Fyodor Dostoevsky married his first wife, Maria Isaeva, in 1857.
The marriage took place in Kuznetsk after Dostoevsky’s release from penal labor and during his period of compulsory military service in Siberia. Maria had previously been married to Alexander Isayev, a government official who died after years of illness and financial difficulty.
Dostoevsky had met Maria in Semipalatinsk, where he was stationed after his Siberian prison sentence. Their relationship was emotionally complicated, and the marriage did not become a stable partnership. Maria’s health was poor, and she died in 1864.
This marriage is distinct from Dostoevsky’s later marriage to Anna Snitkina, his stenographer, in 1867. The date 1857 therefore refers specifically to his first marriage, not to the beginning of his relationship with Anna or to his Siberian arrest.