Marathon, NY Central High School Alumnus Tackles Mystery of HIH Anastasia Romanov

by Ioannesfrobenius, froebelgalleries, ©2025

(Jul. 13, 2025) — (Marathon (Cortland County), NY) – A proud graduate of Marathon Central High School, class of 1975, seems to have solved the more than one century old mystery of the fate of Grand Duchess
Anastasia Nicholaevna Romanov, youngest daughter of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia. After 20 years of research, he has found her grave in our Central New York region-Herkimer County. He will present his findings, answer questions and sign copies of GRAND DUCHESS
ANASTASIA: STILL A MYSTERY? (Histria Books, 2023) July 17th, 2025, 6:30 PM at Peck Memorial Library located on Main Street, Marathon (Cortland County), New York.

John H. Parker, Jr., son of former Marathon mayor, John H. Parker, Sr, and guidance secretary, the former Janis L. Froebel, traces his fascination with the subject of the Romanovs to his childhood visits to the Peck Memorial Library on Main Street in Marathon, New York, when
then librarian, Mrs. Harriet Cross, allowed him to read the old Life Magazines kept in the storage area of the library. He remembers clearly reading the October 18, 1963 edition of the magazine dedicated to the case of Anastasia claimant, alias Evgenia (Eugenia) Smetisko, sometimes called Smith.

While teaching English as a Second Language in a school district in the New York State Capital
Region, he was approached by a monk of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR) who intrigued him with the story of the bequest to his monastery of a woman who had claimed to be the youngest and last grand duchess of pre-revolutionary Russia. While the Church rejected her claim as they had assumed she had been murdered by Cheka forces in July 1918 and had subsequently elevated her to Martyr of the Faith, they happily accepted her donations of priceless Romanov objects and a hefty annuity in perpetuity. However, just as the historic Anastasia, alias “Evgenia” was an avid and prolific artist. As “Evgenia” she painted until her death in her late 90s. As she was NOT “Anastasia” in the perception of the Church, they had no interest in her “old lady paintings.” Knowing that Parker, who writes books about characters from his paternal and maternal family trees under the name of J (Johannes) Froebel-Parker, also had an art gallery, the monastery approached him to inquire if he might be interested in her
paintings, not deemed suitable for the monastery museum.

Read the rest here.