artists, male as well as female, have been known to make
themselves younger in years by conveniently forgetting their
birthdate, or by attributing the error to carelessness in the
registry of dates. Surely the Chopin family could not have been
mistaken in such an important matter! Regarding Chopin's ancestry
there is still a moiety of doubt. His father was born August 17,
1770--the same year as Beethoven--at Nancy, Lorraine. Some claim
that he had Polish blood in his veins. Szulc claims that he was
the natural son of a Polish nobleman, who followed King Stanislas
Leszcinski to Lorraine, dropping the Szopen, or Szop, for the
more Gallic Chopin. When Frederic went to Paris, he in turn
changed the name from Szopen to Chopin, which is common in
France.

Chopin's father emigrated to Warsaw in 1787--enticed by the offer
of a compatriot there in the tobacco business--and was the
traditional Frenchman of his time, well-bred, agreeable and more
than usually cultivated.

He joined the national guard during the Kosciuszko revolution in
1794. When business stagnated he was forced to teach in the
family of the Leszynskis; Mary of that name, one of his pupils,
being beloved by Napoleon I. became the mother of Count Walewski,
a minister of the second French empire. Drifting to Zelazowa-
Wola, Nicholas Chopin lived in the house of the Countess Skarbek,
acting as tutor to her son, Frederic. There he made the
acquaintance of Justina Krzyzanowska, born of "poor but noble
parents." He married her in 1806 and she bore him four children:
three girls, and the boy Frederic Francois.