Sievers family

• Karl von Sievers owed his rise to a brief liaison with Tsarina Elisabeth. He was made a Count of the Holy Roman Empire in 1760.
• His daughter Elisabeth captivated Giacomo Casanova but married her cousin Jacob Sievers who administered the north-west of modern-day Russia and built the Sievers Canal connecting the Msta and Volkhov rivers. Her second husband was Prince Nikolai Putyatin. She also had a natural daughter who married historian Nikolai Karamzin.
• Jacob's nephews Karl, Johann and Jacob were all generals prominent in the Russian service during the Napoleonic Wars.
• Count Emanuel von Sievers a senator of the Russian Empire and grand master of the imperial court.