He was born to a family of
Old Believers. His father was a merchant, who owned a small salt processing plant. After his parents had died, he became a co-owner of the plant and served as its manager from 1836 to 1841. At that time, the
import duty on salt was abolished, the plant became unprofitable, and he left to seek his fortune elsewhere. He began as an assistant manager at a distillery in
Orenburg Governorate then, in 1842, became a clerk for a wine farmer in
Kazan. Two years later, he submitted a suggestion to the government, proposing ways to improve the wine-making business. He called his system "питейного дохода" (drinking income). To prove his method, he was given control of a farm in
Oryol Governorate that was 300,000
Rubles in debt. A government expert on commerce, , was named to be his assistant (and observer). When the farm began to generate income, he was assigned to oversee twenty-three more farms that were in
receivership. In 1847, his system became an official policy. Shortly after, he married. He and his wife, Vera, had four sons, who became merchants, and three daughters, who all married merchants. By 1850, he was able to acquire an estate in Moscow. The following year, he was given the honorary title of "". In 1857, he was co-founder of a
joint stock company, concerned with food and other animal products then, together with Baron and the entrepreneur , created the "Trans-Caspian Trade Partnership". Their first project was a
kerosene plant, near
Baku. By the early 1860s, his wealth was estimated at between seven and eight million Rubles. He was also involved in the construction of the (1858), (1871), and the (1874). His contributions to establishing the
Russian Steam Navigation and Trading Company led to his involvement in the building of oil
barges. Banks, telegraph companies and public transit were also among his financial interests. He was a major contributor to the failed Balkan Mission of General
Mikhail Chernyayev, just prior to the
Russo-Turkish War. Throughout his career he was a strong advocate for economic reforms; publishing a series of influential articles in various newspapers and magazines. In the late 1850s, he was among those calling for the abolition of
serfdom, and proposed a plan for accomplishing it. He asserted that Russia should find its own economic forms, rather than borrowing those of Western Europe and that Germany was its only reliable ally. His views were summed up in his pessimistic book,
Экономические провалы (Economic Failures), published two years before his death. By the beginning of the 1880s, he had made several unwise investment decisions, and lost some of his influence among government officials. Although he remained quite wealthy, his net worth declined, until his death from a heart attack at the age of seventy-one. == Patron of the arts ==