The Moscow Branch of the Family Tree of F. M. Dostoevsky: New Archival and Printed Sources

Abstract

The article introduces into scientific circulation new archival and printed sources related to the Moscow branch of the family tree of F. M. Dostoevsky. They pertain to five generations of the writer᾽s ancestors and relatives — from the great-great-great-grandfather of the priest Andrey Grigoriev to the mother of Maria Fedorovna Nechaeva-Dostoevskaya. The certificates of M. F. Nechaeva᾽s birth, her brother Mikhail’s (Dostoevsky᾽s uncle) birth and death, the wedding of the grandfather and grandmother of the writer Fyodor Timofeevich Nechaev and Varvara Mikhailovna Kotelnitskaya, the birth and wedding of Alexandra Fedorovna Nechaeva-Kumanina (Dostoevsky᾽s aunt), the death of grandfather F. T. Nechaev, etc. are published for the first time. For the first time, the names of the brother of Dostoevsky᾽s great-great-great-grandfather, the archpriest of the Assumption Cathedral in the Kremlin, John Grigoriev, the great-grandmother of the writer Nastasia Kotelnitskaya and some other relatives are established. Clarifications and corrections have been made to the information previously published in genealogical works about members of the Dostoevsky family. The authors of the article paid special attention to the establishment of the Moscow addresses of the ancestors and relatives of the writer, laying the foundation for the creation of the “Dostoevsky᾽s Moscow” map in the future.