At the age of 17, Anton Chekhov wrote to his cousin Mikhail Chekhov about his attitude toward his parents,

The writer’s mother, Yevgenia Yakovlevna, was born in 1835 in Shuisky Uyezd, Ivanovo Governorate, in the family of the cloth merchant Morozov. She was taught to read and write at home for a short time. She was 11 years old when her father died and she moved with her mother and sister to Taganrog. Yevgenia Yakovlevna graduated from Madame Kurilova’s Private Institute for Noble Maidens, where she learned manners, etiquette, and dancing. She was a gentle, calm, and wise woman who appreciated education, but paid just as much attention to the moral virtues of her children.

The writer’s father, Pavel Yegorovich, was ten years older than his wife. He was born into the family of a serf peasant in Voronezh Governorate. When Pavel was 16, his father bought manumissions for the whole family. Young Pavel moved to Taganrog, where he was assigned to serve in one of the shops of the merchant Kobylin.

Pavel Yegorovich and Yevgenia Yakovlevna were married on October 29, 1854. They had six children, Anton being the third. Pavel Yegorovich brought up his sons in a strict manner, and did not tolerate disobedience. Chekhov senior had been working for merchant Kobylin for 13 years, saved 3,000 rubles and opened his own shop “with sugar, tea and other goods”. He was confirmed as a merchant of the second guild, was engaged in social activities of the city government, was a member of the trade deputation, sang and recited in the choir, along with psalmists. Later he became master of the choir, which he headed for several years, and then organized a church choir, in which his sons sang.

Having become broke, in 1876 the Chekhovs moved to Moscow, where for a long time Pavel Yegorovich struggled to provide for the family until he handed over the role of the head of the family and breadwinner to his middle son, Anton. In 1892, Chekhov’s parents moved to the Melikhovo estate, where Pavel Yegorovich began to keep a diary of life in Melikhovo, a true family chronicle.