A captain of horse artillery, known as Peter von Hahn, whose family came originally from the petty nobility of Mecklenburg, married, in 1830, the 16-year-old Helena Fadeeva.
She was the daughter of Princess Helena Dolgorukova (1789–1860) and Andrei Mikhailovich Fadeev (1789–1867), Privy Councillor of the Caucasus, and half his age.
Soon after the wedding, the young captain received orders to join his regiment for service in the notably ruthless campaign to put down the Polish insurrection of 1831.
The girl-wife returned to her parents in Ekaterinoslav in the heart of Ukraine, and it was there that Helena was born on the night of August 12, 1831 (July 31, on the Russian Julian calendar).
At the close of the Polish campaign, Madame Hahn and "Lolo" (her pet name for her daughter Helena), rejoined the Captain at the station in southern Russia where he was leading raids against the mountain tribes of the Caucasus.