The Russian Princess

(First published December 19, 2017 on Facebook)

Tuesday morning…time for some reflection…

So today I want to share some stories about one stone at Laurel Hill Cemetery.

Yes, multiple stories about one stone.

Here’s the thing. Every tour guide at the cemetery has a different voice. If you attend multiple tours with different guides, you might hear slight variations of different stories, depending on how they researched their tour. I have watched many different tour guides present their love for the cemetery in different ways, some very outgoing and gregarious, some more studious in their approach. You will decide which approach works best for you.

To me, this is the ‘test’ stone in the cemetery. Not as in a real test, but it always is the one spot that tells me all about the guide, as much as about the folks buried, and NOT buried! there.

The stone is for one Edward Royal Stoever, born April 8, 1887 and died October 13, 1930. He is not the infamous one referenced here, but he has his own august background. He was an archaeologist, my favorite! And a civil engineer. He served in World War I as a Major in the Air Service, and also served as the US Trade Commissioner in London, England (as referenced in his mother’s obituary, Philadelphia Inquirer, August 27, 1929).

That obituary also mentions Mr. Stoever’s wife, the former Princess Olga Demidoff Trombowskoi, widow of a Russian war general (and also mother of Serge Gregory Trombowskoi).

Here’s where the story gets dicey.

What do we really know, since there is a lot I’m going to share with you that I can neither confirm nor deny. Edward Stoever married a Russian princess, as was the fashion (?) at the time. Olga Demidoff, Princess Serge Troubetskoy (that’s what’s on the stone, but note the spelling above which is what was in the Philadelphia Inquirer).

The stone shows a date about her which is June 6, 1895. Her listing in the Billion Graves site (www.billiongraves.com) says that is their marriage date. Which would make Mr. Stoever 8 years old when they got married! Probably not. So let’s go with that being her birth date.

Then the stone says, “WHO HOPES TO LIE HERE SOMEDAY”.

Huh?

Well, we know that she is NOT buried there. Nobody knows where she is buried.

That much we know.

So you might get the story of just that bare bones factual information.

All good.

Some guides tell a story that she went back to Russia after her second husband’s death.

Also good.

Some say that she joined a group of Russian princesses of the time who were matched up with wealthy men, like an escort service.

Now it’s getting really good.

But, good people, I love the story I was first told about Olga. And that is that she did join the basically escort service and was matched to a wealthy man of New York City society. They were in a hotel in NY, on a high floor (8?) and having a SCREAMING fight.

Then the hot headed Olga picked up an empty wine bottle, THREW it at the gentleman’s head, it flew through the air, he DUCKED, and the bottle went right out the open window, hitting a pedestrian on the head as he walked past the hotel.

At this point, there is another convergence – either the pedestrian died or was seriously injured. In any case, Olga was charged with assault? Attempted murder? Murder? And was going to be tried.

Before they could get her into court, she took off and fled back to Russia?

Or to Miami, could go either way. Don’t ask me how I got that information… ;-)

Understand that each version is based on truth – we make a concerted effort to never lie about a story. But each story has it’s own spin, as you can see.

No matter what you believe, Olga had that sentence put onto that stone for a reason. We can only suspect what that reason might have been.

“WHO HOPES TO LIE HERE SOMEDAY”

The moral to the story really isn’t about Olga and Edward, although their stories are certainly fascinating.

The story is about the tour guides and how they share the information they uncover. Some will give you one set of facts. Some will find other facts, depending on their research skills and their presentation style. I suggest that you take multiple tours, looking for different guides. You will learn something different every time, all true, all fascinating, all the result of considerable effort to find out as much as we can about our friends in the cemetery, stories we look forward to sharing with you.

In the meantime, spare a thought for Olga Demidoff Stoever, Princess Serge Troubetzkoy. I certainly hope that she continued to lead an interesting life and that wherever she ended up buried, she leaves a little bit of herself with us.