Ignacy Szymański

Ignacy Szymański Ignatius Szymanski (1806–1874), his father was ...Szymanski, nicknamed Colonel Ski or Old Ski, was a Polish and American soldier. He served in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War.

Early life
Polish war hero and a U.S. Colonel (1806–1875). As a Polish General he fought in the Ulanöw Division along with Prince Adam Woroneckiego in the Nov 5th, 1830 uprising ( 1830–1831 uprising) against the Russians. His father fought in the Kosciuszkowskim uprising (1794), so he came from a long list of Polish Freedom fighters. After the Polish army was defeated part of the soldiers went to France looking for Napoleon´s help .Later, some of them were  remembered as France´s  war heroes such as the Prince Poniatowski, whose name is the arch of triumph. Not convinced about the Napoleon´s support to recover Poland, not for the France aid helping part of his soldiers who still looking for evacuation in the Austro Hungarian Empire hidden from the Russians, he went to England and later on to the United States Looking for help. ( “Poland Under the Dominion of Russia”, by Harro Harring, Boston 1834, Harvard College Library, Slav 5685-2) and (“The history of the Polish Revolution, with the latest atrocities form the Russian Conquerors”, J.W. Day booksellers, 110 Fulton Street, New York, 1834). Ignacy (Ignatius) was very active helping his soldiers and some other Polish immigrants in the United States as said by Victor Labeski one of his officers that arrived to New York in the Ship Adria, bound from the Austro Hungarian Empire in 1835 (Polish Roots over the Texas Border Marilyn McLeod Labenski) ( “A Polish Chapter in the Jacksonian America”). In 1835 he moved to New Orleans, LA, where he married Mrs. Charlotte Hortence Lacoste. He became a well known man as per the many appearances in the New Orleans news papers  found between 1835 and 1875.

His friends in the South were the other Poles who had been living nearby: Gaspar Tochman, Valery Sulakowski and Hypolite Oladowski.

Civil War
When the Civil War had begun, Ignatius was recruited as colonel for the Chalmette Regiment, mainly formed by Scandinavian immigrants from the Louisiana State Militia. Later, he served as the agent of exchange of prisoners in the Trans-Mississippi Department. After the war he came back to his plantation Summer Hill Farm and his cotton and sugar cane field called Sebastopol, he accumulated goods and real estate, up to the point to be considered a rich man. He even owned racing horses and a yacht.

Family
He had no descendants with Hortance Lacoste, who was already a 50 year old woman at the time of their marriage. Previously, Col. Szymanski had a long plaçage relationship with Mrs. Eliza Romain, a free woman of color. They had three children: Jean Guillaume (1846), Constance Françoise (1847) and Ignace François (1850). Constance was later known as Mrs. Canstance Cavalier after her marriage with the French immigrant Mr. Jules Bernard Cavalier. In the mean time, Jean worked for his father in the Sebastopol Plantation until his early 20´s. By his late 20´s, he moved to Mexico and finally settled down at the port of Tampico, Tamaulipas (Eureka community) along with his uncle, Aristide Romain. Jean was also known as "John" in Louisiana and later as "Juan", in Tampico where, along with his uncle, worked as tailor for the wide foreign community settled down in Tampico due to the Oil boom. Jean married Mrs. Carmen Castelló Caimares, cousin of Carmen Romero Rubio Castello, wife of the Mexican President Porfirio Díaz. Because of the untimely death of his youngest brother, Ignace François, aged one year old, Jean decided to extend the Ignatius line - so his first son was named Ignacio Francisco (1877–1933), after him came Juan Melquiades, Julio Fructuoso (father of Mons. Arturo Szymanski Bishop of Tampico and Honorary Archbishop of San Luis Potosí), Jose Amado and Jose Ramon Blas. Jean and Carmen also had twins, yet they did not survive. One of the two younger children (Jose Amado) drowned at the age of 19 during Regatta festival. Jean's grandson; son of Ignacio Francisco, Ignacio Sabás Szymanski Rodríguez (1905–1998) lived in San Antonio, Texas until he was 21, after graduation from the La Salle Brothers College as Book Keeper, he returned to Mexico to work for the Sinclair Oil Company, later he became one of the founders of Mexicana de Aviación along with other young entreprenours from Tampico. He worked as Supplies Director as well as President of the Airlines Association of the Americas until his retirement. Today, the Ignatius line continues with Ignacio Francisco Szymanski Morales (1935), Ignacio Alejandro Szymanski Chávez (1961) and Ignacio Francisco Szymanski Garbuno (2000)

Nowadays (2009) a drama about the Szymanski Family is still performed at the Sebastopol Residence located in Chalmette, LA. Main roles are played by local actors, who play the parts of Ignatius S. Szymanski and his son Jean.