Thursday, February 18, 2016

Feodosiy & Stepanida: A Match Made in Siberia

This is a portrait taken in 1918 of my Great-Grandfather Feodosiy. And yes—he does appear to have been a 100%, top-of-the-line, Grade-A Sex Machine.

Vintage photograph of Feodosiy Mitrofanenko, a Justice of the Peace, taken in Russia in 1918

Feodosiy Mitrofanenko (Митрофаненко Феодосий) was a Justice of the Peace who lived and worked in Ust-Karsk, Zabaykalsky Krai, Russia (Усть-карск Забайкальск). He was Ukrainian, and believed to be a Kuban Cossack. He's was born sometime around 1890, and died at the age of 27 or 28 in 1918. It's unclear whether he died of Coronary thrombosis, or in the Russian Civil War, serving in the Volunteer Army (the 4th Company of Sergey Markov's 1st Officers Regiment).

Impossible to read scribbling on the back of a vintage photo of Feodosiy Mitrofanenko

Beyond that, not much is known about Feodosiy. However, there are some faint scribbles on the back of his portrait. I can make out a date at the bottom: the 14th of something in 1918. Many thanks in advance to anyone out there who's an extremely intrepid decipherer of heavily faded Russian, and who can help me out with this. Seriously. I'll give you fifty bucks.

Stepanida Yakolevna Kozyrev Mitrofanenko aka Stephany Mitrofanenko and Natalie F. Vasilev

Around 1913, Feodosiy Mitrofanenko married Stepanida Yakovlevna Kozyreva (Козырева Стефанида Яковлевна) in Ust-Karsk, Zabaykalsky Krai, Russia. She was born on November 7, 1877 Staro-Konstantinov, Ukraine—to parents Yakov Grigoryevich Kozyrev (Козырев Яков Григорьевич) and Kharitiniya Afanasyevna Kozyreva (Козырева Харитиния Афанасьевна). You can read more about Kharitiniya here. Feodosiy and Stepanida had one surviving child, Natalia Feodosievna Mitrofanenko (pictured above). You can read more about Natalia here.

Stepanida Yakovlevna Kozyrev Mitrofanenko aka Stephany Mitrofanenko, Mid 1950's, San Francisco

This last portrait of Stepanida was taken in San Francisco in the early- to mid-1950's. Someone printed her birthdate on the back as 24 Nov 1877. That may have been her birthdate according to the Western Calendar—with 07 Nov 1877 being her birthdate according to the Russian Calendar. Or possibly the other way around? I'm not sure. Does Stepanida seem like a Scorpio, or more like a Sagittarius?

Stephany Mitrofanenko, 24 November 1877

Stepanida died on May 25, 1958 in San Francisco, California. Her death certificate lists her as Stephany Y. Mitrofanenko. I also found her on this website; a list of White Russians who died abroad.

Митрофаненко Стефанида Яковлевна, р. 1877. В эмиграции в США. Ум. 1958 в Сан-Франциско."

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