SECRET PASSAGES 1835 The Battery was once again on the move, this time stationed in the town of Romankov. It was here that Sasha began to get very sick, dying from a slow chronic illness. The gradual decline of her passionately beloved child forced Helena Andreevna to suffer for months.[1] The early spring of 1835 was very muddy, and the snow was still weeks away from fully melting. The boy got worse every hour, but as no one could ride... Read more
DEAD SOULS The general crop failure in Novorossiysk during the summer of 1833 made for a stressful situation. Andrei Mikhailovich, Elena Pavlovna, and the children went to Penza to visit Prince Pavel Vasilyevich.[1] The old price was already very old, weak, and lazy, although in spirit and mind he was as vigorous and fresh as in his youth. He spent his old days almost entirely alone; partly in his estate Kutlya, and partly in his own house in Penza.... Read more
RUSALKA In 1832, a year after deployment, Pyotr Alekseevich returned to Helena Andreevna in Ekaterinoslav, where he met the infant Lelya for the first time. Not long after his return, Helena Andreevna was pregnant once again, giving birth to a son named Alexander, or “Sasha” to friends and family. Marriage for a girl in these years, even under the best of circumstances, was still a lottery. “It will work out well, but if it does not work out, walk... Read more
“AMID COFFINS AND DESOLATION” The precarious peace after Russia’s war with the Ottoman Empire was filled with regional battles in preparation for another fight with Turkey. One such battle was in Poland, where the patriotic feeling was aroused after Nicholas was crowned their king. The ripples of disquietude turned into riotous waves which culminated in the November Uprising in November 1830.[1] Soon after their marriage, Pyotr Alekseevich left Helena Andreevna on orders of the Tsar, to help put down... Read more
LAST WORDS Of SAMUEL KHRISTIANOVICH KONTENIUS Elena Pavlovna’s illness prevented her from being as actively engaged with the upbringing of her children as she had wished. At the same time, Helena Andreevna, now fourteen years old, began to feel some independence. All of this greatly influenced the impressionable girl, as many of the heroines of her future stories experience a spiritual turning point precisely at the age of thirteen. The future writer lived at this time with varied... Read more
INDEPENDENCE 1827-1828 In 1827 Andrei Mikhailovich traveled nearly 3,5000 miles around the colonies. In Simferopol he met the mayor of Kerch, Filipp Filippovich Vigel who would later become known for his posthumously published notes.[1] He was a smart, educated man, but in many ways extremely strange and obstinate. Baron Frank once told Andrei Mikhailovich a telling story about Vigel. Having once gone to Kerch on Holy Week, he found Vigel unwell from a nerve disorder. Vigel met him with... Read more
PENZA Spring 1826 During Andrei Mikhailovich’s management of the Ekaterinoslav Settlement Office, his relations with the Governors were frequent and, in general, quite good. There was Governor Shemiot (who left this position in 1823.) Trofim Matveevich Tsalaban replaced him, but he did not last a year. Alexei Ivanovich Svyechin, who held the office from 1824 to 1828 was kind but “empty-headed.” He was followed by Dmitriy Zakhorzhevskiy, an honest, intelligent, well-intentioned man, but embarrassed by formalism, and left the... Read more
THE DECEMBRISTS Having seen the Tsar off, Andrei Mikhailovich returned to Ekaterinoslav and, having sent General Inzov a baton to report on all the details of the Tsar’s passage through the colony, he informed him of the Sovereign’s order to convey to him that he wished to speak with him upon returning to Taganrog. As a result of this, Inzov arrived in Ekaterinoslav from Chisinau in preparation for the Tsar’s arrival (which was expected in two weeks.) Taking Andrei... Read more
“THE BLESSED” Elena Ivanovna died in March 1824, to the extreme grief of Elena Pavlovna and the rest of the family. The sadness was tempered somewhat later that month with the birth of the couple’s first son Rostislav “Rostya” Andreevich Fadeev.[1] During the ensuing year, Andrei Mikhailovich was engaged in drawing up instructions for the administration of the colonies. The work according to this program was extensive, but admittedly, not very useful. “For useful service, we need worthy, intelligent... Read more
CHUGUEV MILITARY SETTLEMENT The Fadeevs had another child in 1821, a girl named they named Anastasia. That summer the family spent part of the summer on the southern coast. On their way back to Ekaterinoslav, they stopped at one of the German Colonies. Andrei Mikhailovich was called away on business and departed from the colony a few days before Elena Pavlovna and the girls. When it was finally time for her to leave, Elena Pavlovna was startled by the... Read more
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