ARCHIVAL SOURCES FOR THE GENEALOGY OF JEWISH COLONISTS IN

ARCHIVAL SOURCES FOR THE GENEALOGY OF JEWISH COLONISTS IN SOUTHERN RUSSIA IN THE 19^TH CENTURY

Dimitry Z. Feldman, Candidate in Historical Science,Moscow

(Translated by Patricia A. Eames, Editor)

Volume V, Number 1

Reprinted with the permission.

May not be reproduced without permission.

(original footnotes are in Russian)

A highly significant event in the social and economic life in the Russian empire in the 19th century was the Jewish farm colonization program, which affected regions in the south, southwest, and west. It led to the creation, within a population of millions, of a very small (about 3%) social stratum of Jewish farmers who settled in agricultural colonies on crown or private land. Their existence became an integral part of the inner life of these regions, a part of the social, economic and political history of pre-revolutionary Russia, and of the present states of Belarus, Lithuania, Moldova, and Ukraine. The Russian State Archives of Ancient Acts (RGADA) in Moscow, preserves numerous, but relatively unknown, manuscript materials concerning the history of Jewish farm colonization in Novorossia and neighboring Bessarabia. This documentation includes valuable genealogical information about Jewish farmers in the three southern provinces of Bessarabia, Ekaterinoslav, and Kherson. A detailed study of the materials about the Kherson province has not yet been completed, but in this article we will share the results of the archival research and analysis of the documentary information for the first two regions.

