Major General Alexei Aleksandrovich Voronov was my maternal great-grandfather. I have written about him once before here. Since then I have discovered a bit more about him. Alexei attended the Pavlovsk military school, graduating in around 1870 as a “Harness Junker”, which appears to have been a rank of senior
Researching family history, for me, is more than drawing connecting lines on a family tree. I always want to know more about my ancestor’s stories, how they lived their lives, what their thoughts were. Often this information can be gleaned from the letters they wrote or the memories they jotted
I have written previously about my grandfather, Peter von Fircks (above), here and here and how he was a follower of Rudolf Steiner. My grandfather’s belief in Steiner and Anthroposophy, the philosophy Steiner founded, were to colour his and his children’s lives. All I know about my grandfather, and his
December 1944 was the last time my father would see his father, and it was also approximately four months before my father would be captured by the Americans. It is difficult to say whether he spent Christmas with his father, his diary notes just mention that from 20 – 26
Millions died in Soviet Gulags during their time of operation from 1918 – 1953. Luckily my great uncle was not one of them. I have written previously about finding letters and documents concerning my great aunt, her husband and their daughter. However, I was interested to know more about my
When my grandfather, Paul Woronoff, died in 1969 my grandmother, Olga, was devastated. She was 76 years old when he died, and they had been happily married for fifty five and a half years. Olga was not quite 21 years old when she married Paul and he was her whole