Editing Ralph Modjeski (section)

==Formative years and family==
Modjeski was born in [[Bochnia]], in [[Galicia (Central Europe)|Galicia]], on January 27, 1861, to Gustav Sinnmayer Modrzejewski and actress Helena Opid Modrzejewska (known outside Poland as [[Helena Modjeska]]). In 1865, his mother left Sinnmayer, and in 1868, she married Polish nobleman Karol Bożenta Chłapowski. In July 1876, they emigrated to America, where, as a matter of convenience, the boy's mother changed her name to [[Helena Modjeska]] and her son's name to Ralph Modjeski.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Durand |first=W.F. |title=Biographical Memoir of Ralph Modjeski |url=https://www.nasonline.org/publications/biographical-memoirs/memoir-pdfs/modjeski-ralph.pdf |journal=National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America Biographical Memoirs |volume=XXIII |issue=10th memoir |access-date=7 November 2023}}</ref>

He was a classmate of [[Ignacy Jan Paderewski]] in Poland and was a formidable pianist in his own right.

The son returned to Europe to study at ''l'Ecole des Ponts et Chaussées'' (the School of Bridges and Roads) in [[Paris, France]]. It was in 1883, while studying at Paris, that he obtained American citizenship; however, he always maintained contact with Poland, wrote much in Polish, and emphasized his Polish origins.

In 1885, he graduated from the School of Bridges and Roads at the top of his class. That same year, he married a cousin Felicie Benda; the couple had three children. They divorced in 1931 after a sixteen-year-long separation. That same year, the seventy-year-old Modjeski married Virginia Mary Giblyn. 
[[File:RalphModjeski1914.jpg|thumb|right|Ralph Modjeski, 1914]]