SIGNATURE PAGES
An Introduction to the attestation pages
accompanying Russian legal and official documents
by Deborah Glassman
Signature Pages have a value separate from the content of the document to which they are attached, which may be fairly mundane materials. They may show a dual list of Russian and Hebrew signatures providing a means to make the transition when previously only one or the other was known. The majority of Russian documents will list the father’s name, which may have encouraged the writer of a Hebrew signature to include it in that language too, even when a surname was also being used in the Hebrew. The Hebrew honorifics that surround the father’s name, may offer clues as to whether the father was living when the document was signed, and a father with an important title may have it permanently appended to his Hebrew name.
In the signature lists that make up the petition to build a synagogue and another list that will be added shortly, surnames in Russian are almost always accompanied by surnames in Hebrew characters (the language may be Yiddish rather than Hebrew). Sometimes the surname is in translation, sometimes it is a transliteration. Transliterations provide a way to almost hear an ancestor’s voice as they chose the letters to represent the sounds they heard the other language making. Nicknames are often clarified in the effort – men who sign themselves with the Russian-Yiddish first names of Govsey and Ovsey appear with the signatures of Yehoshua (Joshua) and Osher (Asher), respectively on the synagogue list. Shaya is clearly Isaiah, and the patronymic Zosielovich turns out only once to be a misprint for Noselovich, the other time it clearly means son of Zusa or Zusiel. Letter shifts are evidenced, the men who gave their name as Gelfand on Russian documents stood by the traditional Hebrew spelling of Helfand, despite the availablity in Hebrew, to replicate the name exactly. Men named Girsh in Russian are seen to split themselves into those who are called Hirsh and those who are called Gershon in the Hebrew script.
Then there are the surprises. In 1819 the leaders of the community witnessed the Revision List and affixed their signatures. The two languages they chose to use, were Hebrew and Polish, despite Lyakhovichi’s possession by Russia for the previous quarter century. When the Crown Rabbi of Lyakhovichi signed a document in 1874, we would have expected this Russian official (appointed by the Crown, not selected by the community) to have been proficient in the Yiddish and Hebrew of his compatriots and he does not disappoint. But his signature is in Polish, not Russian, on the one document we so far have. Is that a salute to the authorities in Lyakhovichi which for most of the nineteenth century elected Polish Catholic officials to government office? Will we find that lack of Russian language skills terminates his position early or will we find him providing notary documents for the Justice of the Peace in Lyakhovichi in Russian which is part of his job description? We need more samples before we can come to conclusions and each example helps us build our knowledge on additional subjects relevant to Lyakhovichi research. In what order did the community's male membership sign documents? Does the large “John Hancock” like signature that is the first of 56 Jewish names on the Petition to build a synagogue, convey something that we should know about Echiel Maziya? Is there a reason that this first person to sign the page, is one of very few with no Hebrew signature? Share your insights and share the images that you have gotten from archives in your Lyakhovichi searches. We will post every one of them originating in our town!
1850 Revision List Stan Golembe generously shared this image of a page in the 1850 Revision List that shows members of his family.Click the title to go to larger image. That page is able to be enlarged further, hover over the bottom right corner until the Internet Explorer expansion icon appears. Click "back" on browser to return to this page
1851 Record witnessed with Polish signature by Crown Rabbi Szolom Szkolnik
Neville Lamdan also provided this document from a Supplementary Revision, dated 15 Oct. 1851 and submitted 28 April 1852, (source: NHAB (Minsk), 333/9/488). Click on the title to go to a 2 page pdf file which you can make as large as you need.
1874 List witnessed by Rabbis of Lyakhovichi
This document with signatures by Crown Rabbi Ch. Yelin, Yisrael Molchadzky, and Moshe Kantorovich, was generously provided by Neville Lamdan.
Click Contact to send us information and remember to put Lyakhovichi in the subject of the email.
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Documents of Lyakhovichi History
Nineteenth Century Documents Created about Lyakhovichi Inhabitants
by Deborah G. Glassman copyright, 2005
The information on this page is from two types of sources.
Original records which are today in the Belarus National Historical Archives in Minsk. We have examined them in the original, in microfilm, and in other photoduplication.
