17 Facts About Besarion Jughashvili

Besarion Jughashvili was invited to set up his own shop in Gori, where he met and married Ekaterine Geladze, with whom he had three sons; only the youngest, Ioseb, lived.

Besarion Jughashvili had little contact with either his wife or son after that point, and little is known of his life from then on, except that he died in 1909 of cirrhosis.

Besarion Jughashvili worked as a serf for Prince Badur Machabeli, tending to his vineyards.

Besarion Jughashvili set up a shop in the Russian Quarter of Gori, close to the barracks.

Suny writes that after the death of Mikheil, Besarion Jughashvili started to drink heavily, which only increased after the death of Giorgi, and that the marriage began to deteriorate.

However, Kotkin concedes that "whether Keke was flirtatious, let alone promiscuous, is unclear," and that "reliable evidence about the possible liaisons of the future Stalin's mother is lacking," and argues that Besarion Jughashvili was probably the father.

Besarion Jughashvili's shop was initially quite successful, employing up to ten people as well as apprentices, and the family initially enjoyed a rather high standard of living; a former apprentice would later note that he frequently saw butter in their home, which was an expensive delicacy for most Georgians.

However, Besarion Jughashvili's drinking, exacerbated by a Georgian custom that business be paid in part with wine rather than money, had adverse effects on his business and home life.

In 1884 Besarion Jughashvili left the family and moved to Tiflis.

Besarion Jughashvili sent some money to Keke, as well as offers to reconcile, but all efforts to do so failed.

Besarion Jughashvili was upset when he learned that Keke had enrolled Ioseb in school, instead hoping his son would follow his path and become a cobbler.

Besarion Jughashvili briefly made shoes in a stall at the Armenian bazaar in Tiflis, and his actions after that are uncertain.

Besarion Jughashvili did keep in contact with Ioseb, occasionally sending him hand-made shoes.

Besarion Jughashvili had one final role in Ioseb's life: in January 1900 Ioseb was arrested for the first time, on account of Besarion Jughashvili.

When Besarion Jughashvili left Didi Lilo he was not removed from the village roles, and still owed taxes as a peasant from the region.

Besarion Jughashvili died on 12 August 1909, with the cause of death listed as cirrhosis of the liver.

The location of his grave was unknown until 1972, when Kandid Charkviani, the former First Secretary of the Georgian Communist Party, led efforts to find it and mark it, though it was not confirmed if Besarion Jughashvili's remains were still there.