My grandfather, Boris L. Bobroff
The Introduction to this thread, Mysteries of my Grandfather, is here.
I hope to discover my grandfather’s world in Ryazan. I wish to be able to envision the people my 22-year-old grandfather saw everyday, his conversations and pursuits, the passions he shared with others he knew. Who did he pass in the street each day on his way to work? Who did he say good morning to? Who did he eat and relax with at night?
Ryazan around 1912
Unearthing stories of early 20th century life among Ryazan’s Jewish population is extremely difficult. But I’ve discovered a four small threads – four Jewish families – with which to begin weaving my tapestry of life in Ryazan.
Ryazan was outside the Pale of Jewish Settlement to which most Russian Jews were confined by law beginning under Catherine the Great. To live in Ryazan, Jews had to obtain government permits. While Ryazan has been described as free of the kinds of theft and pogroms against Jews experienced elsewhere, restrictions and prejudice existed. Jewish livelihoods could be precarious here.
Ryazan, east of Moscow, was outside the Jewish Pale of Settlement
With the help of the small group of JewishGen.org participants who have Ryazan ancestors, I’ve found out a bit about four Jewish families who lived within the non-Jewish world of that city. These four will be my cast of characters for future posts. They include:
The Polyakov family, wealthy bankers, pharmacists, and entrepreneurs who likely had government permission to live in Ryazan because of their talents, skills, and business success.
Yakov Kull, son of Shmuel Kull
The Kull family, whose father, Shmuel, had served in the Russian army, garrisoned in Ryazan. His son Yakov later opened a florishing dress shop in the city.
Avrom Abbe Mesigal, a shingle maker who lived under the protection of a weathy non-Jewish dairy owner in the village of Pesochnoe just east of Ryazan. Mesigal prospered in his business, marrying and raising a family. But when his dairy-owner protector left town, the Mesigal family were forced to leave as well.
My own grandfather, Boris L. Bobroff. I don’t yet know how he came to be living in Ryazan. Bobroff worked at the Ryazan Agricultural Machinery and Railway Equipment Factory. Thanks to tremendous help by JewisGen.org contact Leon Kull, I’ve learned that this grew into a very large factory which still exists today, now called Ryazselmash. It was founded in 1904 by well-known entrepreneur Yekhiel Levontin.
What was the landscape in which these four Jewish inhabitants lived? What kind of city was Ryazan?
The province of Ryazan was still overwhelmingly rural in the early 20th century. The city of Ryazan was the largest in the province, with about 46,000 inhabitants (men outnumbered women).
But change was afoot. Ryazan lies along the Oka River, the trade route between Moscow and Nizhny-Novgorod. By the end of the 19th century, steamboats on the Oka River were replacing rowboats and barges pulled by men.
Ryazan railroad station. Carriages were always waiting outside to transport passengers into downtown Ryazan
The Moscow-Ryazan railroad began construction in 1863, the same era railroads were being built across the US. Within a few years, a railway line was completed to Tambov province, linking Moscow, via Ryazan, with the highly-fertile black-soil regions of southern Russia. In the 1890s, Ryazan became an important transport center as railways were built to other major cities in the empire.
These changes in Ryazan must have affected the lives of our band of four Jewish residents. True, the area remained overwhelmingly agricultural. But might the development of new kinds of economic activity have provided more opportunities for shingle-makers like Avrom Mesigal? Would new wealth have created more business for Kull’s dress shop?
It seems likely, because we know that growing transportation connections to the outside world stimulated the economic and cultural life of Ryazan. In the words of “Ryazanets” (“Ryazan resident”), who has written many articles about Ryazan on the province’s extraordinary website, History, Culture, and Traditions of Ryazan (any errors in translation are my own):
"Ryazanets," author
Transport of goods and transfer of information accelerated as travel became easier and more affordable. Use of the telegraph grew significantly. Now urgent news could be transmitted over great distances. A suburb, Troitskaya, grew up near the railroad station. A cobbled road led from the station to the Moscow Road [the main street of Ryazan]….
Around the station were built houses for the railway workers. [A second station was built for the railway to Kazan.] Near the railroad stations, trade establishments appeared…. In fact, Troitskaya was the fastest growing part of the city. By 1897, it held 7,000 inhabitants.
All of this economic change led to the development of mechanized factories in Ryazan, including the factory where my grandfather would find work. It also led to a flowering of banking activity in Ryazan. Surely this impacted the lives of the Polyakov family. I will pick up the story of the new banks in my next Mysteries of my Grandfather post. And I’ll continue to explore the lives of all four of our Jewish cast of characters on the stage of 19th and early 20th century Ryazan.
The Introduction to this thread, Mysteries of my Grandfather, is here.
For more about the four Jewish residents of Ryazan introduced here, see the entire series of posts here.
Ryazan: Prince Oleg's 14th century palace and cathedral on a tributary to the Oka River
Thank you for your great site.
I think it’s not the real picture of “Ryazanets”.
Hello, Moskvich,
I’m so glad you’re enjoying the site.
If you know more about Ryazan, I would love to have you add more here. I rely a lot on learning from others who have personal knowledge about the subjects I’m covering.
Anne
Thank you for the extensive research. You have a paragraph on Avrom Mesigal, who was my great-grandfather who emigrated to the US (Chicago) in the 1870’s and his son Samuel was my dad’s farther. I assume the information for your paragraph came from Shirley Gould’s summary of the family. Do you know where we could find additional information on the Mesigal/Cohen family?
Douglas
Hi, Douglas, it’s really nice to hear from you. Yes, what I wrote about Avrom Mesigal is based on Shirley Gould’s account. At the time I wrote this, I wasn’t able to find more about the family, unfortunately. I did write a bit more about Mesigal in another post: http://annebobroffhajal.com/2010/06/the-world-of-jews-in-ryazan-beyond-the-pale-chapter-2-the-polyakov-family/. When I’m having difficulty finding information about specific people, I find it interesting to research their field of work because at least that gives me some sense of their world, daily activities and concerns.