The basis for Jewish farm colonization was established in a statute drafted in 1842, known as "The Status Of Jews", which became the starting point for a project initiated by a Russian statesman and poet, G.R.Derzhavin (3). According to this law, a new class of farmers was created for Russian Jews. Derzhavin, who was a senator and also president of the Board of Trade in St Petersburg, actually adapted an idea promoted by Belorussian Not Notkin*, a successful entrepreneur and trustee for Jewish affairs in St. Petersburg; his idea was to transfer the Jewish population in the western regions of Russia to the northern Black Sea area for re-settlement in farm colonies. Jewish colonization in Novorossia was the latest in a series of settlement programs for this region, which actually began in 1787 under the regional governor general. Prince GA. Potemkin Tavrichesky. Colonies of Mennonites (sectarian-Anabaptists of Prussian Dutch origin), Swedes, Germans, Greeks, Bulgarians, and others had appeared earlier on the unoccupied steppes beside the lower Dnieper river. The intent behind the colonization movement was to improve farming and cattle raising, settle vast uninhabited prairies, and to activate trade. It is safe to say that, from the beginning of the 19^th century, colonization in this region known as Novorossia was without parallel in Europe. It was an attempt to transfer a nomadic people, who were tradesmen and craftsmen, into an agricultural environment; in other words, this was an attempt to "train" Jews, who normally migrated from town to town in western Europe, pursuing their religious beliefs, to the difficult work of farming. As a result, during the first decade of the 19th century, eight Jewish colonies were added to the 39 existing foreign colonies (1807-1809 in the Kherson province). For example, by 1811, the first settlers in the Jewish colonies, from the Mogilev and Chernigov provinces, are recorded in the 6th tax revision list as numbering 834 families (2,152 then) living on 78,284 dessiatines of land [tr: a dessiatine is 2.7 acres]. In1810, Alexander I temporarily suspended the resettlement of Jews in Novorossia "due to a decrease in the sums for resettlement" from the treasury and because of the deplorable conditions for newcomers as reported by the Kherson military governor. Lieutenant General A.E. Rishel. Jewish colonization resumed in 1822 after a positive review was sent to the capital following the inspection of the colonies in 1819 by Lieutenant General I. N. Inzov, trustee for all the southern colonies. The publication of an edict on April 11,1823, contributed to an influx of a new, second wave of settlers from Belorussia. This edict forced Belorussian Jews to give up their village leases of taverns, inns and stores by 1824, and to resettle in cities and towns or turn to farming on vacant property in the homeland by 1825 (9). Jewish farm colonization in the neighboring Ekaterinoslav province began much later. In 1823, Lt. General Inzov, Rishel's successor to the post of Governor, asked the government to set aside 50,000 dessiatines of land belonging to the Mariupolski Greeks, adjacent to land occupied by Prussian colonists (10), for the settlement of Jews. This section of land had a layer of black top soil which eliminated the need for fertilization and was good for growing wheat. Originally this land had been set aside for settlement in 1817 for members of the Society of Israeli Christians (baptized Jews), a group organized by Prince A.N. Golitsin, a personal friend of Alexander I". However, because the Society had so few members it was abolished in 1833 and the land remained unoccupied (12). By the end of the 1830s and the beginning of the 1840s, the Kherson Province was no longer the leading settlement region of Russia, while at the same time the pace of settlement increased in the Ekaterinoslav Province. A proposal in 1837 by the Novorossian governor-general Count M.C. Vorontsov set aside lands in the Alexandrovsk district for the settlement of future colonists, including a number of Jews. During the same year the Ministry of Interior inspected sections of land in the colonies to establish their value, and subsequently a group of topographers and surveyors measured and plotted these lands on a map. On December 26, 1844, the State Council approved a new statute, the "Status of Jewish Farmers"", and colonization which had prior approval, proceeded under more favorable regulations for Jews. The transfer of Jewish settlers to the Alexandrovsk district began between 1844 and 1845 (14). By 1849, six Jewish colonies with populations of more man 2,000 men, had been established here (this is according to information from the Guardianship Committee for Foreign Settlers in the Southern Regions of Russia- (15) By 1866, when the settlement of Jews on public lands was discontinued, there were 17 Jewish settlements in the Alexandrovsk district (16). After the district was divided into two parts and the Mariupol District was created, there were seven colonies. For the whole period of Jewish colonization in the Kherson Province, 22 colonies on public land and six colonies on privately-owned land had been created in the Kherson, Elizabetgrad, Alexandrovsk and Tiraspol Districts. Since the resettlement of Jews from the western regions to the northern Black Sea area was supported solely by collections of the box tax which burdened the Jewish communities by being in arrears, and also because Novorossia did not need any more artificial colonization, Alexander II, on May 30, 1866,approved the decision of the State Council which cancelled legislation ordering the transformation of Jews into farmers; in other words, Jewish colonization was suspended (17). The further development of Jewish colonies is related to their conversion into farm trade settlements and to the stabilization of their populations. Thus, by the end of the 19th century, according to details of the 1897 census, 17,230 dessiatines of land had been allotted to all the Jewish colonies of the Ekatennoslav Province, and the number of inhabitants totaled 5,142 persons (2,744 men and 2,394 women); there were 749 Jewish farms18. At the same time in the Kherson crown colonies, 43,963 dessiatines of land had been given to settlers; there were 19,419 colonists (9,750 men and 9,669 women) (19). Bessarabian lands were settled between the Novorossian and Western boundaries and became a part of the empire much later, at the end of the Russian- Turkish War, 1806-1812. The Bessarabian oblast was formed in 1818 and retained this status until 1873 when it was designated a province (even though from 1854 it had expanded into a more general provincial institution). Bessarabia was placed along with the Novorossian provinces under the single administration of the Novorossian and Bessarabian governor general. With the addition of this territory, Bessarabian Jews were added to the multi-national population of Russia in the same way that Belorussian, Lithuanian, and Ukrainian Jews were combined with the peoples of the Russian Empire after the annexation of Polish lands at the end of the 18th century. It should be emphasized that Jews have lived in Bessarabia since olden times; they were well-known in the 16th century. In his book, "A Description of Moldavia", D. Kantemir describes them in this way: "Jews were also regarded as subjects of the state and had to pay annual taxes, which were higher than usual; they had no occupation other than trading and tavern keeping; they could have wooden synagogues but none of stone." (20) They represented a fairly large part of the general population of Bessarabia. Thus, in 1844, more than 95,000 Jews lived in the northern Black Sea area, and of them more than half, about 49,000, lived in Bessarabia (21). This explains in full why these Jews, who had lived in Bessarabia for three centuries, were not transferred to the Novorossian steppes as were Jews from Poland.

