Maksim Bogdanovich’s holiday romance: how to find a person when only two initials and a surname are known

Can a person be found when all that is known is a few initials, a surname, and a passing mention in memoirs written more than a century ago?

It turns out that the answer is yes.

Although at first the task really did seem almost hopeless.

A story that sounded like a literary legend

It all began with an inquiry from Irina Vitalyevna Myshkovets, a leading researcher at the museum, to one of our team specialists. For years, the museum had preserved a story that sounded like a beautiful literary legend.

In 1909, Maksim Bogdanovich was in Yalta. His father, Adam Bogdanovich, later wrote in his memoirs:

“Life in the ‘Shalash’ was quite cheerful. There were several young men and women there, including a young woman named Kititsyna, mystically inclined, whom Maksim met here for the first time and with whom he later kept up some correspondence from Yaroslavl...”

Very little was known:

  • surname: Kititsyna;
  • initials: M. A.;
  • place: Yalta;
  • year: 1909.

There was also one important assumption made by researchers: that Maksim Bogdanovich may have dedicated the poem “Tsement” to this very young woman.

For more than a hundred years, no one knew who the mysterious M. A. Kititsyna was. It seemed impossible to find her.

But these are exactly the kinds of stories that are especially interesting to genealogists.

The first clue

The first clue came from Irina Vitalyevna’s suggestion: to check the Yalta parish registers for 1909. A review of the death records brought no result. No M. A. Kititsyna was found.

Instead, another person appeared unexpectedly.

Vladimir Aleksandrovich Kititsyn.
Retired collegiate councillor.
Died in Yalta on March 23, 1917.
Cause of death: pulmonary tuberculosis.
Age: 43.

And then the main question arose: did he have a sister named Maria?

He did.

That single thought changed the course of the entire research.

How the family was reconstructed

We were able to reconstruct the Kititsyn family. Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Kititsyn and his wife Lidia Nikolayevna had six children:

  • Vladimir, 1874-1917;
  • Sergey, 1876-1955;
  • Nikolai, 1884-?;
  • Mikhail, 1886-1960;
  • Maria, 1887-1974;
  • Aleksandr, 1893-?.

Mikhail Aleksandrovich Kititsyn became especially well known: a submariner whose name is now borne by a street in Chernihiv.

The key record

Then the key record was found.

Maria Aleksandrovna Kititsyna was born on January 31, 1887. She was the daughter of court councillor Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Kititsyn and Lidia Nikolayevna.

Later, Maria Aleksandrovna married Adam Ierimiyevich Lanevsky. The couple had children:

  • Lidia, 1912;
  • Pavel, 1918;
  • Maria, 1922.

Maria Aleksandrovna lived a long life and died in Novosibirsk at the age of 86.

Maria Aleksandrovna Kititsyna, whose identity was established during the research.

Confirmation through descendants

But what mattered even more was that confirmation appeared through descendants.

Maria Aleksandrovna’s grandson was Boris Pavlovich Lanevsky, 1952-2015, an honored journalist of Ukraine, a sports commentator, and a Master of Sports of the USSR in basketball.

It also became possible to reach descendants from another branch of the family. Tatyana Vasilyevna Smirnova, granddaughter of Sergey Aleksandrovich Kititsyn, wrote the book “Opening an Old Album. The Borshovs, Gladkovs, and Kititsyns in the Kostroma and Yaroslavl Lands and Their Descendants.”

At the end of the book, an address for correspondence was given. Our specialist wrote a letter and received this reply:

“Judging by the time period, I can assume that this refers to my grandfather’s sister Maria Aleksandrovna, later Lanevskaya after marriage. But I do not know whether she was ever in Crimea.”

So, more than a hundred years later, it became possible to return a name to the young woman whom Maksim Bogdanovich met in Yalta.

A story that had existed in the museum for many years as a beautiful legend acquired a real human face.

For us, this case became a good example of how genealogical research helps not only restore family connections, but also clarify important details of cultural and literary history.

Sometimes all it takes to begin a search is three details:

two initials,
one surname,
and research stubbornness.

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