McGahan, Varvara Nikolaevna

Varvara Nikolaevna Elagina was born in 1850 in the Tula province. Her father, Nikolai Pavlovich Elagin (1801-1863), came from an ancient family of Tula landowners and nobles. In the years 1844-1849 he held the position of fellow chairman of the Tula Chamber of the Civil Court. Avdotya Petrovna Elagina , the mistress of the famous literary salon, is Varvara’s cousin ^[1] .

She received her primary education at home, then studied at the Tula Gymnasium.

In 1873, she married the correspondent of the American New York Herald newspaper, Januarius Aloysia McGahana , from whom she gave birth to a son, Paul , in 1874 .

She was engaged in translations from English of the stories of Bret Hart , Mark Twain , Edgar Allan Poe , which were published in the journal "Weekly New Time" (1879-1881).

After the untimely death of Januar McGahan in 1878 , his work was continued by his wife. She began work in the newspaper “ Voice ”, was a Petersburg correspondent for the “New York Herald” and the Australian newspaper “Sydney Herald” ^[2] .

In 1880, as a correspondent, Voices went to America to cover the presidential election campaign. After some time, he moved to New York for permanent residence.

In the "Herald of Europe" appeared in articles "Americans at Home. Essays on American Life ”(1882, No. 7, 10-12) and“ American Journalism ”(1883, No. 7-8).

Since 1883 he has been a regular correspondent in America of the Russian Vedomosti . She wrote reports for Vestnik Evropy , Severny Vestnik , Russian Thought .

In the "Russian Vedomosti", and then in the "Northern Herald" printed "Letters from America."

Barbara McGahan is the author of the satirical novel “New on the Old Podkadka”, published in Vestnik Evropy (1888, No. 1-4) and devoted to the mechanism of the US election campaign.

Xenia Repninà: A Story of the Russia of To-day. New York: George Routledge and Sons, 1890-295 p., Published in English the novel Ksenia Repnina: A Tale from the Life of Modern Russia (1890).

In Russian Review (1895, pr. 8–9), she published an article, “The Progressive Movement of Orthodoxy in the United States”.

In 1894, to cover events related to the death of Alexander III, she visited Russia as a correspondent for eight American newspapers. August 2, visited Leo Tolstoy in Yasnaya Polyana. At the request of the American economist Henry George McGahan handed over to Tolstoy his writings for review ^[3] .

Actively engaged in social activities. She took part in the life of the New York Russian community, thanks to her efforts, St. Nicholas Cathedral in New York was opened ^{[4] [5] [6]} .

She took her last trip to Russia in 1903 . Died February 28, 1904 in New York ^{[7] [8] [9]} .

• McGahan, Januarius Aloysius ( English Januarius Aloysius MacGahan ; 1844-1878) - husband. American war correspondent.
• McGahan, Paul ( English Paul MacGahan ; 1874-1959) - son. In 1896 he graduated from Columbia University , was married to Carolyn C. McGahan ( born Carolyn C MacGahan ), and was buried with his wife at the Haines Falls Cemetery, Green County, New York. ^[10]

• Mac-Gahan, Varvara Nikolaevna // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron : in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.