Jewish colonies appeared in this region after Nicholas I approved a new "Status of Jews" (22) on April 13,1835.The principle goal of this law was to organize the Jews" under such regulations that, while opening to them the freedom to gain security through farming and industry, would at the same time remove possibilities for them to adopt idleness and illegal activities." According to the new status, Jews could freely crossover into the farmer class without any restrictions. The newly converted farmers could settle on crown, purchased, or leased lands. Crown lands were set aside for them from free or lease-hold sections for an unlimited time for their sole use on the payment of taxes; there were no subsidies from the treasury. In addition, in areas where there was not much free crown land, Jews were permitted to lease or buy land which they could select themselves from private owners; in this event, by investing their capital, they joined the rural community and became owners or renters of land (23). An important feature and the chief difference between the Bessarabian and Novorossian colonies was that the Bessarabian settlements were in a territory which had an existing Jewish population. In addition, the land provided for colonization had been previously cultivated, in contrast to the parcels of land on the Novorossian steppes where new settlers had to plow the land for the first time. The majority of settlers in Bessarabia, as is apparent in archival sources, were from Ukraine, mostly from the neighboring Podolsky Province. It is important to note that most of the Jewish population in Bessarabia was in colonies on private land which was purchased or leased; almost no crown land was available. The total number of Jewish colonies in Bessarabia was 16; of these, 9 were in the Sorok district, 2 each were in Orgeev and Bel'ts (Yassk) districts, and one each in the Kishinev, Bender, and Khotin districts. By the middle of the 19th century there were 1,082 homesteads in all the Bessarabian colonies with 10,589 inhabitants (24), who eventually returned to their traditional occupations: commerce, inn keeping, private trading, and so forth.

The following briefly mentions materials concerning the state survey of land in Russia which relate to the history of Jewish farm colonization. A decree by Catherine II on September 19, 1765, ordered the carrying out of the General Survey (25) which was conducted over a period covering the second half of the18th century and the first half of the 19th century. The idea for conducting the first complete survey of Russia was prompted by the need to strengthen the feudal system through the cessation of land disputes and the settlement of the land ownership rights of nobles. In the course of the General Survey in Russia, the boundaries of landed estates were established and legally laid out. No evidence or documentation was used to establish the legality of this or that ownership if ownership up to that time was indisputable (the principle of "amicable distribution" (26)). In addition to the General Survey, a decree on June 17, 1836, established a Special Survey to be carried out in Russia. Nominally it was a continuation of the first survey and was conducted according to the wishes of several owners of a single estate who wanted to mark off land from this jointly owned property; that is to say, by means of a special survey large estates were broken up into several smaller ones according to the mutual wishes of the landowners. With the passage of time, boundaries and boundary markers had to be reestablished on landed estates. This was done on the initiative of the surveyor because of inaccuracies or mistakes in survey plans, and according to requests by landowners who had lost the location of boundaries or who were involved in new border disputes (27).The investigation and renewal of boundaries and boundary markers were based upon existing survey plans, and on the evidence of owners and sworn witnesses after a study of the placement of former boundary markers. This type of survey, conducted on the basis of survey instructions from1766, produced a series of decisions concerning boundary problems in 1842, 1857 and 1882. A complete record of the data from survey work was also made for lands of Jewish colonists. The General Survey of the Ekaterinoslav and Kherson Provinces was conducted simultaneously from 1798-182828. The land survey for spring of 1798 in the Novorossian Province (which at first was a combination of both provinces) was set by land owners and by Senate decrees of April 1 and April 25,1797. After the survey of the Tambov Province was completed, the Tambov survey office was transferred to Novorossia (subsequently Kherson) and renamed the Novorossian Survey Office (29). The survey maps of lands in the Novorossian region note that the settling of the region was by means of a survey undertaken by the Russian government, and detailed drawings locating the foreigners were superimposed.. m connection with these special rules for the General Survey of Novorossia, which were prepared by the Senate with royal approval, February 27,1820, future allotments of land were foreseen for villages of foreign settlers of the crown department, that is, for colonists30. A special survey was conducted in the Ekaterinoslav Province by a local intermediary commission beginning in 1839 and was completed in 1878 (31).

