Metadata: Senior Notary of the District Court in Grodno
Collection
- Country:
- Poland
- Holding institution:
- State Archives in Białystok
- Holding institution (official language):
- Archiwum Państwowe w Białymstoku
- Postal address:
- Rynek Kościuszki 4, Białystok 15-426
- Phone number:
- +48 85 743 56 03
- Web address:
- http://www.bialystok.ap.gov.pl/
- Reference number:
- 4/280
- Title:
- Senior Notary of the District Court in Grodno
- Title (official language):
- Starszy Notariusz Sądu Okręgowego w Grodnie
- Creator/accumulator:
- Court administration in Grodno
- Date(s):
- 1581/1930
- Date note:
- 1581-1882, 1915, 1919-1930
- Language:
- Polish
- Latin
- German
- Russian
- Extent:
- 32.02 linear metres (389 folders)
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Physical condition:
- good
- Scope and content:
-
The documents in this collection concerns only the counties of Białystok, Bielsko and Sokółka in Grodno province. The collection consists of the so-called records of activities of the senior notary public, which constituted matters that involved the drawing up of notarial deeds. They include deeds of purchase and sale, pledges, division of inherited real estate, division during the owner’s lifetime, and court approval of wills. Records of activities were created for each case and contained, in addition to the copy of the notarial deed prepared in one of the notary's offices in the province, all correspondence and additional documentation necessary to approve the deed. Cases for the approval of notarial agreements contain numerous appendices that document the right to own the property constituting the subject of the agreement. Documents attached to cases for approval of contracts are frequently invaluable primary source materials.
The collection is a primary source for knowledge about the socio-economic life of the Jewish population, including their property status, in the period before World War I. There are numerous documents relating to real estate in Białystok itself - about 40 percent of the entire collection. The collection includes a number of documents related to the Jewish community, such as the following:
4/280/0/1/81, Białystok county seat; purchase and sale records by Abram Szpiro on behalf of the town of Białystok of an undeveloped square at Cmentarna Street, intended for the construction of quarters for the Białystok Jewish Charity Society "Talmud Tora”;
4/280/0/1/91 purchase and sale records by Abram Szpiro on behalf of the town of Białystok of an undeveloped square at Cmentarna Street, intended for the construction of quarters of the Białystok Jewish Charity Society "Talmud Torah”;
4/208/0/1/92 documents from the town of Białystok, including files of purchase and sale at the auction on 27 June 1903 by the Society of Inexpensive Meals for Poor Jews in Białystok on the real estate at Cmentarna Street;
4/208/0/1/101, Białystok county seat; deed of donation of 3 August 1907, on the basis of which Cywa Kapłańska transferred the property at Mazowiecka Street to the Białystok Jewish Charity Society;
4/208/0/1/103 Białystok county seat; deed of donation of 12 August 1908, on the basis of which Cywa Kapłańska transferred her real estate in Białystok at Mazowiecka Street to the Białystok Jewish Charity Society;
4/280/0/1/107, Białystok county seat; Szachna and Szejna Webman donated a developed property at Żołnierska Street to the Białystok Jewish Charity Society, 1909;
4/280/0/1/111, Białystok county seat; deed of donation of 3 August 1907, on the basis of which Cywa Kapłańska donated the property at Mazowiecka Street to the Białystok Jewish Charity Society; the archival unit also contains the printed statute of the Białystok Jewish Charity Society;
4/280/0/1/124, Białystok county seat; deed of purchase and sale of 18 December 1913 by Sender Niewodowski on behalf of the Miszkon-Jakub Prayer School of a developed property at Mikołajewska Street.
- Archival history:
- After the District Court in Białystok was established in 1919, part of the files of the Senior Notary in Grodno concerning the Białystok, Bielsko and Sokólski counties were transferred to the archives of the Mortgage Department. These files were used in the ongoing activities of the Department. The State Archives in Białystok took over the files of the Senior Notary in 1953 from the archives of the Provincial Court. However, they were not registered in the acquisitions registry. The collection of records was assigned reference number 280. The size and number of the collection were not specified either. The records were acquired without indexes. They were in a state of decay and were severely damaged. In the years 1956-1958, cleaning works were carried out, during which records were sorted and inventoried. In 1957, the volume of the acquisition was determined to be about 40 linear metres of records. Organisation of the records was not completed; at the end of 1958, the number of inventoried units - according to the records of the State Archives at the time - was 16,325 records, about 20.5 linear metres. About 5 linear metres of records were not processed, and were not sorted or numbered (“dissoluta”). In 1958, 15 linear metres of records were destroyed with the consent of the erstwhile Central Commission of Records Destruction at the General Directorate of State Archives. The aforementioned data on the volume was applicable until 2007, when processing of the collection was completed and it was found to measure 30 linear metres.
- Administrative/biographical history:
- The Office of the Senior Notary of the District Court in Grodno operated in the years 1883-1915 on the basis of the Russian Notary Act of 14 April 1866, which introduced a notarial system for registering property rights in the territory of the Russian Empire. The authority of the senior notary public included the approval and registration of real estate notarial agreements. Each change or restriction of ownership of the property resulting from the deed required approval by a senior notary. It was a condition for the change or limitation of the ownership right to enter into force. The area of activity of the Senior Notary of Grodno was Grodno province. As a government official, the senior notary was on equal terms with the members of the district court. The minister of justice was responsible for the appointment and dismissal of senior notaries.
- Access points: persons/families:
- Kapłańska, Cywa
- Niewodowski, Sender
- Szpiro, Abram
- Webman, Szachna
- Webman, Szejna
- System of arrangement:
- The collection is divided into the following series: the town of Białystok - 127 a., Białystok county - 62 a., The town of Bielsko - 12 a., Bielsko county - 72 a., The town of Sokółka - 12 a.
- Finding aids:
-
A printed inventory and draft index exist. The Personal Index has 32,871 entries and is based on the principle of one person - one entry.
J. Szumski, Akta starszego Notariusza Grodzieńskiego Sądu Okręgowego z lat 1883-1914 jako źródło badań nad dziejami miasta obwodu białostockiego [Records of the Senior Notary of the Grodno District Court for 1883-1914 as a Primary Source for Research on the Towns of Białystok District], [w:] Miasta północno-wschodniej częsci Polski (materiały z sympozjum), Białystok 1982 – zasoby internetowe.
- Yerusha Network member:
- The Taube Department of Jewish Studies of the University of Wrocław
- Author of the description:
- Urszula Gierasimiuk, 2018