MAPS and the Pale of Settlement: Where our ancestors lived.

The governmental structures of where they lived . . . and how it changed over time.

Example:
MILLER and CHARGO Geography . . . where they lived.

 

Our ancestors lived in a Europe where national boundaries changed often. To provide some sense of where they lived then compared to the world today, the following series of maps may help. To further complicate understanding where our ancestors lived is the fact that often a geographic boundary name is the same as a town name. For example, if you said you were born in New York . . . many would assume you meant New York City, whereas you might have just been meaning the State of New York and were actually born in Albany. It’s easy to be confused with the Eastern European naming conventions where over time town and city names have been spelled in Russian, German, Polish, French and other variants. Even today there are often many spelling varients for the places where our ancestors once lived.

Ben Miller was born in MINSK as is noted on some documents. This refers to what we would call the State of MINSK, not the capital city which is called – guess what? MINSK. This is the New York, New York example. Ben was born in the town of MOZIR (Yiddish) which is also spelled Mozyr (Belarus), Mazyr (Russian), Mozyrz (Polish), and Masyr (German).

Lena was born in MINSK (the State of) in the village of IVANKOV. She and Ben also lived in the town of RECHITSA (about 25 miles from what we would call the county of Hoymel (Gomel). Rechitsa has other spellings such as Rechytsa [Bel], Rechitsa [Rus, Yid], Rzeczyca [Pol], Ryechitsa, Rechysta, Recyca, Rechytsia, Riechetsy.

Most of the Ruben Chargo’s children (Ruben, Hyman, Ben, Harry) were born in a small village not far, about 5 miles to the north of Ivankov, called RUSAKY. It may be assumed that Ruben moved from the village to the larger town of Ivankov (Alternate names: Ivankov [Rus, Yid], Ivankiv [Ukr], Iwanków [Pol], Ivankova (US)) before Lena was born.

Morris Chargo’s birth place has not been verified, as only ‘Kiev’ is on known documents, which most likely does not refer to the city.

Ruben was born in Berdychiv which is about 90 miles west of Kiev, the city. Berdychiv is also written Berdychiv [Ukr], Berdichev [Rus], Barditchev [Yid], Berdyczów [Pol], Berdicev [Rom], Berditchev, Berditchov, Berditschew, Berdytschiw, Berdyciv.

Ben and Lena lived and married in ‘Kiev’ according to their marriage certificate; possibly the city . . . which as you might have guessed is also what the state geographic area was called. They may have lived in the state of Kiev. From the early 1860’s to 1914, the Jewish population of Kiev grew until it became one of the largest urban Jewish communities in the Russian Empire. On some forms our ancestors would list ‘KIEV’ as where they lived much like many Chicago area residents who say the are from Chicago when they really live in Skokie, Niles or some other suburb which might be 25 miles away from downtown Chicago. Since Ben last lived in the town of Rechitsa before leaving for America in 1914, having been married in “Kiev” in 1913, it should be assumed that the Kiev on the marriage certificate referred to the Geographic area, not the city. Of course, it’s possible they traveled to the big city to marry, but I doubt it. Rechitsa is not only a town, but the name of the governing administrative district (Rechitsa District) under the MINSK Adminstrative District (again, think New York, New York example).

To help you better understand where Ben & Lena lived, the following information and maps are intended to lead you from the big picture: Europe, and take you to their town level. The linking point of these maps is the major city of KIEV, which is the major city of the Kiev Administrative District. Confused? I was.

In the 1890’s, the Russian Empire was ruled by Tzar Nicholas II. The Empire was divided into Administrative Districts including that of KIEV and MINSK. The MINSK district was subdivided into 9 districts including MOZYR and RECHITSA. After the Russian Revolution of 1918 the area underwent many boundary changes. You might want to think of our American experience where the state of Virginia initially applied to the entire coastal region from South Carolina to Maine, plus the island of Bermuda. Also, the state of Tennesee and South Carolina were carved out of the original colonial state of Carolina.

The 1890’s MINSK area since 1991 is now the Republic of Belarus. The Republic of BELARUS is subdivided into districts including that of MINSK. This chart may help illustrate the governmental relationships during the time Ben was growing; at least I think so. I’m not positive I have it correct, but you should get the idea that it can be confusing when towns, cities, and counties have the same name.

1890 – 1917	1890 – 1917
Town or village of Mozyr, Rusaki or Berdychiv (Shtetl)	City of Chicago | City Ward | Neighborhood
Mozyr Administrative District (Uyezd Gorod)	County of Cook | State of Illinois
Administrative District of MINSK (Uyezd)	State of Illinois
Russian Empire	United States

 

Map of modern Europe showing Kiev in the upper right (RED DOT)

Our ancestor’s towns were about 100 miles north of the city of KIEV (RED DOTS)

The Pripyat river that flows by Mazyr

 

 

The towns of our Melamed ancestors

 

 

 

Notice the town name spelling variations, and that they were located in a small radius of about 60 miles.

 

 

 

 

Distance between Rusaki and Ivankov is about 5 miles.

 

The town of our KRASNITZKY (SHANKMAN) ancestors

Harry SHANKMAN ‘Hershel KRASNITZSKY’ was born in Rzhyshchiv, near Kiev.