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Aleksandr Zubov

1727–1795

Born
6 Aug 1727, Russian Empire
Country of birth
Russian Empire, today Russia
Died
20 Feb 1795, Saint Petersburg
facts
6
sources
1
images and files
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Facts and their sources

Tap a fact to see where it comes from.

  • Birth6 Aug 1727, Russian EmpireProbable1 source
  • Death20 Feb 1795, Saint PetersburgProbable1 source
  • UnionYelizaveta VoronovaConfirmed1 source

A life in time

  1. Born · Russian Empire

    Birth, Russian Empire

  2. Child born: Olga Zherebtsova

    Birth

  3. Died · Saint Petersburg

    Death, Saint Petersburg

What was it like?

The world around Russian Empire, 1727: 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.

Following reforms, men adopted caftans, knee-length breeches, and stockings, while women transitioned from concealing sarafans to dresses with low necklines and short sleeves.

Fashion
Around 1700–1724

European dress reforms

Following reforms, men adopted caftans, knee-length breeches, and stockings, while women transitioned from concealing sarafans to dresses with low necklines and short sleeves.

Around 1700–1724

Fines for traditional Russian clothing

People wearing traditional Russian clothing in public faced a fine of 13 altyn and 2 denga for pedestrians and 2 rubles for those on horseback.

Music
Around 1700–1724

Instruments and singing in royal life

Military and celebratory music frequently featured brass and percussion, such as trumpets, drums, and oboes, which were played during formal processions and ceremonial toasts. Peter the Great himself was known to play the drum and would occasionally sing with church choristers during services.

Around 1700–1724

New ballroom dances at assemblies

At social gatherings like the Petrine assemblies, dancing became a structured activity where participants performed dances such as the polonaise, minuet, and various English-style dances. These assemblies were a significant shift for the nobility, requiring both men and women to participate in public dancing.

Getting around
Around 1700–1724

Slow travel speeds in 18th-century Russia

In the 18th century, travelers moved at a slow average speed of only seven versts per hour in summer and five in winter. Consequently, a journey from Moscow to Kiev took about two weeks, while Moscow to Smolensk required three days.

Around 1700–1724

The postal relay and private travel systems

Travelers often used the postal relay system, which required an official document called a podorozhnaya to secure fresh horses at relay stations. Private travel using one's own horses was also common but required frequent stops to rest the animals.

Daily life
Around 1701–1724

Student Maintenance and Costs

Students at the Moscow Cannon School were provided with a daily allowance of two coins: one for food such as bread, fish, or meat, and another for clothing items like shirts and bast shoes.

Around 1700–1724

Founding of Secular Schools

By a 1714 decree, secular numeric schools were established to provide free education for children, though some students had to be forcefully recruited or were punished with rods for attempting to flee.

Food
Around 1700–1724

Summer beer storage method

To keep beer fresh during the hot summer, people built ice cellars without roofs, layering barrels with snow and ice, then covering them with straw and boards.

Around 1700–1724

Traditional hangover cure dish

To cure a hangover or feeling unwell, people ate a dish called pokhmelye, made from cold roast mutton, cucumbers, vinegar, and cucumber brine served as a spoon-eaten salad.

Prices and wages
Around 1730–1749

Food prices in Saint Petersburg

In Saint Petersburg during the 1730s and 1740s, a pood (approximately 16 kg) of rye flour cost 27 kopecks, while beef cost 80 kopecks per pood.

Around 1700–1725

Annual wages for Moscow factory workers

In the first quarter of the 18th century, a skilled weaver at a Moscow textile factory earned up to 24 rubles per year, while unskilled workers earned between 6 and 12 rubles per year.

Work
Around 1700–1724

Common jobs and modest wages

Common occupations included carpenters, blacksmiths, stonemasons, and weavers. A typical monthly salary for builders or blacksmiths in St. Petersburg was 1 ruble, while skilled workers like cabinetmakers might earn 2 rubles per month.

News and letters
Around 1720–1724

Varied delivery frequencies across the empire

By the 1720s, while most towns received mail twice a week, remote locations like Kamchatka relied on deliveries only twice a year.

Around 1716–1720

The birth of regular postal routes

Ordinary mail delivery began to be officially organized between St. Petersburg and Moscow in 1716, requiring riders to travel at an average speed of eight versts per hour.

During their lifetime

  1. 1769

    Introduction of Paper Money

    The government introduced paper money, known as assignats, for the first time in 1769, though ordinary people initially distrusted them and preferred metal coins.

  2. 1771

    The 1771 Moscow Plague Epidemic

    A devastating bubonic plague epidemic killed between 52,000 and 100,000 people in Moscow, about one-sixth to one-third of the city's population.

  3. 1773

    The Pugachev Peasant Revolt

    A massive peasant and Cossack uprising led by Yemelyan Pugachev broke out, threatening the social structure of the empire.

Family

Spouses

Children

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.