Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia

1799–1800

Born: 9 Jun 1799, Saint Petersburg
Country of birth: Russian Empire, today Russia
Died: 20 Aug 1800, Saint Petersburg

facts: 9
sources: 1
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Facts and their sources

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Birth9 Jun 1799, Saint PetersburgProbableDisputed1 competing claim1 source
Death20 Aug 1800, Saint PetersburgProbableDisputed1 competing claim1 source
ParentAlexander I of RussiaConfirmed1 source
ParentElizabeth AlexeievnaConfirmed1 source

A life in time

9 Jun 1799
Born · Saint Petersburg
Birth, Saint Petersburg
20 Aug 1800
Died · Saint Petersburg
Death, Saint Petersburg

What was it like?

The world around Saint Petersburg, 1799: who ruled, who else was alive, how people lived. This is general history, not a record about the family, and every item shows where it comes from.

Grand was born around the same time as Cesare Pugni, Marianna Marquesa Florenzi, and Alexandre Dumas.

Born around the same time

Cesare Pugni
1802 · Italian composer (1802–1870)
Marianna Marquesa Florenzi
1802 · Italian philosopher (1802–1870)
Alexandre Dumas
1802 · French writer and dramatist (1802–1870)
Millard Fillmore
1800 · president of the United States from 1850 to 1853
Niels Henrik Abel
1802 · Norwegian mathematician (1802–1829)
France Prešeren
1800 · Slovene national poet, a Carniolan Romantic poet of Slovene descent (1800–1849)

Fashion

Around 1800–1824

Basic peasant men's clothing

Peasant men typically wore shirts and trousers, while boys wore only shirts, with shirts often being secured at the waist with laces to keep them from interfering with work.

Around 1800–1824

Lifelong festive peasant clothing

A peasant family would prepare a festive outfit meant to last a lifetime, which was stored carefully and worn only on the most important holidays.

Music

Popular instruments and music in society

In fashionable society, the harp and guitar became increasingly popular for accompanying sentimental songs and romances, while the polonaises of the Polish composer Kozlowski were played constantly in homes and at social gatherings.

Social work-based gatherings for youth

In urban areas, young people gathered for work-related social events like kapustki, where they engaged in cabbage chopping followed by singing and dancing once the older generation left the room. These gatherings served as important occasions for unmarried youth to socialize and choose a marriage partner.

Getting around

Horse-drawn travel at 5 km/h

In the late 18th century, nobility and officials primarily traveled between towns in horse-drawn carriages, kibitkas, or sledges in winter, with an average speed of about 5 km/h.

River crossings and ferry delays

Travel was often interrupted by river crossings, where passengers and carriages relied on slow ferries, leading to significant delays and occasional hazards like the loss of cargo or baggage.

Daily life

Peasant hygiene and living conditions

Peasant life included poor hygiene, as families often shared a single dirty cloth for two weeks to wipe their hands, faces, and kitchenware. In winter, young livestock were sometimes kept inside the peasant cabin, which, combined with smoky air, negatively affected living conditions and health.

Wooden homes and new urban layouts

In the late 18th century, ordinary urban houses were built of wood, which created a constant risk of devastating fires across entire neighborhoods. New urban houses began to feature central corridors instead of the traditional layout where rooms were arranged directly around a central stove.

Food

Daily Rye Bread Staples

Rye bread was the essential staple, with adults consuming nearly two pounds daily, often stored as a sourdough starter for up to two weeks.

Daily Sour Cabbage Soup

Shchi, a soup made from sour cabbage, onions, and beef or mutton, was a daily meal, often served with sour cream on non-fasting days.

Prices and wages

Annual earnings of textile workers

In 1796, women working in textile production could earn 50 to 90 paper rubles per year.

Daily wages for construction workers

In 1779 and 1780, unskilled construction laborers in Moscow earned 10 to 20 kopecks per day.

Work

Long hours in factory labor settings

Factory and manufactory work was grueling, with men often working 11 to 15 hours per day and some industries requiring 230 to 280 days of labor per year. Serfs employed in these settings were sometimes forced to live in barracks, isolated from their families.

Peasant life dominated by farm and corvee labor

The vast majority of the population were peasants who primarily worked on farms, with many required to perform corvee labor (barshchina) on landlords' fields for three to four days per week.

News and letters

Home Delivery of Money Started in 1781

By 1781, the postal system had expanded its services to include the delivery of money directly to a person's door, in addition to regular parcels and private correspondence.

The Imperial Russian Postal Relay System

In the late 18th century, the Russian Empire utilized a network of relay stations where mail was carried by postillions from station to station, with horses changing at each stop to maintain speeds of eight to twelve versts per hour depending on the season.

Family

Parents

Ancestors and children

Open the full tree

Four generations back to the right, the children to the left. The number beside a child counts the generations of descendants known after them.