Landownership in Bessarabia, which until its union with Russia was subject to the laws and rule of the Moldavian and Turetz governments, was found to be in a state of extreme disorder. Lands had been distributed by the princes to their own subjects and were given names by the estate. After unification with the empire, the first order was to take steps to identify lands located in the southern part of Bessarabia which had belonged exclusively to the Turetz people. These were designated for settlement by crown peasants from the interior Russian provinces and by foreign colonists. The survey of this region of Bessarabia was assigned to the topographic department of the military; the surveyed lands belonged to the crown villages, to the colonists, and part of them was granted to individuals. The remaining sections of Bessarabian lands were held by churches, monasteries, towns, and private owners. A Bessarabian survey office was established for surveying the land in this part of Bessarabia, which consisted of the districts of Orgeyev, Yassk and Khotin,and for the settlement of disputes in the districts of Akkerman and Bender in 1818. This office also developed regulations for conducting its business affairs. On the basis of these rules the survey office conducted surveys by means of forwarding the work to three survey commissions: Orgeyev, Sorok-Yassk and Khotin. Since the work of the office was recorded in the Moldavian language until 1853, the commission records of the office were translated into the Russian language for the first half of the 19th century. By 1888 in the Bessarabian Province, 2308 land surveys were made, from which 2438 plots were fonned. In 1891, the Bessarabian Survey Office and its commissions were abolished, and the unfinished work of the General Survey was transferred to the Kishinev District Court. The Bessarabian Provincial Government was in charge of conducting the Special Survey in the province. On the whole, the survey of Bessarabia was accomplished under the rules of the local surveyors, and conducted on the basis of local survey laws which functioned in each area.

The detailed nature of the survey documents is reflects definite themes: the limits of neighboring plots of land, the interrelation of the owners in this oblast, and the settlement of disputed land questions. Recognition of these themes was arrived at as a result of an analysis of the materials which have been discovered in the archival fond. In the first place they contain the surveyors' characterization of the relationships of Jewish colonists and neighboring landowners, based upon information which appears in the lawsuits connected with clarifying the boundaries of the lands of Jewish colonists. But apart from this, and more apparent, these sources ("written field survey procedures" with attached survey plans and drawings) give a meticulous description of the Jewish settlements: their location, the layout of adjacent population centers and their owners, the landscape, grassland, roads, the layout of the settlements, and the number of inhabitants and their occupations, which includes information of a genealogical character (family lists of Jews with the indication of the elders-mayors and their deputy assistants. All the survey documents of the central and local offices, which are now kept in RGADA, were, until the revolution in 1917, in the archive of the Survey Office in Moscow, and from 1918 -1939 in the Central Survey Archive. These sources have not been used in earlier research concerning Jews.

III

It should be noted that the General Survey of the land areas of the neighboring colonies of the Alexandrov District, Gorkaya, Preyutnaya, Veselaya, Roskoshnaya, Novo-Zlatopol and Bogodarovka took place in 1801when most Jewish villages did not yet exist. The "economy; notes" to the plans of the General Survey for this period were laid aside in the archive; they contain a detailed description in the survey of two sections of vacant crown lands (former estates) of 2861and 16616 dessiatines (32) ~ the future areas of the colonies of Priyutin and Novozlatopol. There is also the description of the privately owned uncultivated land of Major Mamayev Skotovsky (34) 40 dessiatines (33), on which the Jewish colony of Krasnoselk was established.

All these sections were placed within natural boundaries between the small rivers of Sukh Yanchul, the tributary river Volcha, and the Solena, a tributary of the Yanchul River. The first two sections were accepted by the colonial departments of the Ekaterinoslav Bureau of State Properties in 184834. The textual information about the location of this region is consolidated in the manuscripts "special geometric plans" of the crown lands (1827) which were allotted by the Ekaterinoslav Survey Office for future settlement (35).

Information concerning nine Jewish colonies of the Ekaterinoslav Province from 1862 - 1884, including genealogical data, is concentrated in the archival collection "The Materials of the General and Special Surveys for the Ekaterinoslav Province" (Fond 1308). Specifically, it is in a series named "small file" (Inventory 5 of the fond} which relates to questions concerning the restoration in the second half of the 19th century of the boundaries of sections of land of the

Aleksandrovsk district which separate them from neighboring properties ("written field boundary proceedings" concerning landed estates or the delineating of them from other estates). On the one hand, these materials are a graphic example of the lengthy process in the resolutions of similar land disputes in Russia, and, on the other hand, the archival record contains a rich personification of a collection of individuals from the top leadership of the colony guardians, mayors, deputy assistants, trustees from village communities and ordinary colonists). Carried in the number on the list of Jews are - "home owners" (owners of homesteads) - who signed lay agreements at assembly meetings

The chief source for names of colonists of the Alexandrov District appears in an analysis of the multi-year dispute concerning the renewal of boundaries and boundary markers for land in the colony of Gorky and their neighbors in the Jewish villages. This dispute began in 1862, when, at the insistence of the Guardianship Committee for Foreign Settlers of the Southern District of Russia, a decree was issued, which followed the Ekaterinoslav Province rules, for the renewal of surveys of the boundaries between the lands of the colony of Gorky and the land owners Ivanitzky and Dvuryechenta — the village of Semenov36. The record — the proceedings, the renewals — was completed only in December, 1880, when the final documentation of the survey work was sent to the survey office for examination, verified as correct, and confirmed in May, 1881 (37).

