In 1855, Stepan Dmitrievich married an actress, Alexandra Ivanovna Shubert (Russian: Алекса́ндра Ива́новна Шу́берт-Яно́вская).
Aleksey Pleshcheyev, a writer who also knew details about the conflict between the doctor and his wife, supposed that Stepan Dmitrievich was the one responsible for the family conflict.