Metadata: Board of Meshchanstvo of Vekshnya, Shavli district, Kaunas Governorate
Collection
- Country:
- Lithuania
- Holding institution:
- Kaunas Regional State Archives
- Holding institution (official language):
- Kauno Regioninis Valstybės Archyvas
- Postal address:
- 44248, Maironio g. 28B, Kaunas 44249
- Phone number:
- +370 (837) 323 111
- Web address:
- https://www.archyvai.lt/lt/kaa_naujienos.html
- Email:
- kaunas@archyvai.lt
- Reference number:
- I-223
- Title:
- Board of Meshchanstvo of Vekshnya, Shavli district, Kaunas Governorate
- Title (official language):
- Kauno gubernijos Šiaulių apskrities Viekšnių miestiečių valdyba
- Creator/accumulator:
- Board of Meshchanstvo of Vekshnya
- Date(s):
- 1845/1915
- Language:
- Russian
- Extent:
- 33 files
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Physical condition:
- good
- Scope and content:
- The collection comprises records of the board of the Vekshnya (Viekšniai) Meshchanstvo. It includes metrical data of the Vekshnya meshchane such as family lists and revision lists, materials about issue of passports, data on the conscription of the meshchane into the army, documents regarding convicted persons and on taxation. The collection includes Jewish-related records that provide vital data on the town’s Jewish population. According to the census of 1897, Jews in Vekshnya accounted for 55% of the town’s population (1,646 people). The collection includes alphabetical lists of Jewish residents in Vekshnya in 1845 (inventory 1, file 32) and also the alphabetical lists of Jewish residents in the nearby town of Kurshany (inventory 1, file 33). The collection also contains lists of Jewish families in Vekshnya in 1893 (inventory 1, file 35) and in 1908 (inventory 1, file 36). The lists include full names of the families’ members, age, information on divorces, death and conscription into the army. A file from 1915 contains records on the candle tax collected from Jews, revenue and the tax expense book (inventory 1, file 13). Another file from the same year contains, in addition to documents on the candle tax, information on the collection of korobka, a tax on kosher meat (inventory 1, file 29). The collection contains revision lists of the meshchane in Vekshnya in 1858 (inventory 1, file 31). The revision lists reflect the population “fiscal census” conducted for the purpose of accounting for the taxation and conscription into the army. The lists indicated the name, patronymic and surname of the head of the family, his age and estate. The lists also indicated the names and age of his sons, his wife and his daughters. Sometimes the lists may also indicate people’s marital status – widows or a second marriage. The individuals once listed were considered living and subject to taxation until the next revision took place, which was sometimes not for decades. Since at the time of the new revision the presence of every person was clarified, it is possible to find information on the date of death, whether an individual moved to another place of residence, or on conscription into the army. However, it is important to note that revisions uncovered many Jews who avoided the census. One can also find Jewish names and Jewish-related papers in alphabetical lists of people who received a residence permit in the town, in documents on individuals who received passports, on claims for recovery of money and in records on the exclusion of people from the ranks of the Vekshnya meschanstvo.
- Archival history:
- Information about the history of the collection is not available.
- Administrative/biographical history:
- The meschanstvo was an urban estate in the Russian Empire which did not include the nobility and merchants. In accordance with the decision of 1875 to extend the urban reform of 1870 to the cities of the Western provinces, meschanstvo societies were founded in numerous cities in this region including Vekshnya. The meschanstvo society was administrated by the Meschanstvo board consisting of an elected headman and his assistants. All men and widowed women over 24 years of age had the right to participate in the elections, subject to ownership of real estate in the city. The Meschanstvo board members were elected for 3 years term and their candidacies were approved by the Kaunas governor. The boards were mainly offices that were in charge of keeping records of all the meshchane, issuing passports and accepting applicants into the meschanstvo.
- System of arrangement:
- The collection consists of one inventory.
- Finding aids:
- Detailed inventories are available on the website of the Lithuanian Chief Archivist Service.
- Links to finding aids:
- https://eais-pub.archyvai.lt/eais/faces/pages/forms/search/F3001.jspx
- Yerusha Network member:
- Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People
- Author of the description:
- Ilya Vovshin, Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People, 2020