This decision was announced in 1882,1883,and 1884 in the village assemblies of the Jewish colonies, at which time they were given evidence of acceptance by land owners, and assurances by the mayors of Gorky, Priyutnaya, Bogodarov, Krasnocelk and Novo- Zlatopol38. The village assemblies of colonists also elected representatives from among them who would be present during the survey and express the interests of the colonists. These representatives as a rule, we reelected from the number of "honored land owners, of good moral conduct, not under court investigation". Often such persons were mayors (village elders) or assistants (powerful elders); the assemblies also nominated and confirmed prosperous and authoritative landowners along with them. Sometimes these elected representatives served several years in succession, that is, they were elected repeatedly, a fact that says much about their positions in the communal environment. The signatures of the Jewish land owners appear in the actions taken during the survey.

Technically, the lay agreement is represented in the following document as: the underlying reason for the gathering of the colonists and the results of the election of trustees (recorded by clerks); the decipherment of signatures (also by the clerks) and the actual signatures of the landowners in the Jewish language. The decision in the Russian language is witnessed by the mayors of the colonies and secured with the seal of the village authority. It should be emphasized that only landowners affixed signatures to the agreement, that is, only the chief families (and sometimes also several families to the extent that several families could live on one homestead, each having their own homes). Because of this the lists lack the names of women, children and several families with small properties. Keep in mind that not all landowners who had the right to sign similar acts, attended the general assembly; in these cases their signatures are absent from the agreement. Nevertheless, the list of signatures can indirectly give evidence of the overall numbers of the population in any colony, and of the dynamics of then- growth or decline. By way of example, some numerical facts about the number of landowners from lay agreements for different years are cited: Gorky - 24 (1874), 21 (1877), 20 out of 29 (1879), 21 (1882); Priyutaaya - 25 (1874), 21 out of 37 (1879), 18 (1882); Bogodarovka - 21 (1874), 17 (1877), 21 out of 45 (1879), Novo-Zlatopol - 36 (1877), 43 (1879), 32 (1882); Veselaya - 23 (1877); Krasnocelka - 29 (1877), 32 (1879), 31 (1882), 27 (1883)39. From the given list it is evident that in some cases both the number of those present in the assembly of landowners and the whole number of land owners is indicated; this proves that far from all members of the assembly attended and, accordingly, signed the agreement (the figures of the whole number of landowners and those actually found in the assembly differs considerably. (40)

Besides this, families of Jewish colonists who were brought in by trustees from adjacent population centers (for example, the colonies of Zatish, Ravnopol, and Khiebodarov) while the surveys were being conducted in neighborhoods with colonies of landowners, are encountered in the documents'". It is interesting that in a number of cases, because of errors by the trustees, other persons were recorded in the documents. It is evident mat inability of the Jewish colonists to read and write in Russian was a fairly typical occurrence.

Information about the settlement of the colonies can be found in the final documents of the survey work, and statements by the trustees: 1846-Novo-Zlatopol, 1854 - Gorkaya, Priyutaaya and Bogodarovka (41).

Thus, the materials of the disputed survey affairs(1862-1884) provide valuable information concerning the land relationships of Jewish colonies with the adjacent Russian villages, the events of life within a colony relating to land problems, and finally, about the colonists themselves. The lists of the Jewish farmers contained in assembly agreements for more than a decade and a half enable one to trace the family ties of the colonists, to define the larger circles of their families, and identify the elected leaders and trustees in the affairs of the colonies.

Information concerning the Bessarabian Jewish colonies appears in the archival collection "Materials of the General and Special Surveys of the Bessarabian Province" (Fond 1299), which is contained in one inventory. Also in the case of Ekaterinoslav Jewish villages, information about the colonists of Bessarabia is contained in "written field survey proceedings" with supplements of survey diagrams and drawings, which give a detailed economic-statistical and geographical description of the Jewish colonies. Here the information which includes textual materials is harmoniously supplemented by graphic information of hand-written cartographic sources.

