"Ancestors were friends with Skirmunt." A Belarusian man compiled a family tree that already numbers 1900 people — how did he do it?

"For me, this is not just collecting names; it's an attempt to understand myself. It's like a detective story that allows you to feel the ground under your feet. You understand why you have such a character, why you are drawn to certain things. It gives a strong sense of belonging to your lineage and to Belarus," says Mikalai.

Павялічыць

The journalist told "Nasha Niva" about the main tools he uses to search for relatives around the world and shared a couple of incredible personal discoveries.

"My grandmother saw Raman Skirmunt — the Prime Minister of the BNR — with her own eyes"

Mikalai's ancestors lived in Klechchyna — in the heart of the Radziwill estates — and in Pinsk region — the part of the land that once belonged to the Skirmunts.

"In 2018, I accidentally came across a book by historian Ales Smalyanchuk about Raman Skirmunt. This is a unique publication: in addition to a detailed biography of Skirmunt himself, it vividly describes Polesia of that time — the very places and villages where my ancestors were born and lived.

The book recounted how the Skirmunts created a real industrial oasis in the village of Parechcha (present-day Pinsk district), which contemporaries even called "Liverpool on Yaselda." They invited engineers from Prussia and Saxony, butter from their estates was exported to England and Denmark, spirits went to Königsberg and Danzig, and the products of their cloth factory received medals at exhibitions in Paris and Moscow. Nearby, in the village of Molodovo, was the Skirmunts' "cultural center," which attracted the intellectual elite. There, in the Skirmunt palace, a rich library and archive were assembled, and the famous writer Eliza Orzeszkowa visited there, drawing inspiration for her works. Nearby is the village of Dostoyevo, where the family of writer Dostoevsky has its roots. This gave an idea of the unique places where my ancestors lived," the journalist recounts.

While reading about all those places and their rich life, family stories began to come alive and gain specifics.

"I remembered, for example, that my grandmother saw Raman Skirmunt — the Prime Minister of the BNR — with her own eyes, and some ancestors even befriended him. It was the realization that "great history" was happening literally in the neighboring village of my grandparents that became the impetus, after which I began archival research," Mikalai recalls his motivation to delve deeper into his ancestors' history.

Павялічыць

Unfortunately, Mikalai's grandmother passed away soon after, making some details harder to clarify. But the journalist decided to continue searching through archives to preserve at least what could still be saved from oblivion.

"The deepest branch reaches 10 generations into the past and begins in the 17th century"

Today, Mikalai's family geography spans the USA, Canada, European countries, and Kazakhstan. The family tree itself numbers about 1900 people, 143 of whom are direct ancestors (all born on the territory of modern Belarus).

"The deepest branch reaches 10 generations into the past and begins in the 17th century, and the widest covers eighth cousins.

And speaking of the geography of residence, the most unusual point on the map is probably Iraq — where my distant relative (the father of my mother's seventh cousin) died during World War II.

But overall, all my known ancestors are Belarusians; they lived on their land for centuries, hardly moving anywhere. However, collateral branches — the siblings of my grandparents — often scattered across the world in search of a better life or for service. This is how the foreign branches of the family were formed."

Павялічыць

A new direction for research — Belarusian emigration of the early last century

An additional impetus for Mikalai to learn about his family's history was emigration. He previously worked as the press secretary of the Kupalaŭski Theater but was detained and questioned in a "treason" case, after which he was forced to leave the country.

Not long ago, through the prism of genealogy, Mikalai discovered a new interesting direction for himself — Belarusian emigration of the early last century.

"Let's try to travel back in time. It's the 1910s. On one hand, our villages, where life flows slowly, where a centuries-old way of life is preserved, wooden houses stand, and horse traction is everywhere. And on the other hand, at literally the same moment, a parallel reality exists where our relatives, also Belarusians, find themselves amidst the scenery of industrialization: among skyscrapers, giant metallurgical plants, and automobiles.

Today, a flight from Europe to the USA takes 7 to 12 hours. But back then, there were no planes yet. To get to America, one had to undertake a transatlantic voyage on a ship — along the routes of the "Titanic" — lasting from one to three weeks. And before that, one had to take care of documents (a passport was not "by default" in every peasant's chest then) and travel by land to the nearest port in Europe — for example, Hamburg or Rotterdam.

Павялічыць

A transatlantic voyage was not the easiest test for peasants: most of them had seen Belarusian rivers and lakes, but never the sea or ocean, so many suffered from seasickness for the first time. Moreover, the journey to the New World for an ordinary Belarusian peasant usually took place in third class. These were not cozy private cabins as in movies, but huge rooms in the ship's hold with bunk beds, where dozens of languages mingled and the constant hum of the engine room echoed. Then came border control and adaptation. The life of emigrants ultimately boiled: in the USA, emigrants opened newspapers and magazines in their own languages, created public organizations, and built Orthodox and Catholic churches."

Павялічыць

Why did they go overseas?

"Many went with the aim of earning money and returning. The plan was simple: hard work in a factory, accumulated 500-1000 dollars (a large sum at that time), return to the Homeland, buy land, and live a prosperous life. But history introduced its own adjustments: World War I, revolution, the Soviet-Polish War, World War II... Borders closed, returning could be dangerous, and people found themselves trapped: those who planned to stay in America for a couple of years stayed forever. They started families, put down roots.

Павялічыць

Today, walking through the old cemeteries of Cleveland, such as St. Theodosius cemetery or Brooklyn Heights, one can see entire sections of monuments with Orthodox eight-pointed crosses and surnames ending in -vich.