These records were obtained through the efforts of the Lyakovichi research group,
an informal association of researchers interested in Lyakhovichi,
who have made the financial contribution necessary to acquire these valuable records.
Many have been identified or analyzed by Dr. Neville Lamdan in his on-site research in the Belarus archives,
others have been laboriously uncovered by Dr. Lamdan's efforts to find Lyakhovichi-specific material hidden in inventories of microfilmed copies of fonds in Belarus and Poland.
Secondary materials Nineteenth Century records that have been archived, published, or made available to researchers, and from which the Lyakhovichi Webmaster
or Lyakhovichi research volunteers have been able to create indices and/or to publish facsimiles.
In the descriptions of these records we move backwards through the century, hopefully leading you from resource to resource,
as your research progresses from the last known facts in a subject's life and works towards his unknown earliest days. In
winter of 2008, we open a major new source of material in publishing the 1850 Revision Lists and its Supplements
through 1852, and without missing a beat, move right into the 1834 Revision Lists. Each gives details
on 1100-1500 individuals and you are able to follow a number of families through new names adopted between the two periods.
Facsimiles and Translations of Original Records
 
Petition to build Synagogue in 1875
First Signature Page
Second Signature Page
Click titles to go to larger page. Hover cursor in lower right hand corner of that page for an expanded image.
Revision Lists
Table of Contents
1) Imperial Russian Revision Lists This is not just an introduction page, we post a key new genealogy tool for using the Revision Lists here!
2) 1850 Revision List of Jews of Lyakhovichi Brand New! Never Published Previously!
The Revision List and its Supplements are continued on 1850Revision List and Supplements and a specific index was created at Surname Index to the 1850 Revision List. Almost 1500 names!
3) 1834 Revision List of Lyakhovichi's Jews More than 1100 Men, Women, and Children in Lyakhovichi in April 1834! NEW!!!
4) 1819 Revision List with maps, images, and name change info from this period
This list was created by the work of the Lyakhovichi Research Group several years ago
and donated to the Jewishgen.org database.
But we continue to find new insights here.
This document was located and made available by the work of the Lyakhovichi Research Group several years ago,
but even in 2008 continues to provide new insights. It was this document that proved that the Census-takers
of Imperial Russia were working from a book instead of moving from door to door in 1834, see our article on the page
Imperial Russian Revision Lists. It was this record that
provided the names of the first known members of the Lyakhovichi Jewish leadership, in this document that they
witnessed as members of the Kahal. You can see the page below with their signatures. It is this material that provided evidence that men who were reported dead
in 1816, had frequently assumed a new surname and remained in the community. Finally, a simple correction
in the way the material has been ordered, is provided in this update. Previously, the names were alphabetized under each surname, now they appear as they are ordered in the family.
This too makes it easier to trace families into the subsequent Revision period in 1834.
5) 1816 Revision List with new page images, maps, and analysis
This Revision List is a report made in August of 1816. It attempted to record all legal residents of Lyakhovichi. In fact,
it recorded all males who were legally resident in Lyakhovichi and physically present on the enumeration day.
It purported to
list all wives and unmarried daughters of those legal residents. It reported which of those males had been enumerated
in the previous Revision List, which was taken in 1811, and their age at that time as well as their age in August of 1816.
Females were recorded with ages in 1816 but were not annotated for 1811. Anyone who was reported in 1811 who was not present in 1816
was marked as absent, missing, or dead, as was reported to the officials. Dependent females with no male present,
do not seem to be reported at all - there are no widows named in 1816 though in later years widows were reported. We have posted
the listing of those reported "dead, missing, or runaway" in 1816 on a separate table on the 1819 page, as
it is that year that a number seem to show up with new surnames. The 1816 Revision List listed only seventy families
and the subsequent collection the 1819 Revision List was a recognition that many were unexplainedly missing. The two lists together, 1816 and 1819,
together form the core of the families reported in 1834.
covers two date periods, listing the presence of each person in the family in both 1811 and 1816,
their age at each census, and whether they had died or moved away in the interval.
You can see marriages begun, siblings move away, and individual family members
named 40 years before a US census named anyone but the head of household!
