Geography Key page of Lyakhovichi Shtetl Website: including An analysis of an 1805 Map of Lyakhovichi and tables of locations and loandlords on 1805 map

The Geography "key page" of Lyakhovichi Shtetl website

We use these pages to study the resources available on the physical site of Lyakhovichi. What are its streets? Where were its ferries and fords? Some roads are known to be eighteenth century constructions, some were improved in the nineteenth century, some got new names under the Polish government. Why did the Market Street have so many fine masonry buildings? Where could the town fit the 120 businesses that one witness swore filled only a small section of the business area before World War I? Begin your research with a careful analysis of a piece of evidence from the earliest part of the nineteenth century, a map of landowners, discussed in detail by Neville Lamdan. Then look at the maps of the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries, which allow you to see even very small villages in our area and Lyakhovichi's relationship to the nations of which it was a part. Use this section in conjunction with the Business Directories elsewhere on our pages for an even more unique look at the terrain. We have continued to add geography articles to each page of this section, please look at all of them. We have for instance, recently added a street list and description of some named streets to the page Stagecoaches and the Mail. And at the bottom of the page you are reading, we look at some records created in the building of the Baranovichi railroad. These explorations also lend themselves to the kind of collaborative work at which the JewishGen community excels - for instance, if you share your envelope-clad letters from Lyakhovichi to help us learn about street addresses as used, we are able to use records never part of an official archive to build the community's knowledge.

Early 19th Century Map of Properties in Lyakhovichi and Vicinity
Notes by Neville Lamdan
(located by Henryk Limon, translated by Vitaly Charny,
originally formatted by Gary Palgon)
copyright, By Neville Lamdan 2001

Dr. Neville Lamdan

View 1 - 1805 Map of Lyakhovichi and Vicinity
View 2 - same Map with English legend

1. Purpose. The primary purpose of the map is to indicate the ownership of the various towns, villages and properties shown. Owners include princes, barons, "castellans", aldermen, ordinary landlords and Roman Catholic institutions.

2. Location. The map covers a section of the western part of the Minsk Gubernya (set up in 1793), with the small town ('shtetl") of Lechovich (=Lyakhovichi) roughly at its centre, adjacent to various internal administrative borders.

More specifically, it also shows:

a. a small part of the Grodno Gubernya (1795) immediately to the west of the Minsk Gubernya – marked by the heavy line "zigzagging" from the left-hand side of the map (about 1/3 from bottom) upwards in a north-easterly direction.

b. that Lechovich is in the Slutsk "Povet" (Polish for the Russian term "Uezd", meaning an administrative district roughly equivalent to a "county" in the UK).

c. that, just north of the Slutsk Povet, lay the Novogrudok Povet – indicated by the dark line north of Lechovich running in a south-easterly direction.

d. that the western end of the Slutsk Povet abuts the Pinsk Povet – clearly shown on the left-hand side of the map (towards the bottom corner).

3. Accuracy . Along the east-west axis there seems to have been significant "compression" from the top (north) and bottom (south) of the page, perhaps in an attempt to fit in all the items and also allow space for the legend. Thus, the map is more of a sketch, in which geographical accuracy is secondary.

4. Legend . Refers only to features in the Slutsk Povet (to the south), using letters of the Russian alphabet (both upper and lower cases). Features on the Novogrudok side (to the north) are named and numbered, but ownership is not listed.

5. Scale. No scale is marked on the map. This copy has been copied and scanned so often in differing ways that it is difficult to gauge its original scale. From left to right, the map appears to span an area roughly 50 kms wide.

6. Vintage. The map is undated. The use of Polish administrative terms, rather than later Russian ones, suggests that it was prepared early in the 19 th Century. The Nesvizh SIG have posted a sketch map of the town of Nesvizh, dated 1808, also designed to indicate property ownership. Ours may be of a similar vintage.

