Kowalski: Polish nobility

I'm researching materials this summer on women in Russian theatre in the 18th century (yes, a far cry from Tennessee Williams). I'm been learning about the fascinating career of Praskovia Zhemchugova, a serf actress whose master freed her and then secretly married her. Listen to this: "In Moscow in November 1801, Count Sheremetev married Praskovia in secret. He freed all her relatives from serfdom and hired an attorney to trace Praskovia's genealogy to the Kowalskis, a Polish noble family."

And I think Stanley knew it, too.

(source: Pushkareva, N. L., and Eve Levin. Women in Russian History: From the Tenth to the Twentieth Century. The New Russian History. Armonk, N.Y.: M.E. Sharpe, 1997. p. 151)