From Russia with LoveDear Maria: letters to Australia from Petersburg and London
Letters in an age without telephones and email were important - more so when the people involved lived far apart. Pen, ink and paper brought families together. Here are portions of letters from Maria's sisters and cousins and sons which fortunately have survived across the years. They have been transcribed by John R. Kane, who has managed the extremely difficult job of reading handwriting that is sometimes almost indecipherable. They report on events, advise of rites of passage and open a window on a world long gone. English equivalents of the family's Russian names are mostly used in these letters.
From Catherine Smirnov (London) to Samuel Cooper, Maria's son (Australia)
undated (probably 1853)
My sister(Elizabeth Smirnov) and self, dear Samuel, are most anxious to hear something about you all, for it seems as if you were all migrated to immense distances and foreign parts (Samuel and several of his brothers had already left India for New South Wales). I do not know whether before this is closed to send to you we shall have received any letters as we now and then do hear of Australian mails arriving, but nothing as yet comes for us, and we fear that perhaps some letters have been lost, as since your mother wrote to us she was upon the eve of her departure (Maria was soon to join her sons in Australia) there have been many rough storms and heavy weather during all last winter, and the great uncertainty as to whether your mother had really left India...
From Catherine Smirnov (London) to cousin Maria (Australia)
Autumn 1862
Your first note, dear, reached us in the middle of preparing for a time to change our neighbourhood, as my bedroom in Charles Street requires fresh papering and we have been much fatigued with packing. Ceilings in some rooms have to be white-washed and sundry jobs obliged us to break up our little household, except the cook, and bring our maid with us to these pretty little apartments...in Regents Park, not far from London and yet near enough to Primrose Hill and Hampstead to have a nice change of air. We are upon a terrace on a very cheerful road and the park opposite looks all along like a shrubbery...London is unusually crowded this year owing to the Exhibition...we are anxious to hear what you will say of dear Sarah Begbie who has indeed a share of troubles. I....received a letter from her and...she mentions the loss of her child, her husband's and her own illness, poor soul. (Sarah lost her son Alfred in 1862). Your penchant for wild names is inconceivable - now this is to be addressed to Wooolooomoooloooooo...(Maria was living at this time in Wooloomooloo, Sydney)
Helena to Maria Feb 20 1870
from Helena to MariaFrom Leonard, Maria's son (Sydney) to Maria (Manning River)
February 22nd 1866
...it happened thus: John (Maria's son, later to own Woodside, where Maria is buried in a private cemetery) reached Taree...he then got a blackfellow to row him down the river towards the bar and after getting halfway he, the blackfellow, would not go any further. So John persuaded him to row to Mansell's and at their invite he remained there for a week...Throughout the voyage he escaped sea-sickness until nearing the heads where it was extremely rough...I hope he will enjoy himself during his stay in Sydney...
From Catherine Smirnov (London) to her cousin Maria (Australia)
August 26 1869
We have at length finished the box which I think will contain some useful articles of ladies apparel belonging to my late sister and one or two dresses of my own which I trust will be useful to yourself and Mrs Begbie...some information of your grand children George, Robert and Hugh Chalon (children of Maria's eldest daughter Maria Louisa). The elder one George is now 19 years of age, preparing himself for a military career at Sandhurst. The next Robert, about 17, is gone to Natal intending to be an agriculturalist or cattle dealer. The third and youngest, Hugh, about 13 years of age, is at school at Hereford...I have just received a letter from my cousin Waldemar, poor Stephen's son. His visit to this country now seems very doubtful. He writes to me in English for which I am very glad for I have forgotten my French...
From Baroness Helena Rosen (Russia) to her sister Maria (Australia)
February 2nd 1870
...you are, thank God, much improved in health and very busy about your sugar plantations (Maria must have written about experiments in sugar cane plantings at Norwood on the Upper Manning)...
You are perhaps aware, dearest Maria, that Waldemar Smirnov (son of Stefan Ivanovich Smirnov, whose children were Waldemar, Sophia, Boris and Olga. Stefan was Minister of Petitions, Member of the Privy Council.and Councillor of State in St Petersburg)) received, with the patent of nobility belonging to our late uncle Smirnov, a magnificent present from our cousin Catherine, consisting of a valuable diamond cross with a beautiful gold chain and three most superb diamond rings, given to our uncle by the Emperor Alexander I and some other members of our Imperial family. We are all enchanted at the reception of of those precious jewels and pray God send that she would favour him again with her kindness if ever they meet again...
