Laura de Turczynowicz
Laura Blackwell was born August 28, 1878, in St. Catharines, Ontario. Laura and her sister Keziah were trained vocalists and often gave performances in the St. Catharines area. Laura gave her final local performance in St. Catharines on September 27, 1900 at the Grand Opera House, after which she was to make her debut at the Metropolitan in New York City. In the early 1900s, she performed in Germany at Bayreuth and Munich.
In 1907 Laura married Stanislaw de Turczynowicz, Count Gozdawa in Krakow, Poland. On June 16, 1908, her daughter Wanda Jolanda was born, and on June 28, 1909, her twin sons, Stanislaw Piotr (Peter) and Wladislaw Pawel (Paul), were born. After experiencing the invasion of Poland by the Prussian army, Laura and her three children fled her home in Suwalki, Poland, to the safety of Germany in 1915, arriving in New York on September 30, 1915. Laura de Turczynowicz wrote a book about her experiences during the Prussian invasion, When the Prussians Came to Poland, and went on speaking engagements throughout the United States and parts of Canada promoting her book. The proceeds from the sale of the book were to support the efforts of the Red Cross in Poland and Lithuania. Laura was instrumental in the training of young women in nursing to aid war-torn Poland. This group came under the umbrella of the Y.W.C.A. and the American Relief Administration and was known as the Gray Samaritans. More information about Laura Blackwell De Turczynowicz can be found in this exhibit.
Some of the material from this collection has been digitized and is available in the Digital Repository.
