Messages

1

Research Russian Roots / Re: Please, help to think and sort this out about the Ukraine-question!!!

« on: March 13, 2022, 11:11:33 AM »

You are trying to make a simple situation very complicated!  A powerful country that is not democratic has invaded a country that is democratic.  There are now thousands of dead soldiers and civilians, and millions of refugees.  The democracy has not fallen, and it seems that it will never surrender.  I think it is clear who is in the right here, and who is doing evil.

You say you are in Finland.  In 2010, the international Freedom of the Press survey rated Finland's newspapers as the freest in the world.  You should not have difficulty finding trustworthy reporting of the situation in Ukraine.

This is perhaps not the right forum for questions such as yours.  It may be that you are not who you say you are, and so I shall not respond to any replies to this comment - but I hope I have been helpful.

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Research Russian Roots / Re: Genealogical query: FRESHVILLE / FERSEN.

« on: May 04, 2012, 02:17:29 AM »

This is to update my earlier query, with the latest information that has been uncovered – partly with the help of people on this site, for which my thanks.

The marriage certificate of Alexandra Fersen shows that she was aged 26, the widowed “Princess Wiasemsky”, daughter of “Count Paul Schouvaloff deceased”.  She married Alexander Fersen, aged 24, “Ex-Officer Russian Army”, son of Count Nicholas Fersen.  They married at the Registry Office in St Marylebone, London on 15 July 1920; and the witnesses were “Lucy Beatrice King” and “Dorothy Cursons”.

I believe that Alexandra’s mother was Countess Alexandra Illarianovna Vorontsov Dashkov; and Alexander’s mother was Princess Sophia Alexandrovna Dolgorouky.

The groom’s address is given as 46 Gloucester Place, St Marylebone.  I have now read the autobiography of Sofka Skipwith, and the biography by her granddaughter – from which I learn that 46 Gloucester Place was the address of Sofka, in the household of her grandmother Princess Olga Dolgorouky nee Schouvaloff, when they lived in London from (I think it was) 1919 – 1922.  The household included Sofka’s governess, who is identified in the books as Miss L King – so perhaps she was one of the marriage witnesses.  Sofka and Alexander Fersen were first cousins.

The bride’s address is given as 60 Gloucester Place – and I wonder if that was the home of Princess Olga’s sister, Countess Sophy Benkendorff, who I understand lived nearby.

The children of Countess Alexandra Fersen were Sophia (1928 Paris) and Maria (1933 Rome); and I understand that Count Alexander Fersen died in Italy, in 1934.  The family thus comprised the three Countesses Fersen who were left an annuity in the 1940 will of a niece of my great-great-grandmother.  It now seems unlikely that my Fretwell/Freshville ancestors had a connection by marriage to any of the people mentioned above – although James Fretwell Freshville and his son Thomas Frederick both married Russian women whose names I have not yet discovered – so perhaps they were just friends, from their St Petersburg days.

Matthew Wilde.

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Servants, Friends and Retainers / Re: English Nurses and Governesses.

« on: April 20, 2012, 12:02:19 PM »

Thank you.  I shall read 'Red Princess', when I have finished reading 'Autobiography of a Princess'.  The subject of these two books quotes in the latter, a letter written by Miss King - and it is signed "L. King".  I'm fairly convinced that this was the Lucy Beatrice King, who was a witness at the wedding that I referred to.  The autobiography also includes one photo of Miss King (with Sofka, taken in 1913).
Matthew.

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Servants, Friends and Retainers / Re: English Nurses and Governesses.

« on: March 21, 2012, 08:38:45 AM »

Thank you Vanya.  I shall add that book to my reading list!
Matthew.

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Servants, Friends and Retainers / Re: English Nurses and Governesses.

