Yes, of course Laura. My mother's father was Ioann (Ivan) Mihailovich Bachkoev, also known as Juho Mikonpoika Batskonen. He was born in Vitele (Vidlitsa) near Aunuksenlinna (Olonets) in 1888, but I don't remember the month or day of his birth (I have this information somewhere on paper but I can't find this now). My grandmother Nina (his wife) told me that he lived at Rajakontu (Pogrankongushe) where he owned "more than 400 hectares of land". He raised horses and timber on his land. He (or his family?) also owned a leather warehouse or tannery. His sister also owned much land there. In 1918 he escaped to Finland when the Bolsheviks came to arrest him. But then he returned briefly to Aunus to serve as a member of the Cabinet in the short-lived nationalist or "White" government of that province - or so I was told by my mother, but I have not been able to find any proof of this story so I don't know if it's true or not (it would be nice if someone could find proof of this story for me, maybe from some old Finnish or Russian archive). When the Bolsheviks returned to Aunus my grandfather escaped to Finland again. He moved to Viipuri where he worked as a supervisor or manager in a sawmill. He was married in Aunus but his wife divorced him. Then he met my grandmother Nina Pettinen and married her. They lived in Raivola (Kivennapa). They had a daughter named Ia, who is my mother, and then another daughter named Lia who unfortunately died when she was only 5 years old. Then my grandfather Juho/Ivan died in 1933 (in February? I am not sure). I should also mention that my grandmother and mother told me that Juho/Ivan worked for the Finnish police, gathering information on Communists in the Viipuri area. He was also involved in helping to smuggle guns and ammunition into Soviet Karelia in order to help the Karelian nationalists to fight against the Soviet government in the 1920s. He believed in the ideal of Suur Suomi and he liked to write letters to newspapers urging Finland to invade Soviet Karelia in the 1920s and to annex that area to Finland. So maybe someone can find these letters that he wrote? Maybe there is a Finnish police archive with information about his secret activities?
My grandmother Nina was born on October 14, 1902 in St. Petersburg. Her father was Janne (Juho) Salomoninpoika Pettinen and her mother was Alexandra Mihailovna Bessonova (Bezsonova), who was born in Raivola. Juho Pettinen and his father Salomon (who was born on January 20 1844 in Ristiina, Savo) owned a chimney-cleaning business in St. Petersburg. Juho's mother was Maria Lovisa Anttihilli (Spoof). She was born on November 1, 1857 and died on July 25, 1887. My mother told me that Maria Lovisa also owned 400 hectares of land near Raivola. Her father was Johan Anttihilli-Haavisto (Spoof), born on March 15, 1825 in Alaveteli, Pohjanmaa, died on August 18, 1898 in Kivennapa. He was a soldier, and it is possible that he served in the Crimean War because we have information that he lived temporarily somewhere "by the Black Sea". Could someone find some more nfomatiion about that please? Maria Lovisa's mother was Anna Stina Tokoi, born January 18, 1826 in Kannus, Pohjanmaa.
My great-grandmother Alexandra's father Mikhail Bessonoff was the son of Alexei Bessonoff, and my mother said that either Mihail or Alexei was born as a Russian serf, but she could not remember which one. Alexei worked in the armaments factory in Sestroretsk, and Mihail was a merchant. Mihail's wife (Alexandra's mother) was Ekaterina Petrovna Djomina. I was told that Ekaterina's father is unknown, so maybe Peter was her adoptive father? My mother told me that Ekaterina's father was from Cherepovets and that he owned a shipping company - but was he Ekaterina's biological father or her adoptive father? I don't know. Anyway I have already contributed much of this information to Geni so you should be able to see it there. As I said, I have more details on paper, but I don't know where this is in my messy house. I must find it! If anyone can contribute more information, I would appreciate this. Thank you.