From Catherine Smirnov (London) to her cousin Maria (Australia)
September 7, 1870
I was sorry to see, my dear Sarah (Sarah and Maria both lived at Norwood) by your letter that you have been in a very delicate state of health...I'm afraid this letter will reach you at not the most favourable time....I wish you were all at Sydney for I cannot but think that you would be more comfortable and much less liable to so much flooding, damp and wet as you describe...I have a very nice old friend, a Rear Admiral Garven, who kindly lends me his carriage to take a ride in Regents Park...everyone at this time are anxiously looking forward to what may be the result of this dreadful war, which has broken out between the French and the Prussians...since writing the above, a very unexpected event has taken place...the resignation of the Emperor of the French...France is at present declared a Republic...you see I am turned politician but it is impossible to be otherwise at this present time...
From Baroness Helena Rosen (Russia) to her sister Maria (Australia)
February 16th 1872
My dearest Maria
I do not presume that you ever doubted my constant desire to write to you oftener, but to my great disappointment, months pass and I am not aware of what I have been doing...our dear cousin Catherine Smirnov (Catherine Yakova Smirnova, daughter of Yakov Smirnov and cousin to Maria) died on 25th December, Christmas Day...she was gradually getting weaker as the symptoms of dropsy increased...she seems to have suffered no pain except at times the difficulty of breathing. She went to bed and at about 9 o'clock she sat up asking her night attendant for a little water; her breath became difficult and then ceased. She passed away without difficulty or warning.
...the deposition of the Will of dear benefactrice cousin Catherine...is quite simple and short, bequeathing the sum of £7000 to Waldemar Smirnov besides a box of plate, £2000 to me and £1000 to our sister Anette.
This last summer I had the pleasure to see all my children except Stephen...but in autumn he will pass to Petersburg. My second Alexander and my eldest Ferderic (Frederic Rosen, professor at Kazan) are in Kazan together and thank God they are well settled...the youngest, Nicholas (Nikolai Rosen) got a good place at Saratow...I hope you are in good health and my dear Sarah (Sarah Matilda Cooper, daughter of Maria and married to Alfred Daniel Campbell Begbie) is getting better...
From Anette Brelewich (in St Petersburg) to her sister Maria (in Australia)
January 22nd 1874. Written by a helper, as Ann's hands by this time trembled too much for letter writing.
My dear and beloved sister:
Your letter reached us in the spring of 1872 and caused us great joy. I am very happy to hear that you live content and surrounded by your family. It is very painful for me to inform you that it has pleased God to call to a better world the year before last our nephew Nicholas (Nikolai Pruth, son of Louisa Pruth nee Smirnov, sister of Maria, by her first marriage. Louisa later married Colonel Alexandrov) and lately also our beloved sister Helen (Helena Rosen nee Smirnov, Baroness, sister of Maria, died 20 Oct 1873) You will have passed your Christmas surrounded by the flowers of summer and enjoying all the advantages of your happy climate, while we are buried in snow and ice...I am not able to go out at all, being unwell all this year...it is a great consolation for me to have you, dear sister, because, even though the ocean separates us, still we love each other can can always think of one another and be united in spirit. I am very ill and cannot even move without the aid of a servant, but the doctor gives me hope...pray write to me, it will be my only consolation...I am very poor but the children of my sister help me...I must be economical, especially as everything gets dearer and dearer...my nephew Alexander (Helena's children were Frederick, Alexander, Maria, Stefan and another Nikolai) is now in Petersburg for two years with his wife and child. It is he who passed his examination at the Military Academy. He lives very far from me and is very poor as the income of an officer is but little. I am sorry I cannot help him. They are expecting another child. Our sister-in-law lives in Petersburg and the daughters also, the sons are in Smolensk...I must add still that our sister died on October 20th and she is buried near our mother...
I beg you to give my love to your children, and I kiss them all from my heart.
Your ever affectionate sister Ann Brelewich
You know by the gazette about the wedding of our Grand-Duchess. My letter would have been written a long time ago but the lady who had undertaken to write it fell ill and afterwards he mother was ill...
From Ann Brelewich (in St Petersburg) to her sister Maria (in Australia)
August 20th 1874
My dear and beloved sister: your letter has caused me great joy and I am very thankful to you also for your dear portrait as well as for your offer to send me some money. Ten pounds makes seventy roubles...my health is still very bad...my fits of trembling are dreadful, my weakness very great and I have become quite thin...As for the means of forwarding me the money, please give it to a banker in Sydney and he will enter into communication with a banker in Petersburg - perhaps not in a direct way but through London or Hamburg...
