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Early 19th Century Map of Properties in Lechovich and Vicinity

located by Henryk Limon
translated by Vitaly Charny
formatted by Gary Palgon
introduction by Neville Lamdan

We are especially grateful to Dr. Henryk Limon of Geneva, who located this map in the first place and sent it to Neville Lamdan who, in turn, made it available to the Lachowicze Special Interest Group.

Introduction

  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:
    1. 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.
    2. 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).
    3. 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.
    4. 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 19th 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. 

by Neville Lamdan
(September, 2001)

Legend to the map 
Click here to see the map
(Please be patient while it loads)

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

© 2001 Belarus SIG