Look at the information included on the 1819 page on those listed as "died, missing, or ranaway"
in the 1816 Revision List for some new things to think about!
6) Tracing Women in Lyakhovichi Revision Lists
A New Set of Tools for Studying Women in Lyakhovichi!
Complete and Comparative lists of Women appearing as wives and daughters in the Revision Lists of 1816 and 1819 and covering the 1834-1850 period at Women in the Lyakhovichi Revision Lists (1834-1850)! With an article by Dr. Neville Lamdan tracing an eighteenth-century-born Jewish woman of our town through four censuses
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Signatures of Jewish Leaders on 1819 Revision List for Lyakhovichi
click on title to go to readable version with expander icon.
Go to 1819 Revision List to see details of these signatories and a list of all the listed households and their members.
Government Records of Imperial Russia on Our Pages
1) 1883-1884Tax Lists A-E
1883-1884Tax Lists F-Le
1883-1884Tax Lists Le-Z
2)Jewish Voters for Starosta 1885;
Petition to Build New Synagogue 1875; Jewish Townsmen 1885
3) Imperial Russian Military Records
This page
includes tables and facsimiles of Official Military Registration Lists; Correspondence between parties
governing Jewish Conscription in Lyakhovichi; Discharges from service;
Newspaper Notices for specific draft-age men of Lyakhovichi to appear; and we have begun adding photos of Lyakhovichi men in Russian uniform
with info on how you can learn their division and regiments from the photos.
4) Twentieth Century Russian Property Records
and Nineteenth Century Russian Property Records
5) Imperial Russian Revision Lists
6) 1805 Taverners List
This valuable document is accompanied by an informative article by Dr. Neville Lamdan,
written, as shown by his signature,
at the time he was the Israeli Ambassador to the Vatican.
As important as we knew this document to be,
its importance has increased as one of the useful "bridge documents" to
eighteenth century documents such as the 1784 Grand Duchy of Lithuania Census for Lyakhovichi.
Many of the communities mentioned in this record ,appear as subsidiary communities to Lyakhovichi in the 1784 Census.
Many of the people named here are recognizable from the 1811/1816 Revision Lists which has
surnames and thus it makes the connection to people in the 1784 Census without surnames.
The table of names does not include just those petitioning for the right to run a tavern in the
Lyakhovichi vicinity, it lists every person in the household of each petitioner and gives a last residence
for each petitioner. See these facsimiles and suggest other information we can extract for our research needs!
This document needs to be rotated on your viewer after opening.
Facsimiles of Taverner pages
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New Resources Created from Published Material
An Overview of Lekhovichers in the Records of Nearby Towns
Looking at available materials in nearby communities and records including the Chevra Kadisha records of Nesvizh and of Slutsk and the records in the Minsk Vedemosti. Includes a table of a small number of Lyakhovichi people found in the records of other Russian Empire communities.
The Register of the Burial Society of Slutsk We first created a table of 150 names of Lyakhovichi people buried by the Slutsk Chevra Kadisha in the Slutsk Cemetery - 136 of them between the 1840s and 1920s! New we have added more names from the small dependent villages around Lyakhovichi and from Baranovichi found in the Register of the Slutsk Chevra Kadisha.
Lyakhovichi Emigrants through Ellis Island 1892-1906 200+Lyakhovichi Jewish residents who emigrated 1892-1906 via Ellis Island but were not recorded as "Hebrews" were added to this page since its last update.
Immigration Records Related to Lyakhovichi A series of emigration and immigration records including those from the Nineteenth Century to the United States, Israel and other nations. Lists include emigration records from European ports, immigration records at a half dozen US ports, and more.
Fathers of Lyakhovichi Patronymics from 19th Century Records with analysis. First Names starting with A-H. Additional pages are Patronymics H-L AND Patronymics M-R AND Patronymics S-Z.
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Compiled by Deborah G. Glassman
First Posting by DGG Dec 2004, Updates July 2005, Nov 2007, Winter 2008. Most Recent Update May 2008.
There are around 130 separate pages on this
site in 2008, All copyright of each page (unless designated elsewhere on
the specific page) is retained to Deborah G. Glassman.
Copyright © 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008
Deborah G. Glassman
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