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Nadezhda Alexandrovna Stenbock-Fermor

1845–1920

Born
31 Jul 1845, Haapsalu
Country of birth
Estonia
Died
20 Dec 1920, Yalta
facts
5
sources
1
images and files
0

Facts and their sources

Tap a fact to see where it comes from.

  • Birth31 Jul 1845, HaapsaluProbableDisputed1 competing claim1 source
  • Death20 Dec 1920, YaltaProbable1 source

A life in time

  1. Born · Haapsalu

    Birth, Haapsalu

  2. Child born: Aleksandr Baryatinsky

    Birth, Saint Petersburg

  3. Died · Yalta

    Death, Yalta

What was it like?

The world around Haapsalu, 1845: 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.

Nadezhda was born around the same time as Edvard Grieg, Otto Lilienthal, and Buffalo Bill.

Born around the same time

  • Edvard Grieg

    1843 · Norwegian composer and pianist (1843–1907)

  • Otto Lilienthal

    1848 · German aviation pioneer (1848-1896)

  • Buffalo Bill

    1846 · American soldier and showman (1846–1917)

  • W. G. Grace

    1848 · English amateur cricketer (1848-1915)

  • Octave Mirbeau

    1848 · French writer, art critic and journalist (1848–1917)

  • William McKinley

    1843 · president of the United States from 1897 to 1901 (1843-1901)

Fashion

Aprons for Married Women

Estonian women followed a strict rule where married women had to wear an apron at all times, including while working in fields, because it was believed that an apronless woman could deprive a field of its fertility.

Layered Winter Clothing

To keep warm in winter, especially when traveling to church by sleigh, peasants wore multiple layers of clothing, such as two or three skirts for women and several pairs of trousers for men.

Music

Bagpipes at weddings and social gatherings

The torupill (bagpipe) was an essential instrument for weddings, pub gatherings, and dances, often played by a musician who might lead a wedding procession on horseback. The bag was traditionally crafted by fermenting a seal or cow stomach in a mixture of flour and salt for about a week.

Popular spring swinging culture among Estonians

Estonians of all ages enjoyed swinging on village swings throughout the spring; the activity was so popular that swings were found near almost every tavern, village, and even individual farmstead.

Getting around
Around 1838–1838

Challenging winter travel conditions

When traveling by horse carriage in late autumn 1838, a journey from St. Petersburg to Tallinn could involve being stranded at river crossings without bridges and facing dangerous winter conditions.

Travel by horse-drawn carriage

In the 1830s, people primarily traveled between towns in Estonia using horse-drawn carriages along post roads, where they swapped horses at designated post stations.

Daily life

Home-based religious education and schooling

Education was primarily home-based, often taught by mothers, focusing on reading skills and learning the Lutheran catechism, prayers, and hymns. Formal village schools were often neglected, and schooling was sometimes viewed by peasants as a forced burden rather than a benefit.

Simple log dwellings with central stoves

In the 19th century, ordinary Estonian peasant homes were typically log buildings featuring a large stove that served as the primary source of heat and a place for the whole family to sleep in winter. Dwellings often lacked separate kitchen areas, with cooking carried out in a threshing room or an entrance room during colder months.

Food

Boiled field beans were a common snack

Ordinary families frequently consumed salted, boiled field beans as a portable snack, often carrying them in their pockets to eat while working in the fields or traveling.

Daily coffee substitute was grain-based

While coffee was reserved for festive occasions, people drank a simpler daily substitute made from roasted grain and chicory.

Prices and wages

Cost of basic household tools

Essential household items like iron shears cost 80 kopeks, while wool carding combs ranged from 60 to 180 kopeks. Prices were often tied to the value of grain due to the limited circulation of money.

Laborer wages and bread composition

A farm laborer's average annual wage was 4 vakk of rye and 4 vakk of barley. Workers were required to supplement their meager grain rations with husks to make bread.

Work

Cottager Duties and Manor Discipline

Cottagers (vabadikud) were required to perform around 24 days of labor for the manor annually, including haymaking and picking potatoes. Laborers were frequently beaten by manor overseers for minor mistakes or simply for failing to work at a pace deemed fast enough.

Demanding Manor Freight Transport

A trip to deliver grain or alcohol to the town of Tallinn took about six days, and laborers had to bring all their own food for both themselves and their horses for the entire journey. Many wagons and sleighs were made entirely of wood without any iron parts, not even iron nails, making them prone to breaking.

News and letters
Around 1838–1838

Horse-drawn travel and post stations

In 1838, a journey by horse-drawn carriage from St. Petersburg to Tallinn covered about 300 miles and required changing horses at post stations located approximately every 25 versts.

During their lifetime

  1. 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.

  2. 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.

  3. 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.

  4. 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.

  5. 1891

    Trans-Siberian Railway Construction Begins

    The construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway began in 1891, eventually connecting distant parts of the empire and opening new economic opportunities.

  6. 1903

    Trans-Siberian Railway Completed

    The Trans-Siberian Railway was completed, boosting industrial development and enabling travel across the vast Russian 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.