Peter Demens ( – January 21, 1919) born Pyotr Alexeyevitch Dementyev () was a Russian nobleman, who migrated in 1881 to the United States and became a railway owner and one of the founders of the U.S. city of St. Petersburg, Florida. Early life Pyotr A. Dementyev was born to a wealthy family in Vesyegonsky District, Tver Oblast, Russia. Demens was a liberally minded, well-educated aristocrat, a first cousin of Prince Petroff and a captain in the Imperial Guard. His father died when he was an infant, leaving him two estates, one near the czar's capital of St. Petersburg and another close to Moscow. His mother died when he was 4. He reportedly grew up in a stone house with servants and became master of his family estate at 17. He received training as a forester managing his large family estates, which would serve him well in the future. Demens was raised by his maternal uncle Anastassy Alexandrovich Kaliteevsky, marshal of the Vesyegonsk district nobility, who became the boy's tutor and guardian of his land estates. When he was 10, Demens was sent to St. Petersburg to study at Gymnasium No. 3. Demens did well enough to transfer to the First Technical School in St. Petersburg. In 1867, he became a lieutenant in the czar's infantry guard. He rose through the ranks to command sentries at the czar's Winter Palace and the home of Crown Prince Alexander III. Four years later, he resigned his commission and became a squire. He married Raisa Borisenko, who was also an orphan brought up by relatives. He was elected as county marshal of nobility, and became an outspoken writer and active in his rural government. It is reported that Demens sympathized with populist leaders and never adopted Marxist or radical notions. He became outspoken about the Czarist regime and left Russia following the assassination of Czar Alexander II in 1881. In 1880 he was exiled from Russia, and he anglicized his name to Peter Demens. In the United States In May 1881, "leaving his family behind, [Demens] sailed for New York, hoping for American promise of mobility and opportunity". He reportedly "spent his sea voyage studying an English language textbook". "Arriving in New York with $3,000 to start a new life, Demens embarked for Florida" ("spending one day in New York before boarding a train bound for his cousin's Jacksonville orange grove"). Because land