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Bobruysk
History/Statistics
Census
1811
Last year I translated 1811 census for Bobruysk district.
This census should be very important to Jewish genealogists researching their roots.
- This is the first 19th century Russian census, and the second in total Russian census for the area covering The Pale.
- It was the first time Russian Jews officially had last names.
- It shows where within the district Jews lived at onset of the century.
- The census was taken only a year prior to Napoleon's invasion of Russia.
Even though Jews were not drafted in the army for the another decade, the authorities clearly entertained this idea at the time.
The inevitability of the new war with France was obvious since the disastrous battle of Austerlitz in 1805.
Thus one of the main reasons behind the 1811 census must have been accounting for all able-bodied males ready to fight.
Every 19th century census I encountered this far makes a note of all births, deaths, arrivals and departures for males as of the last census. For this reason this post covers the period of 1795-1811. Furthermore in case of Bobruysk, quite a few names are mentioned to be verified in the year 1800. This likely indicates an additional revision that took place at the time with the purpose of recording all missing persons. Luckily for us the census takers of this later revision wrote their notes on this very census which thus becomes two in one.
Below is an interesting statistical information I was able to extract.
| Place |
# of Males |
# of Households |
Common Last Names |
| Bobruysk |
752 |
288 |
Katsnelnson (62), Shenderovich (40), Garelik (36), Unknown (34)*, Golburt/Goldberg (31), Altshul (24), Feginberg (20), Olshanskiy (18), Barshay (16), Kavalerchik (16), Levin (16), Matlin (16), Glant (13), Volfson (12), Zeldin (10) |
| Glusk |
609 |
285 |
Unknown(96)*, Livshits/Levshits (48), Levin (25), Volfson (17), Mazlin/Meizlin (15), Dukhan (14), Finkelshteyn (13), Fishman (12), |
| Urechye |
220 |
112 |
L'vovich/Levovich (59), Kantselenson (42), Epsten(ov) (34), Kustanovich (12), Paperniy (13) |
| Lubonichi |
102 |
40 |
Kantselenson (45) |
| Parichi |
425 |
169 |
Gorelik (155) |
| Ozarichi |
105 |
63 |
Golts/Golots/Golad (25), Frenklekh/Fringlekh (7) |
| Kazimirovo |
55 |
22 |
Volfson (17), Karelin (8), Erenburg (7) |
| Pobolovo |
46 |
30 |
Shteynbak (5) |
| Svisloch |
151 |
83 |
None, mostly 2-3 people with the same lastname |
Based on this information we learn that in early 19th century almost three quarters of Jewish population in Bobruysk district concentrated in three places, namely Bobruysk, Glusk and Parichi.
Further crunching the numbers, even though Bobruysk experienced small outflow of the population (-25 people), it was not significant when compared to overall population.
Urechye lost about third of its population while at the same time both Glusk and Parichi lost about 6th each.
And this is how it looks on the chart.
As evident from the above chart, the population migration did not fluctuate significantly at this time comparing to the total population of each mentioned place.
Based on the numbers, the place from where most of the people left was Urechye. This makes sense as Urechye was recently added to Bobruysk district from Slutsk area.
Glusk had the most people deceased since last census took place, followed by Bobruysk itself. Bobruysk in fact had the largest number of newcomers. This is also explained by czarist policies at the times of moving Jews from villages to towns.
Where did all these people go?
So the question remains, where did those who left their Shtetls actually went? There is no definite answer. Some of the people were marked as "fled" as "whereabouts unknown", suggesting they might have escaped the authorities just to come back later on. From those that we have destinations:
| Place |
Departed |
Destinations |
| Bobruysk |
16 |
7 within the district |
| Glusk |
31 |
4 to Bobruysk, 1 to Parichi, 2 to Svisloch, Schedrin (1), Pinsk (1), Parichi (2), Slonim (1), Nesvizh (1), Slutsk (2), Mogilev (1), Yurevich (1), Mozyr (2) |
| Urechye |
69 (42 unknown) |
16 settled within the district (12 of them in Glusk), 9 settled in Slutsk district. |
| Parichi |
34 |
Most went to Bobruysk and Glusk, some to Minsk |
| Svisloch |
24 |
18 to Bobruysk district (10 of them to Bobruysk itself), 4 to Igument district. |
| Lyubonichi |
9 |
All went to Bobruysk |
| Ozarichi |
25 |
14 left within Bobruysk district, 9 outside (6 of them to Mozyr) |
| Kazimirovo |
1 |
unknown |
| Pobolovo |
3 |
mostly to Bobruysk |
Thus it is safe to say that most of the population migrations of this time was within the district!
Where did they come from?
Now let's look at those who came to their places since the last census.
| Place | Newcomers | Places of origin |
|---|
| Bobruysk | 84 | Lyubonichi (20), Parichi (19), Glusk (1), Rogachev (6), Mozyr (2), Svisloch (6), Gorval (1), Smilovichi (2), (K)opel (1), Slutsk (5), Glush (1), Stary Bykhov (4), Mogilev (1), Pobolovo (1), Mstislav (1), Klichev(1), Igumen (5), Vilno(2), Glush (1), Borisov (1), Urechye (2), Mogilev (1)
|
| Glusk | 29 | Urechye (8), Slutsk (6), Grodno gubernia (2) [+Slonim-1, Novogrudok-1], Rakov (1), Koidanova (1), Bykhov (1), Mogilev gubernia (1), Mozyr (2), Turov (1). Only few from inside: Svisloch (1), Parichi (3).
|
| Urechye | 5 | All from outside of district: Slutsk area (3), Mozyr district (1), Igumen (1).
|
| Lyubonichi | 7 | Slutsk (2), Dubrovka (1), Svisloch (1), Bobruysk (1), Mogilev (1), Rogachev (1).
|
| Ozarichi | 12 | Yuravichi, Rechitsa (4), Kalinkovichi (1), Kopotkevichi (1), Mozyr (3), Parichi (2). |
For the smaller towns of Parichi, Kazimirovo, Pobolovo most of their migrants came from Rogachev (outside of district) and some from Svisloch.
Thus again given the limited amount of data I can only conclude that majority of Jewish migrations of the time were within the Bobruysk district.
