Saratov Governorate
Dmitryeva was born in the village of Voronino, in the Saratov Governorate of the Russian Empire, where her father was a serf. He had been sent to an agricultural school by his master and was subsequently made the overseer of his master's estate. Her mother, Anna passed on her love of literature to Dmitryeva. After the Emancipation reform of 1861 the family was reduced to poverty and a transient existence.