STROKES TO THE PORTRAIT OF DENIS ALEKSEEVICH DEMIDOV

Abstract

The article examines the situation on the eve of the abolition of serfdom in the land holdings of Denis Alekseevich Demidov. Against the background of this historical period, practically unknown facts of the biography of a representative of the famous Demidov family are presented and analyzed. Many researchers have studied the Nizhny Novgorod Demidovs, but most publications are devoted to the branch of the family that dates back to Prokofy Akinfievich Demidov, and the topic of the descendants of Grigory Akinfievich who lived in these parts is practically not covered at all. This article examines in sufficient detail the life, work and personality of Major Denis Alekseevich Demidov, who, as is known, belonged to the descendants of Grigory Akinfievich Demidov. The article traces the main events of his biography. The emphasis is on Major Demidov's stay in the Nizhny Novgorod province in the late 1850s, i.e., in the difficult years preceding the peasant reform. This little-studied period was studied by the author on the basis of numerous documents from the Central Archive of the Nizhny Novgorod Region. Materials from eight archival cases added new knowledge to us and helped to create a fairly complete picture concerning the relationship between the landowner D.A. Demidov with his peasants and the authorities of the Nizhny Novgorod province. The author used the biographical method and made an attempt to objectively recreate the events taking place in the Volga region on the eve of the abolition of serfdom based on a comparison of various points of view and information obtained from different sources.