Yelena Hahn

Yelena Andreyevna Hahn von Rottenstern (, ; 11 January 1814 - 6 July 1842) was a Russian writer known for her contributions to the literary journals Biblioteka Dlya Chteniya and Otechestvennye Zapiski. In addition to her literary works, she is known as the mother of Helena Blavatsky, founder of Theosophy. Early life and family She was born Yelena Andreyevna Fadeyeva to a noble family in Rzhyshchiv. Her parents were Andrei Fadeyev, privy councilor and governor of Saratov, and Princess Yelena Pavlovna Dolgorukaya, a member of the princely House of Dolgorukov. Also among her relatives were the poet Evdokiya Rostopchina and Yekaterina Sushkova, a friend of Lermontov, with whom Yelena was also personally acquainted. She was also related to the famous poets Ivan Dolgorukov and Fyodor Tyutchev. At the age of sixteen, she married Captain Peter Hahn von Rottenstern (1798-1873), a military man almost twice her age, descended from the von Hahn family, which belonged to an old Baltic-German nobility. They had three children, including future writers Helena Blavatsky (born 1831) and Vera Zhelikhovskaya (born 1835). She died of tuberculosis in June 1842, aged 28. Literary activity