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The Civil War Soldiers came from many backgrounds but perhaps none so unusual as Iowa County's Mikolay Dziewanowski (pronounced Dev-a-nos'-ki). He was the grandson of Count Serafin and Countess Salomea Dziewanowski, son of exiled Prince Vincent Dziewanowski who was a major in the Polish Guard and participated in the Polish revolt to foreign rule in 1830-31. Eventually, in 1835 he was offered exile in Siberia or America by the Russian emperor. Through a long and very interesting journey, Vincent eventually ended up as a lead smelter for Wm. S. Hamilton, first at Galena and then in 1836 at a new establishment on the Wisconsin River near where Avoca is now located. By 1838 Vincent was able to purchase his first parcel of land and eventually owned a farm of 300 acres. On Feb. 7, 1843 he married the Virginia born niece of General Charles Bracken, Mary Jane McKown and their son, Mikolay "Kola" was born December 10,1843 at the Dziewanowski homestead in Iowa County, Wisconsin Territory in Pulaski Township.
On Dec. 30, 1861, after hearing his Father's stories of war and heroism in Poland, Mikolay was moved to enlist in the Union army in Light Artillery and rose to the rank of 1st Sergeant in the 6th Wisconsin Regiment. He received an honorable discharge on July 3,1865. Kola married and raised a family in Pulaski town but eventually moved to Iowa. He died on June 4, 1929 at Nora Springs, Floyd County Iowa.
The Iowa County Historical Society has a file on this family in their archives if you wish more information.
To share your story, write it up and drop it off at the Iowa County Historical Society Museum 1-4 p.m. any weekday or E-MAIL it to IowaCountyScrapbook@gmail.com. If you would rather, you can call the Iowa County Historical Society at 935-7694.