Lilli Suburg

In 1882, she established a private primary school for Estonian girls in Pärnu, in 1885 she moved it to Viljandi where the number of pupils expanded.

on the Rőusa estate, in the Uue-Vändra township of Vändra Parish, in the Russian Empire to Eva (née Nuut) and Toomas Suburg.

Soon after her birth, the family relocated to the nearby Vana-Vändra estate (et), where Toomas served as overseer and Eva worked as a cheesemaker.

Through their industry, the couple were eventually able to lease the entire estate and send their daughter, who had previously been tutored by the governess of the Rõusa Manor, to a private school.

[5] In 1880, Suburg adopted Anna Wiegandt, a young orphan, which was an unorthodox move for an unmarried woman at the time.

Having lived above their means, Toomas decided to sell the cattle and retain only a small portion of the land and the gristmill.

[3] She made plans to establish a private girls' school there and wanted to teach Estonian pupils in their own language.

Regulations in place at that time, prohibited teaching anything other than religion in Estonian, forcing Suburg to open the institution as a German-language school[5] in 1882.

To support the school, she held bazaars, gave speeches and staged performances, but the local elites were disapproving.

The increase in the number of students made the school financially secure and Suburg set about to design a unique educational system.

[8] In 1899, Wiegandt closed the school in Viljandi, married Jaan Lammas and the couple took Suburg to live with them in the Latvian village of Omuļi [lv] on Egerí farmstead.