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versts to the south of Tula, on the old main road to Kieff, lies the village Yasnaya Polyana. Close to it, but separated by a hollow and a pond, is picturesquely situated the old Volkonsky manor house, which came into the Tolstoy family through the marriage of the Princess Marie Volkonsky to Nicolas the son of Count Eliah Tolstoy.

This Princess Marie Volkonsky and Count Nicolas Tolstoy were the parents of Leo Tolstoy, who was born on August 28, 1828, at Yasnaya Polyana, where he spent the greater part of his life, thus in Leo Nicolaievitch Tolstoy the blood of two famous families was united—that of the princely family of Volkonsky and that of the Counts Tolstoy.

The origin of the Tolstoy family is not definitely