« on: March 21, 2012, 05:19:32 AM »

Richard -
I hope your research has progressed well, in recent years.  (I think I'll restrict my future genealogical enquiries to 'Researching Russian roots' - especially as there doesn't seem to be an automatic notification of responses, in these forums.)
I read on another thread that a Miss King was a governess who was evacuated on HMS Marlborough.  She may have been the Lucy Beatrice King who was a witness at the 1920 London wedding of Count Alexander Fersen, to Princess Alexandra Wiasemsky, nee Countess Schouvaloff (who I am currently researching).  Have you come across Miss King in your researches?
Matthew.

6

Russian Noble Families / Re: Princes Baryatinsky

« on: March 20, 2012, 01:07:58 PM »

Thank you very much.  I don't suppose you know whether the Countess Alexandra Fersen (nee Schouvaloff) had daughters called Sophia and Maria?  (I ask because an ancestor left those three countesses an annuity in her will, and I'm trying to work out exactly who they were.)

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Russian Noble Families / Re: Princes Baryatinsky

« on: March 19, 2012, 01:08:25 PM »

I wonder if anyone can clarify the Schouvaloff link for me.  I note the above comment that Elizaveta Schouvaloff nee Baryatinsky was childless, but I had thought she married Count Paul Schouvaloff, and had a daughter Alexandra.  This Alexandra Schouvaloff married Prince Wiasemsky and then (as a widow) Count Alexander Fersen.  The 1920 London marriage certificate for the second marriage gives the fathers as Count Nicholas Fersen and Count Paul Schouvaloff (deceased).  I wonder if I am muddling my Count Schouvaloffs.  (I should also be interested to know more about the marriage witnesses: Lucy Beatrice King and Dorothy Cursons.)  Thank you.

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Research Russian Roots / Re: Stories full of smoke and mirrors

« on: March 05, 2012, 10:57:39 AM »

A late reply from a new member - just picking up on Doc's statement that he couldn't find the Vladimir Mikhailovich Bezobrazov diary.  There are currently two for sale on the huge second-hand book site abebooks (www.abebooks.co.uk, on my search just now).

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Research Russian Roots / Genealogical query: FRESHVILLE / FERSEN.

« on: March 04, 2012, 05:34:13 AM »

Hello.  I wonder if any of the knowledgeable people on this website can assist me with a genealogical query – which primarily relates to the name FERSEN.

My surname is WILDE.  My great-great-grandfather of the same surname married Sarah FRETWELL; both families being from Sheffield, Yorkshire, England.  I have recently learnt that Sarah’s eldest brother James (1815 – 1898) changed his name from James Fretwell to James Fretwell FRESHVILLE; and was the representative of the Sheffield steel-makers Thomas Firth and Sons, at St Petersburg (where he was presented to the Tsar, according to an old family letter held by a cousin).  James Fretwell Freshville lived in St Petersburg – as best I can calculate – from about 1847 – 1870.  The first five of his children were born there, including his two sons.  It seems likely that he married in Russia, and that his first wife died.  In 1856 he married, in Sheffield, Anne Elizabeth TOWNEND.  James’s sons were James junior (who is not mentioned in his father’s will – so probably pre-deceased him) and Thomas Frederick.

The last surviving of James Fretwell Freshville’s children died in 1940 as Marguerite Ada de Freshville HOWLEY-SIM, in Bath, Somerset, England.  In her will of the same year, she leaves a small annuity to “Countess Alexandra Fersen of Number 25 Suisi Bolzano Italy” – without specifying their relationship.  After Countess Alexandra’s death, the will specified that her daughters should receive the annuity – if they were still under 21 years old.  They were “Countess Sophia Fersen” and “Countess Maria Fersen”.  I think it likely that Countess Alexandra Fersen was a grand-niece to Marguerite, by being a granddaughter of Marguerite’s brother Thomas Frederick Freshville – but I have not been able to confirm this, as yet.

I have read on this website of the Count Fersen who was evacuated from Yalta, with his wife and daughters; and that he disembarked in Italy.  The names (and subsequent history) of his daughters might provide a clue to my search.  I would be grateful for any help or advice, relating to any of the people or facts described above.  Thank you.

Matthew Wilde.