The lay agreements by the village assemblies of Jewish landowners inspire greater interest in this series of records (as in the colonies of the Ekaterinoslav Province). However, the questions which were decided by the general assemblies in Bessarabia were somewhat broader. Lay agreements did not only record the selection of trustees from the colonists for conducting

the survey. We encounter here the power of attorney ("letter of trust") of the Jewish petty bourgeoisie of the Podol'sky Province, who selected trustees who represented their interests in the selection and purchase of individual land for settlement. There are also deeds of purchase, mat is, documents by certain powerful Jewish groups, wishing to create a colony. These documents reflect the first steps which proceeded the creation of a certain settlements. Thanks to this fact, we not only possess information about the number and personal makeup of the colonies (for example the first settlers - the founders of the colony), about the places they came from (towns or villages), the tithe the village was created, the former owners of the land, and so forth.

By comparing the texts of the authorities, the purchase deeds, and lay agreements, we can learn how many men and who specifically of the settlers wanting at first to become farmers actually did - not all of them decided to transfer to another neighborhood; only as tithe passed in the search for a suitable plot of land and other things did they make the decision. Surname lists from the powers of attorney, deeds of purchase and lay agreements give the following picture of the number of Jews in the Bessarabian colonies: Dumbraveni - 24(1846), 63 (1888); Vertuzhani - 42 (1838), 36 (1885);Lublin-45 (1856), 75 (1866); Brichova- 35 (1836), 51(1878); Vafya-lui-Vlad - 70 (1836), 80 (1839), 38(1886) (42).

The discovery in the archives of materials of the General and Special Surveys of the land in Bessarabia touches upon the history, geography, economy and genealogy of 10 local Jewish settlements out of 16: in the Sorok District - Dymbraveni, Vertyuzhani, Kapreshti, Lyublin (Nemyerovka), Brichova, Zguritsa, Markuleshti (Starovka); in the Orgeyev District -Shibka; in the Khotim District - Lomachintsi(Vishneva); in the Yassk (Bel'ts) District - Valya-lui-Vlad. The history of the colonies listed is indissolubly connected to the history of the populated centers (ancestral lands) of the land on which they were settled.

The chronological limits of the sources, containing genealogical information for all these Jewish villages of the Bessarabian Province, are from 1836 to 1899.Several words about the method used in the publication of surnames of Jewish colonists. The sign (X) signifies that among the inhabitants of the colony one surname represents two and more men. Incidentally, there are in many cases in the original sources (cited in the name index attached to the doctoral dissertation defended by D.A. Feldman, Candidate of Historical Science, The Russian State University, 1996 ) the indication of the homeland which allows one to determine the family ties of landowners: blood-related brothers, fathers and sons. But even in the absence of the patronymic we can determine with a high degree of probability the affiliation of all those with the same family names in the colony to be one and the same families. Sometimes their number according to the documents for several decades totals ten men. One should note, that a characteristic occurrence in the paperwork of pre-revolutionary Russia was the practice of the irregular recording of the place names, surnames and names, particularly of non-Russians. There are a great number of similar occurrences in studies of archival sources. Evidently, clerks experienced great difficulty while compiling documents because of the complexity of the pronunciation and spelling of Jewish surnames. And even the knowledge of Russian grammar and Jewish writing was far from perfect In naming event the same person in different documents one often encounters several variations of the surname or name: it is clear that one and another of the same surname changed at the time of writing, omitting or adding letters. Therefore the author had to combine several variations of the written names and surnames of Jews of a certain colony into just one, more prevalent version. Take note, that in the original source — in the attached name index - after the basic version of the surname, name, and patronymic of a specific person there are all the other versions of the recorded surname, name and patronymic of this colonist taken from the texts of the documents, and even brief information about him this reference citations (number of the fond, inventory and file). In general nearly 800 inhabitants of Jewish farm colonies of the Ekaterinoslav and Bessarabian Provinces colonies have been discovered in the complex of survey material in RGADA.