Descriptions in Map

From	To	#	Description of land adjusting to the Minsk Gubernia borders
A	B		Land of the big village Zhukovy Borok with small village - Prince Dominic Radziwill property (largest landowner in Belarus)
B	C		Land of the town Stolptsy with big villages and small village of Prince Adam Chartoryzhsky (friend of the Czar Alexander I, member of the commission that created Jewish legislation)
C	D		Land of the town Sverzhen' and Nikolaevshchizna with big villages and small village of Prince Dominic Radziwill
D	E		Land of the big village Govezno with country mansion and small village of Nesvizh Roman Catholic Benedict convent
E	F		Land of the town Nesvizh with country mansion and small village of Prince Dominic Radziwill
F	G		Land of town Nesvizh
G	H		Land of the town Nesvizh with small village of the same Prince Dominic Radziwill
H	J	1	Land of the country mansion Malev with country mansion and small village of Trotsk (shtetl near Vilna) voevoda (Governor) Prince Josif Radziwill
J	K	2	Land of the small village Gusaki of Roman Catholic plebania of Kletsk
K	L	3	Land of the small village Kozly through property of kashtelyan Obukhovich and Zubovski
L	M	4	Land of the small village Kozly of kashtelyan Obukhovich
M	N	5	Land of the small village Zhilich of Trotsk voevoda Prince Josif Radziwill
N	O	6	Land of the country mansion Yanov of the landlord Filip Obukhovich
O	P	7	Land of the shtetl Lyakhovichi with country mansion, big villages and small village - property of elderman Kossakovsky widow
P	Q	8	Land of the country mansion Yanov of the same landlord Filip Obukhovich
Q	R	9	Land of the small village Ostreika through property of landlords Obukhovich and Klimashevsky
R	S	10	Land of the small village Ostreika of the same Klimashevsky
S	T	11	Land of the small village Domashov of kashtelyan Obukhovich
< p T>	U	12	Land of the shtetl Lyakhovichi with small village - property of the elderman
U	W	13	Land of the small village Kovali through property of different landlords
W	X	14	Land of the shtetl Lyakhovichi with small village - property of the elderman
X	Y	15	Land of the village Turki of the landlord Kunevich
Y	Z	16	Land of the country mansion Denisovshchizna of the landlord Josif Kobylinsky
Z	a	17	Land of different landlords
a	b	18	Land of the country mansion Denisovshchizna of the landlord Josif Kobylinsky
b	c	19	Land of the mentioned above Lyakhovichi with small village - property of the elderman
c	d	20	Land of the village Gostilovichi - property of Kobylinsky and Bukhovitsky
d	e	21	Land of the country mansion Denisovshchizna with villages of Josif Kobylinsky
e	f	22	Land of the same town Lyakhovichi with small village - property of the elderman
f	g	23	Land of the town Nedvedich with country mansion, big villages and villages of the Anshef-General the baron Benigsen
g	h	24	Land of the country mansion Gorodyshche with villages of the same Bukhovetsky
h	i	25	Land of the town Nedvedich of the Baron Benigsen

Creating a resource for collaborative research
on the history of the Jewish community
in what is today Lyakhovichi, Belarus

Shtetl Links: Lyakhovichi

Articles on the Geography Pages:

Descriptive Terms of Map and Legend

Locations on Map

Early 19th Century Map of Properties in Lyakhovichi and Vicinity
Notes by Neville Lamdan
(located by Henryk Limon, translated by Vitaly Charny,
originally formatted by Gary Palgon)
copyright, By Neville Lamdan 2001

Other Geographical Resources

Creating a resource for collaborative research on the history of the Jewish community in what is today Lyakhovichi, Belarus

Shtetl Links: Lyakhovichi

Articles on the Geography Pages:

Descriptive Terms of Map and Legend

Locations on Map

Early 19th Century Map of Properties in Lyakhovichi and Vicinity Notes by Neville Lamdan (located by Henryk Limon, translated by Vitaly Charny, originally formatted by Gary Palgon) copyright, By Neville Lamdan 2001

Other Geographical Resources

Creating a resource for collaborative research
on the history of the Jewish community
in what is today Lyakhovichi, Belarus

Early 19th Century Map of Properties in Lyakhovichi and Vicinity
Notes by Neville Lamdan
(located by Henryk Limon, translated by Vitaly Charny,
originally formatted by Gary Palgon)
copyright, By Neville Lamdan 2001