Peter Demens

Peter Demens ( – January 21, 1919), born Pyotr Alekseyevich Dementyev , was a Russian nobleman who migrated in 1881 to the United States and became a railway owner and one of the founders of St. Petersburg, Florida, United States.

Early life Demens was born in May 1850 as Pyotr Alexeyevitch Dementyev to a wealthy family in Vesyegonsky Uyezd, Tver Governorate, in the Russian Empire. Demens was a liberally minded, well-educated aristocrat, a first cousin of Prince Petroff and a captain in the Russian Imperial Guard. His father died when he was an infant, leaving him two estates, one near the czar's capital of Saint Petersburg and another close to Moscow. His mother died when he was 4. When he was 10, Demens was sent to Saint Petersburg to study at Gymnasium No. 3. ), and in 1885 Demens was supplying railroad ties to the narrow-gauge Orange Belt Railway. When the railroad could not pay its debts, Demens took over its charter. As owner of the railroad, Demens "[extended] its lines to link Kissimmee with Jacksonville and Tampa Bay" Among potential investors, he successfully invited and entertained Philip D. Armour in Florida,

Reportedly, "the descendants of Peter Demens now live in California and British Columbia, [including] a grandson, Peter Demens Tolstoy ("writer Leo Tolstoy, who wrote Anna Karenina and The Death of Ivan Ilych, is his great-grand uncle" ), a great-grandson, Greg Demens, and a great-great-grandson, Greg Demens."

In 1979, a historical marker honoring Demens was erected in St. Petersburg, Florida, by the Congress of Russian Americans.