The author of the study presents the ethos of patriotic education in Polish aristocratic families at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries on the example of the Ledóchowski family. As the author writes, the Polish landed gentry in the era of partitions played an integrating role in society and was a mainstay of patriotism and the fight for Poland’s freedom. The patriotism of the landowners manifested itself in two ideologies: insurrectionist and positivist – both of these trends were inscribed by the Ledóchowski family.