Such stories of contrasts existed in every historical period: one can recall how our ancestors in the 19th century went to recruitment for 25 years, returning to their native village as gray strangers; or how during Stolypin's reforms, entire families loaded property into wagons and traveled to distant Siberia for land, creating their Belarusian enclaves there; or how after the First and Second World Wars, thousands of compatriots were scattered all over the world — from Argentina to Australia."

"Behind the picture of the American dream often hid the personal tragedy of people"

In Mikalai's family tree, there is a notable story connected to Belarusian emigration to the USA. Namely, the story of Afanasi Bazylik, his great-grandfather's brother.

"For a long time, he was a mystery man to me: his name flickered in documents from the early last century, and then abruptly disappeared. The solution was found precisely in the passenger lists of transatlantic voyages.

In February 1913, a young man from Polesia stood on the deck of the transatlantic ship "Patria," which had departed from Hamburg. After a difficult journey, the ship entered New York Harbor. The first thing my relative saw was Ellis Island, the "gateway to America," and literally a few hundred meters from him rose the Statue of Liberty. I managed to reconstruct almost all of his American life: I even found the house in Utica (New York state) where he lived.

Today, this house can be seen on a map in a few seconds, but then, in the first half of the century, information about relatives had to be awaited for months.

Павялічыць

In the family archive, I found a letter that Afanasi sent from the USA on April 5, 1946, 33 years after his departure. The envelope bore an address that had not existed for a quarter of a century: "Pinsk district, Minsk Governorate." Inside were simple and sincere words, addressed to my great-grandfather Yakim: "Stay alive and healthy." These lines embody the drama of that time when distance and borders destroyed connections. By the time the letter arrived, my great-grandfather's brother had already been gone for 12 years. Yakim Bazylik died back in 1934. Apparently, this news did not cross the ocean in those years.

And this is also one of the symbols of that emigration. It shows that behind the picture of the American dream often hid the personal tragedy of people who, having gone overseas, lost the most precious thing — the ability to stay in touch with loved ones."

What does Mikalai recommend starting with when collecting information about ancestors?

1. Foundation — conversations with the oldest relatives

"Of course, memories can be distorted or acquire legends, so everything needs verification. However, it is precisely dialogue with the elders of the family that provides the necessary framework for the search, which becomes difficult to reconstruct after their passing. I had a revealing case. I spoke with the oldest relative — he was over 90 years old then, but he had a phenomenal memory. He casually mentioned that my great-great-grandfather was a local leader at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries. I was skeptical about this: after all, my interlocutor was born after the revolution and might have confused something in his childhood memories. But I noted the clue.

After some time, I decided to check this legend through statistical publications — "Commemorative Books" of the governorates, where lists of officials and employees were printed. I opened the relevant volost and was surprised: the surname, first name, and patronymic of my great-great-grandfather were indeed listed among the volost chairmen of Polesia."

2. Work with archives

For researchers from Belarus, the main archives are the National Historical Archive in Minsk and Hrodna. This is where metric books are stored — church and cathedral documents with records of baptisms, marriages, and burials. To delve deeper into history, there are "revision lists" — population censuses in the 18th-19th centuries, during the times of the Russian Empire, or inventories of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth estates.

Павялічыць

"Work in these archives allows you to build the foundation of a family tree: to find out surnames, dates, and places of birth, which can then be supplemented with details from other sources," adds the interviewee.

3. Search by common DNA

"True, the DNA tool in genealogy works more like a compass than a detailed map. The test accurately determines biological kinship: it can show that you and I, for example, are third cousins, or even indicate the approximate birth year of our common ancestor. But it won't answer the main questions: who exactly is our common ancestor, what was his name, where and how did he live — and this narrative content, in fact, is the most interesting part," Mikalai clarifies.

— Recently, there was an interesting example. One of the genealogical services showed me a DNA match with a person from the USA. He had a large and well-researched tree of as many as 8,000 people. Among his direct ancestors, one branch of the family was from Belarus. I latched onto this, started looking at the tree, and found in it natives of Polesia from the 19th century with the names Sam Lukas and Paraska Buzilik, whose son moved to the USA from near Pinsk in his youth. Transatlantic ship passenger lists confirmed the emigration to the USA; all dates and parents' names matched. As a result, it turned out that Sam Lukas was also found in my tree, but in Belarus, he was known as Siamion Lukashyk with his wife Paraskeviya Bazylik. That's how I met my fifth cousin from the States."

Mikalai exchanged documents with his relative, which finally confirmed the non-randomness of their DNA match. She was very happy that she was able to find her ancestors overseas — this had been the woman's dream.

Павялічыць

4. Online databases and social networks

"Among global giants, FamilySearch is worth highlighting — a huge free database containing millions of digital copies of documents from all over the world. For searching, Ancestry and MyHeritage will be indispensable. These are commercial platforms, but they are the best at indexing population censuses, passenger lists of transatlantic liners, and military documents. Often, it is there that an automatic "match" occurs with the trees of distant relatives who have long been researching their lineage on another continent.

As for Belarusian specifics, the basic tool is the Radzima.net portal, which helps to understand the administrative division and determine which parish or volost the ancestors' village belonged to at different times. Social networks also help. For example, on Facebook and Telegram, there are communities where experienced amateurs and professionals help decipher difficult handwriting in old metrics, suggest fund numbers in archives, or simply share useful links. Sometimes this collective intelligence works more effectively than any official directory."

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