Sosnowski family.

Family of Polish and German descent that came to South Carolina in the mid-19th century. German-born Sophia Wentz Sosnowski (1809-1899) and her husband Joseph Stanislaus Sosnowski (1800 or 1806-1845), a captain in the Polish army, came to New York via France shortly after their marriage in 1833. Following her husband's death, Madame Sosnowski moved the family to South Carolina and opened the South Carolina Female Collegiate Institute at Barhamville, two miles north of Columbia. Madame Sosnowski became renowned as a teacher of languages, literature, and vocal music. In the late 1850s and early 1860s Sophia Augusta Sosnowski (1837-1867) was courted by the poet Henry Timrod (1828-1867). During the Civil War Madame Sosnowski cared for sick and wounded soldiers, and recorded her observations of the burning of Columbia in 1865 and her confrontation with Gen. Sherman in an account entitled "A Thrilling, Faithful & Graphic Description of a Monstrous Crime." After the war much of the family moved to Athens, Ga., where Madame Sosnowski taught at the Lucy Cobb Institute. She later operated her own school, known as the Home School. Sophia Augusta Sosnowski married Colonel Frank E. Schaller (1835-1881), who had been stationed in Columbia, S.C., during the Civil War. The new Schaller family also settled in Georgia and maintained close ties with the Sosnowski family. Dr. Julius Christian Sosnowski (1840-1876) married Susan Grace Townsend and resided with her family at Bleak Hall on Edisto Island, S.C.

Karoline Josephine Sosnowski (1839-1917), who taught with her mother at the Home School, collected information about Sosnowski family history and also recorded many of her personal memories. Her niece Ida Schaller Peacock (1865-1932) continued and expanded these efforts in the early 20th century. In the mid-20th century, Claudia Seabrook Langley prepared a draft of a biography of Madame Sosnowski based on this collection of family history.

From the description of Sosnowski family papers, 1840-1967. (The South Carolina Historical Society). WorldCat record id: 71058711