When I began my journey into my maternal family history I had practically no knowledge of my maternal ancestors. I was no different to many other family historians when I took the first step back in time by Googling my maternal grandparents. I was definitely not prepared for what I
The image above is of a postcard in my possession. It is entitled “On their way to war” and was taken from a painting by Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna of Russia. Olga apparently painted this artwork in the early 19th century, perhaps at the beginning of World War I. But
UPDATE November 2023!!! I am happy to announce that I have donated this book to the State Library of Victoria who will undertake to restore it. I hope to be kept in the loop as regards to the restoration and, if I am, I will share the updates here. #statelibraryvictoria
The recent death of the Queen of England, and the arrangements for her funeral, made me think of this post from earlier in the year. My great-grandmother, mother of my maternal grandfather remembered the funeral for Tsar Alexander II and I am fortunate to have her memories in my possession.
I have often written about letters and my passion for reading other people’s thoughts and descriptions of their lives. I have already written a post on one of the letters written by Empress Alexandra of Russia to her husband, Tsar Nicholas II. It was taken from the book Letters of
(Update of a previous post) The Tsarevitch Alexei probably knew my grandfather better than I did. In fact, I feel as if I hardly knew my grandfather, Paul Woronoff (or Pavel Voronov as he was known in Russian). He died when I was nine years old, although I have a