Peter Demens
Russian-American businessman (1849–1919)
Peter Demens (13 May [O.S. 1 May] 1850 – January 21, 1919), born Pyotr Alekseyevich Dementyev (Russian: Пётр Алексеевич Дементьев), was a Russian nobleman who migrated in 1881 to the United States and became a railway owner and one of the founders of St. Petersburg, Florida, United States.
Early life
Demens was born in May 1850 as Pyotr Alexeyevitch Dementyev to a wealthy family in Vesyegonsky Uyezd, Tver Governorate, in the Russian Empire. Demens was a liberally minded, well-educated aristocrat, a first cousin of Prince Petroff and a captain in the Russian Imperial Guard. His father died when he was an infant, leaving him two estates, one near the czar's capital of Saint Petersburg and another close to Moscow. His mother died when he was 4. He reportedly grew up in a stone house with servants and became master of his family estate at 17. He received training as a forester managing his large family estates, which would serve him well in the future.
Demens was raised by his maternal uncle Anastassy Alexandrovich Kaliteevsky, marshal of the Vesyegonsk district nobility, who became the boy's tutor and guardian of his land estates. When he was 10, Demens was sent to Saint Petersburg to study at Gymnasium No.
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