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For such a noted author, Tolstoy's large family is not well understood. They appear to have had an incredible 19 children, but this is not definutive. We have seen some accounts of fewer children as "low" as 13.
At the Tolstoy Museum they claim that there were 13 children. I think about 5 of his children died. We note biography pages on the web stating that therewere 15 childre. The Museum authorities state 13. Presumably they are correct. We do not know much about the individual children. We haven't been ableto find much about the family. There are large number of internet sites about Tolstoy himslf, but almost nothing on his children, except his elder daughter. The rest of the children are hardly mentioned. I am not sure why that is. Generally the children of famous people receive considerable attention by biographers.
Andreyevna took a photo in 1896 shown on the previous page. It shows her two daughters Maria and Alexandra with the farmers' children at Isnaia Poliana. The last child was Vanechka. A Russian reader writes, "I saw today the boy doll that Tolstoy's youngest little boy Vanechka had. Its a bit sad in his little life. He was a very dear child, sensative, bright as button and a lovely kid. The sort of kid everybody wants. I have met and taught at least one with a charming wonderful personality. Everything going for them and then they become illand do not recover from the illness. My pupil developed a childhood cancer and Tolstoy's boy died before reaching 7 from Scarlet fever. Never thought this was a killer illness!"
