The Autobiography of Countess Sophie Tolstoi/Notes

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The Autobiography of Countess Sophie Tolstoi
Notes
by Vasilii Spiridonov

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1624843The Autobiography of Countess Sophie Tolstoi
NotesVasilii Spiridonov

NOTES

1. Page 21. In The Book of Genealogies of the Nobility of the Moscow Government, Vol. I. page 122, it is said of S. A. T.'s father: "Andrei Evstafevich, son of a chemist, born April 9, 1808, a physician on the staff of the Moscow Palace Control, collegiate assessor 1842, State Councillor 1864."

2. Page 21. This was the former name of the Commandant's Board.

3. Page 21. Alexander Alexandrovich Bers, first cousin of S. A. T.

4. Page 22. Born December 3, 1789, died March 25, 1855. Buried in Petersburg in the Volkov Lutheran Cemetery. Peterburgskii Necropol, Petersburg, 1912, Vol. I. page 104.

5. Page 22. In The Book of Genealogies of the Nobility of the Moscow Government, Vol. I, page 122, the Bers are included under Section III., i.e. among those families which were promoted to the title of nobility through the Civil Service. The year of their promotion was 1843. The right to the coat-of-arms was granted by Supreme Order to the father of S. A. T. in 1847. See V. Lukomskii and S. Troinizkii, "List of persons to whom has been granted by H.I.M. the right to coats-of-arnis and the title of nobility of the All-Russian Empire and of the Kingdom of Poland," Petersburg, 1911, page 14.

6. Page 23, Alexander Evstafevich Bers, born February 18, 1807, died September 6, 1871. See Peterburgskii Necropol, Vol. I. page 204; also V. Lukomskii and S. Troinizkii, page 14.

7. Page 24. In the Tula Province, 25 versts from Yasnaya Polyana.

8. Page 24. A. M. Islenev, born July 16, 1794, died April 23, 1882. Leo Tolstoi, who knew him well, described him as the father in Childhood and Adolescence. See P. Sergeenko, From the Life of L. N. Tolstoi and How Count L. N. Tolstoi Lives and Works, Moscow, 1898, page 40.

9. Page 24. The well-known Vladimir Alexandrovich Islavin, State Councillor, born November 29, 1818, died May 27, 1895, author of The Samoveds, their Domestic and Social Life, Petersburg, 1847, which at the time was much discussed in newspapers and magazines. See V. L Maezhov's Systematic Catalogue of Russian Books, A, F. Basunov, Petersburg, 1869, page 404.

10. Page 24. There were five sons and three daughters. The Book of Genealogies, Vol. I. pages 122 and 123. The best known of these, besides Sophie Andreevna, were: Tatyana Andreevna (by marriage Kuzminskii), born October 24, 1846, the author of My Reminiscences of Countess Marie Nikolaevna Tolstoi, Petersburg, 1914; Stepan Andreevich Bers, born July 21, 1855, author of Reminiscences of L. N. Tolstoi, Smolensk, 1894; Peter Andreevich Bers, born August 26, 1849, died May 19, 1910, the editor of Detskii Otdikh (1881-82), and co-editor with L. D. Obolenskii of the collection of Stories for Children by I. S. Turgenev and L. N. Tolstoi, 1883 and 1886; Vyacheslav Andreevich Bers, born May 3, 1861, died May 19, 1907, an engineer who was killed for no obvious reason by workmen during the revolutionary days in Petersburg. Leo N. Tolstoi was very fond of him. See P. Biryukov, How L. N. Tolstoi composed the Popular Calendar, 1911.

11. Page 25. A. Y. Davidov, 1823-85, professor of mathematics in the University of Moscow, author of popular text-books on algebra and geometry.

12. Page 26. N. A. Sergievskii, 1827-92, a writer on theology, author of many scholarly theological books, founder and editor of The Orthodox Review, professor of theology in the University of Moscow,

75. Page 80. The newspapers announced that S. A. T. died in October, 1919. We have not succeeded in verifying the date and, therefore, cannot vouch for its accuracy.