during the 1830-1831 Insurrection against Russia, he received the highest Polish military award, the Virtuti Militari.

He came to America in the early 1840s, but did not arrive in California until 1849, to participate in the Gold Rush. All gains from his gold mining he saved with the intention of buying land near San Francisco, which he dearly loved.

In San Francisco, Cpt. Korwin-Piotrowski joined Cpt. Casimir Bielawski in his efforts to create a patriotic organization, which they named the Polish Committee, and which later was transformed into the Polish Society of California. As one of its founders, and as Commissioner of Immigration for the State of California, he became one of the earliest members of the Society of California Pioneers.

When Helena Modrzejewska, arrived in San Francisco in 1876, Korwin-Piotrowski greeted her - in hi dramatic basso-voice - with the traditional "Niech bedzie pochwalony Jezus Chrystus" (Praised be Jesus Christ). And when her "Polish Colony" in Anaheim proved to be just a utopian dream, and she returned to San Francisco to perform at the California Theater, he loaned her money for costumes. At the same time, although not at all wealthy, Korwin-Piotrowski sent $500 to the editor of Gazeta Nowojorska (New
York Newspaper),' Mr. Julian Horain, for his return to California. (Horain and his family arrived in the USA in 1871 with about $5,000 and all the their belongings, including precious Polish silver, china, etc. By 1876 everything had to be sold in order to survive. San Francisco was not the place for a Polish writer, as California - at that time - counted only 804 Poles.)

When in the Crimean War the allied forces captured the Russian fortress of Sevastopol, Cpt. Korwin-Piotrowski celebrated this event by founding the town of Sebastopol on the Russian River in Northern California, where it still exists.

Later in life he lost his sight. In order to be as close to Poland as possible, left San Francisco for Paris, where he died in 1883 at the Polish Institute/Hospice of St. Casimir.

https://www.polishclubsf.org/The%20Silent%20Heroes%20Part%20I.pdf