Alexander Ertel and his future wife Mariya Vasilyevna Ogarkova met in Usman at a literary and musical soirée in the winter of 1881. In a letter to Chertkov dated July 13, 1888, Ertel wrote, “She was then about 17 years old, and she was about to graduate from the Voronezh gymnasium. I must say that never before in my life have I had a feeling similar to what I experienced as I became more and more acquainted with Marusya and grew closer to her. It was not at all like my ‘correspondence’ romance with M. Iv-na, heated by various insignificant circumstances.”
The writer was still married to Mariya Ivanovna Fedotova, the daughter of Ivan Vasilyevich Fedotov, a merchant from Usman, but the marriage did not work out and grew unstable.
Mariya Vasilyevna Ogarkova was born into a large and wealthy merchant family from Usman. She had four brothers Vasily, Fyodor, Pavel and Alexander and two sisters Natalya and Klavdiya. Her father owned a tannery. The Ogarkov family was very prominent in Usman.
One of Mariya’s brothers, Fyodor Ogarkov, was the mayor of Usman from 1899 to 1918. Another brother Vasily Ogarkov wrote poetry and short stories and was published in the Detskoye Chteniye (Children’s Reading), Strekoza (Dragonfly), Russkaya Mysl (Russian Mind) and Russkoye Bogatstvo (Russian Wealth) magazines. He was the author of seven biographies of statesmen and literary personalities for the series “Lives of Remarkable People” by the publisher Florenty Fyedorovich Pavlenkov.
Maria studied at a progymnasium in Usman for three years and then took the full course of the Mariinskaya Women’s Gymnasium in Voronezh. She received a silver medal for her academic achievements.
Alexander Ertel and Mariya Ogarkova were brought together in 1884. The writer’s only daughter Olga died, and he decided to separate from his first wife Mariya Fedotova. However, she did not consent to divorce, so Alexander Ertel and Mariya Ogarkova were never officially married. Together they had two daughters — Natalya and Yelena.
Mariya Ogarkova-Ertel supported Alexander Ertel in his social activities. In 1891, she joined the Makaryev trusteeship, which was established to help starving peasants. From 1898, she taught at the school built by Ertel in the village of Alexandrovka in the Morshansky Uyezd, Tambov Governorate.
After her husband’s death, Mariya Ogarkova-Ertel bought an estate near the Grafskaya station of the South Eastern Railway and named it Ertelevo. She settled there with her youngest daughter Yelena. Later Ertelevo turned into the House of Writers.