If you find more about the Mesigal family in Russia, please let me know. Anne
Hi Anne,
I find your work about Ryazan extremely interesting. Have only now come across it, since I only now learned that my g-grandmother Rivka Chaskelovna Mednikoff came from there. Have you ever come across this last name?
My g-grandfather Itsko (Isaac) Jakovlev Friedman served in the army – Raanenburg police force. Oranienburg is now Chaplygin. Interesting to see that Ryazan is halfway between Chaplygin and Moscow, where the couple later lived. I only have record of their youngest son being born in Moscow. The other births (1871, 72, 80, 87) are not recorded. This leads me to believe that they might have stayed in Ryazan in the beginning of their married life.
Can you advise me as to further research. Regards, Chana
Dear Chana, I’m so glad you’re finding my Ryazan writing interesting! I haven’t worked on this research in years. All I can advise is to keep googling (or whatever search engine you use), trying a lot of different permutations of search terms. And do it periodically, because new things can suddenly appear on the internet that weren’t there a few weeks before.
Good luck! If you find something interesting, I’d love to hear about it here.
Anne
Соник 2 в кино Соник 2 в кино 2022 мультфильм смотреть онлайн Соник 2
в кино
Соник 2 в кино Соник 2 в кино смотреть мультфильм онлайн в хорошем качестве Соник 2
в кино
смотреть смотреть смотреть мультфильм онлайн в хорошем качестве смотреть
4 4 смотреть мультфильм 2022 в хорошем качестве 4
0 0 мультфильм 2022 0
1 1 смотреть мультфильм 2022 в хорошем качестве
1
2 2 смотреть онлайн 2022 2
yacht charter seychelles
https://colab.research.google.com/drive/1q0yDZFpav0bquc7X5szIebXWRQpXpUAv
yachtcharter seychellen
турецкие сериалы бесплатно http://spiritustar.me/index.php?topic=18976.0 Смотреть Бесплатно Турецкие Сериалы
mobile phone number portugal
https://qwe.bet/ec/ecuabet/
corti trim reviews
http://tinyurl.com/2bx2dge6
http://tinyurl.com/26rtc8by
altЌn batЌ restoran ve casino mesquite nv
https://colab.research.google.com/drive/1tsgIy0Saicqi3uy_gOhz4LVixbGrvNba?usp=sharing
Excelente post. ¡Estaba revisando constantemente este blog y estoy impresionado! Información muy útil, especialmente la última parte 🙂 Me preocupo mucho por esa información. Estuve buscando esta información en particular durante mucho tiempo. Gracias y mucha suerte.
goldman sachs comienza a asignar una calificacion neutral a maxeon solar technologies y anuncia un precio objetivo de us 18
https://colab.research.google.com/drive/1uUFF_4mI7KL3boFZSzCOhf_zlQCfxvuZ?usp=sharing
https://colab.research.google.com/drive/1Q59sqaFwg6Ztgx0IorIsz5y-DxjMzoCH?usp=sharing
Дом дракона сериал http://filmtvdir.com/vhd/AADQ-Dom-drakona-5-seriia.html
oye el porcentaje de relleno se basa en el ancho del elemento principal trucos css
What is the difference between 10mg and 20mg doses generic cialis cost
I know this if off topic but I’m looking into starting my own weblog and was curious what all is required to get setup?
I’m assuming having a blog like yours would cost a pretty penny?
I’m not very internet savvy so I’m not 100%
certain. Any tips or advice would be greatly appreciated.
Kudos
Secure Billing, but it is not until middle age when we feel the lethal effect of nicotine in our body cheap priligy
The drug has the ability to influence the key reactions, which constitute a single process, sexual arousal and bring the penis in an erect state cheapest cialis
buy cialis without prescription Anticancer Research Michaelson, J
Place for everything and everything in its place – A.
https://spirifij375.net
Out of the frying pan into the fire Link to proverb.
The exception which proves the rule Link to proverb.
You can have too much of a good thing.
The wages of sin is death Link to proverb.
Ne’er cast a clout till May be out Link to proverb.
Every man has his price Link to proverb.
I hope you are being careful to heal yourself emotionally. buy clomid in uk Rachel Gurevich is a fertility advocate, author, and recipient of The Hope Award for Achievement, from Resolve The National Infertility Association.
Better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all – It’s.
https://spirifij375.net
Do as you would be done by Link to proverb.
The Devil has all the best tunes Link to proverb.
Dead men tell no tales.
Give a man enough rope and he will hang himself.
Live and learn.
Live for today for tomorrow never comes.
el calentamiento global ya en el aire dificultara el cumplimiento de los objetivos de cambio climatico
Also, infertility treatment in men then followed. nolvadex for fat loss
Since it does not cross the blood brain barrier, it is associated with fewer dystonic or other movement side effects and may be useful in patients with various movement disorders. how long doxycycline to work Any of the above.
натальная натальная карта с расшифровкой
igt slots free wizard of oz free slots vegas casino youtube slots casino slot
website that writes papers for you someone write my paper for me buy papers online cheap papers help
paper writing service cheap custom written papers help writing
college papers instant paper writer
bookmarked!!, I love your site!
Also visit my page: water cleanup austin
lasix drug class 5 The T max is approximately 1 4 hours following oral administration, and the C max at steady state is 57
cheapest paper writing service paper writer services find someone
to write my college paper buy psychology papers
pay someone to write a paper for me can i pay someone to write my
paper can someone write my paper help me write a paper
write my persuasive paper customized paper write my paper cheap write my custom paper