Emmanuil Naryshkin

1813–1901

Born: 30 Jul 1813, Saint Petersburg
Country of birth: Russian Empire, today Russia
Died: 31 Dec 1901, Saint Petersburg

facts: 9
sources: 1
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Facts and their sources

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Birth30 Jul 1813, Saint PetersburgProbableDisputed1 competing claim1 source
Death31 Dec 1901, Saint PetersburgProbableDisputed1 competing claim1 source
ParentDmitry NaryshkinConfirmed1 source
ParentMaria NaryshkinaConfirmed1 source

A life in time

30 Jul 1813
Born · Saint Petersburg
Birth, Saint Petersburg
31 Dec 1901
Died · Saint Petersburg
Death, Saint Petersburg

What was it like?

The world around Saint Petersburg, 1813: 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.

Emmanuil was born the same year as Alexander Dargomyzhsky, Richard Wagner, and Giuseppe Verdi.

Born the same year

Alexander Dargomyzhsky
Russian composer
Richard Wagner
German composer (1813–1883)
Giuseppe Verdi
Italian opera composer (1813–1901)
Charles-Valentin Alkan
French composer and pianist (1813–1888)
Søren Kierkegaard
Danish theologian, philosopher, poet and social critic (1813–1855)
David Livingstone
Scottish missionary and explorer (1813-1873)

Fashion

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.

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

Church ban on folk musical instruments

Russian Orthodoxy officially rejected folk instruments, and the church once famously burned five carriages filled with them in the 17th century. Consequently, no musical instruments were permitted in Orthodox church services during this period.

Improvised percussion for fast folk dances

During fast-paced dances known as pliaska, performers often used improvised percussion instruments, including wooden spoons, metal pots, or even farm scythes to keep the rhythm.

Getting around

Essential road gear and carriages

Travelers commonly used specialized chests called pogrebetz, which featured internal partitions to hold essential items like tea-pots, glass carafes with rum, and milk jugs for long journeys. Many peasants used simple, horse-drawn carts known as telegi, which were frequently built without iron tires, making them highly susceptible to damage on rough roads.

Travel by horse-drawn relay transport

Between 1800 and 1824, ordinary people traveled between towns primarily using horse-drawn carriages, wagons, or sledges, often relying on the state-run relay system to secure fresh horses at designated postal stations. Travelers were required to carry an official permit called a podorozhnaya to document their route and status at these stations.

Daily life

Children's home education

Many merchant and commoner children were educated at home by local sextons or clerks, with the Psalter and Book of Hours serving as their primary textbooks. Formal schooling remained rare for these groups, as even many noble children relied on varied levels of home instruction.

Lighting in the home

Peasant huts were illuminated by a torch inserted into the stove's crack or by simple oil lamps with wicks. In better-off homes, candles were used when oil lamps were unavailable.

Food

Kvass as the universal drink

Kvass, a fermented drink made from rye flour and malt, served as the universal daily beverage for the lower classes.

Meat as a rare luxury

Meat was a luxury for many families, typically consumed only on major religious holidays like Christmas and Easter.

Work

Common non-agricultural peasant jobs

To supplement agricultural income, peasants took jobs such as boatmen, longshoremen, construction workers, cabmen, and artisans in cities. In the central provinces, 27 percent of men did not plow land at all, relying entirely on these non-agricultural trades.

Earnings of Volga boatmen

In the 1810s, boatmen on the Volga earned about 300 rubles per season for their labor. However, the later introduction of steamboats caused these earnings to drop significantly, to between 60 and 90 rubles.

News and letters

Cost of sending a letter

Letters were weighed in lots (one lot equaling 12.8 grams) and cost 10 kopecks per lot to send, which was expensive given that a bowl of cabbage soup with meat cost one kopeck at a tavern.

Disinfecting mail during epidemics

Letters sent during cholera epidemics were punctured with holes and fumigated with special smoke at checkpoints to kill potential bacteria.

During their lifetime

1837
First Public Railway Opens in 1837
In 1837, the first public passenger railway opened, running between St. Petersburg and Tsarskoe Selo, marking the beginning of the railway age in Russia.
1837
Winter Palace Fire in 1837
A devastating fire destroyed the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg in 1837, leading to a massive, rapid rebuilding effort that was completed within just 15 months.
1848
Cholera and Crop Failures in 1848
In 1848, a major cholera epidemic, coupled with a bad harvest and dry weather that caused widespread town fires, severely disrupted the lives of the agrarian population.
1861
Emancipation of the Serfs
The 1861 Emancipation Manifesto freed nearly 50 million serfs, granting them personal freedom but requiring them to redeem their land through long-term government loans.
1874
Universal Military Service Law
The 1874 Universal Military Service law reduced mandatory military service from twenty-five years to six years for all social classes.
1891
Famine and Cholera Epidemic
A severe famine and cholera epidemic struck Russia in 1891-1892, causing widespread suffering and loss of life across the empire.

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.