Lists of Surnames of (Jewish^ Colonists of the katerinoslav Province

Bogodarovka. Alexandrov District

(Fond 1308, series 5, files 1444,1448, 1450, 1451)

Azarchi*, Asrieli, Belinski x Briskovski, Brukman,

Vilinov, Vilkov, Gelperin, Goronin*, Drevin, Dubrov,

Ersov, Kagan, Kadkovski, Katkov, Kozinski*,

Lomonosonok, Mezev, Pinson, Pipkin, Rekant,

Staikin", Sigalov, Trubkin, Frumin, Khavkin*,

Khanovich'1, Tsiganov, Shiepchenok, Shnol, Shogalov,

Shchulman, Shchedrinski*, Elkin.

Vecelaya. Alexandrovsky District

(Fond 1308, series 5, file 1450)

Baevski, Balonov*, Bolshinski, Glikin, Gushlits, Don,

Druyan, Zabrotski, Zadov*, losleas, Kirpin, Klaglya,

Litigin, Lonarev, Malamed, Moznaim, Momarkin,

Morozov, Raskin, Rosas, Khiebnik, Shapiro.

Gorky. Alexandrovsky District

(Fond 1308, series 5, files 1444, 1446, 1448, 1450,

1451)

Arshinov, Asinovski, Belyanski*, Biyakh, Bodna*,

Borok, Gimel, Gordon1, Goryanski ,* Gurbanov,

Gurevich'1, Gutkin1, Drozd* Eliosof, Zeibet, Zlatkin,

Kantsan11, Kleiman, Kroz, Lemkov*, Lomovski'1,

Meyerov1, Mogaram, Olevsan, Paikin*, Perelman,

Plinski", Rakhman, Sverdlov, Serkhel, Sladkov,

Freidenzon.

Krasnocelka. Alexandrovsky District

(Fond 1308, series 5, files 1444,1450, 1451)

Abragamov, Agui*, Altgovzen, Amiton1, Ana, Brozgol,

Bukmun, Bubblem", Vaisman, Golosov, Gordon,

Gokhman", Griskan, Gurevich, Deglin, Ezrets', lofis,

Kovna^, Lyev, Lyevin*, Lyegova, Lifshits", Luban,

Mosnaim'1, Naigovzen*, Oshir, Reingevirts, Sapir*,

Soles", Ushats, Fainshtein", Feldman, Fredland,

Tsimer*, Charfas'1, Chertkov.

Novo-ZlatopoL Alexandrovsky District

(Fond 1308, series 5, file 1444,1450,1451)

Amanuel, Befyaev, Berzigal, Brozgol, Burov, Butelkin,

Vaisman", Borkel, Glezennan, Godos, Gurevich'1,

Druyan'1, Zlatokrilets, Zogot1, lorsh", Kabo, Kagan*,

Kleinennan, Kovnat*, Kupesok, Lyev, Levin*, Lekus,

Lifshits, Lotsov, Lyvan, Maba,

Margalit, Margolin, Medved1, Miteman

Paliteki, Penchuk, Pripis.

Ushkats*. Fainveits, Tsiblya. Tsirkm, Shpitsnodel,

Shchuer^, Shchulkir, Eidinzon", Yanuar.

PriyutnaYa, Alexandrovsky District

About Dmitry Feldman:

Dmitry Z. Feldman is one of the most Pro scholars researching and documenting Jewish history in today's Russia. He is the author of several articles and has compiled a series of reviews of documents held in the central Russian archives which pertain to the Jewish people. These were published by Jewish Heritage in Moscow in the Jewish Archive series. 1992- 1997 He has been on the staff of the Archives for Ancient Acts in Moscow for more than fifteen years. His studies over the years have focused on topics of Jewish history but it was only after the fall of the Soviet regime that he was able to complete his doctoral dissertation dedicated to the history of the Jewish colonists of South Russia in the 19th century_ Because of his many years employed in the archives he was able o study a major portion of original historical records He completed a comprehensive work on materials from the Bessarabian and Ekaterinoslav provinces. His plan is to finish processing materials pertaining to the Kherson province, an extensive territory alongside the Black Sea between ancient Bessarabia where Jews lived from the early 1500s, and the steppes of Novorossia. literally "New Russia". Novorossia acquired its name when immigrants came from the interior provinces of the Russian Empire to new lands taken from Turkey during the reign of Catherine the Great in the late 1700s. In addition, Mr. Feldman plans to research the trek of Jewish people who came from Belarussian provinces to Novorossia. 1787 to the 1850s. He is also compiling a database of Jewish persons on the basis of different records in the Archives of Ancient Acts RAGAS REPORT will bring new information from him for genealogists and historians in future issues.