Russia

What happened to her fur coat?

I often find documents in the many papers I inherited, which make me wonder about why they have been kept for so long. Documents which nowadays we would (and I do) throw out after they are no longer needed – of course many of our documents are now virtual. In

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Seven Drops of Blood – the Voronov Crest

According to the memories of my great-grandmother, Anna Pavlovna Voronov, many of the male Voronovs (Woronoffs), my maternal grandfather’s family, were in the Russian military. In 1722, during the time of Peter the Great, one of my ancestors – Prokopy (Prokofy) Petrovich Voronov was severely wounded while fighting. I assume

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Is it a bird? Funny family photos…

It is not too often that I burst out laughing when I turn the page of one of the many family photo albums I have inherited. But when I saw the photo above that is exactly what I did. On a gatepost, which holds one half of a gate, in

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The Major General, His Awards and His Family

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

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The Romanov Family and their Patrons

This weekend, the execution on 17 July 1918, of the last Tsar of Russia, his family and their faithful staff, will be commemorated by many. There will be posts on social media and, no doubt, articles in newspapers and services in the Russian Orthodox churches remembering this dark day in

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