Who is Sham Volokh?
How far back in time
can we see our family line?
Through direct
family reporting, we trace our paternal family
lineage
back to Hyman's father David Hirsh
Wallach and
his grandfather Beryl Wallach, both born and raised in
Khotin, Bessarabia. We know that David Hirsh Wallach had a
brother Jacob (Yankel), and a sister Nessa. We have this information
from both our line and the genealogy work of David Wallach of
Florida (son of Benjamin, grandson of Jacob, great-grandson of
Beryl).
Thanks to the JewishGen Genealogy
organization and website, we may
have identified three additional relatives and possibly Beryl's father
in Khotin, pushing back our known history by a full generation. This
page is for you genealogy wonks only, as it is a detailed explanation
of
exactly what we found, how we found it, and why we think Sham Volokh is
part of our line.
To understand
our reasoning in identifying Sham, you will need to
understand a bit of history, and also appreciate the meaning of
the "patronymic" in Russian names.
We'll begin
with the history - In 1905 Tzar Alexander is forced
to sign the October Manifesto, which creates the Russian Duma - an
elected assembly to balance the power of the Tzar in governing Russia:
"Finally
on October 17 the Tzar signed a manifesto, the October Manifesto.
It was written by Witte and Alexis Obolenskii and closed followed the
demands of the September Zemstvo Congress, in granting basic civil
rights, allowing the formation of political parties, extending the
franchise some-way towards universal suffrage, and establishing the
Duma as the central legislative body. " -
WordIQ.com - The Russian Revolution of 1905
Rigid rules
were defined for who can vote in the Duma election, and the
list of eligible voters were compiled and published in 1907. The JewishGen Genealogy
organization and website have compiled the
Bessarabia Duma Voter List into a transliterated
and
searchable database. When we search this list the for
Wallachs (Volokhs), we find
our known ancestors, and we find something more ...
These
are the results of a search for
"Volokh" the english transliteration of our name in the JewishGen Duma
Voter list:
| Item |
Name |
Patronymic |
Qualification
Reason |
Town - Russian Name
Town - Modern Name |
Uyezd
Country |
Year |
 |
| 522 |
VOLOKH, Yankel |
Berk. |
v. |
Khotin
Khotin |
Khotin
Ukr. |
1906 |
|
| 523 |
VOLOKH, Duvid Gersh |
Berk. |
v. |
Khotin
Khotin |
Khotin
Ukr. |
1906 |
|
| 640 |
VOLOKH, Shimshon |
Moshkov |
v. |
Khotin
Khotin |
Khotin
Ukr. |
1906 |
|
| 7-60 |
VOLOKH, Yankel |
Berkovich |
dg. |
Khotin
Khotin |
Khotin
Ukr. |
1907 |
| 7-61 |
VOLOKH, Duvid-Gersh |
Berkovich |
dg. |
Khotin
Khotin |
Khotin
Ukr. |
1907 |
|
| 8-22 |
VOLOKH, Gdal |
- |
tpl. |
Khotin
Khotin |
Khotin
Ukr. |
1907 |
|
| 8-84 |
VOLOKH, Shimshen |
Moshkovich |
kn. |
Khotin
Khotin |
Khotin
Ukr. |
1907 |
|
| 66 |
VOLOKH, Moshko |
Shamshinov |
d. 40 |
Lipkany
Lipcani |
Khotin
Mold. |
1907 |
|
| 11-20 |
VOLOKH, Volf |
Ruvinov |
t. |
Orgeyev
Orhei |
Orgieev
Mold. |
1907 |
There are six
Wallachs listed as eligible voters, and three additional
Wallachs that are not listed but implied by the patronymics. According
to
JewishGen, to be eligible to vote, they all
had to be at least 24 years old and property or business owners. Three
of the names are listed as living in Khotin and eligible to
vote in both 1906 and 1907. Those names are
Duvid Gersh Volokh, Yankel Volokh and
Shimshen Volokh.
The first two
of these names are highlighted in red. They are brothers,
and our direct ancestors David Hirsh Wallach
(Duvid Gersh Volokh) and Jacob Wallach (Yankel Volokh). How do we
know
for sure? Because of the patronymic listed in their name. In Russian
the patronymic (sort of a middle name) is automatically generated from
the
name of the father. If I was Russian, my patronymic would be Sid-ovich or
Sidney-ovitch, since my
fathers name is Sidney (I
knew those three years of first year Russian would come in
handy some day!)
.
Yankel and Duvid have the exact same patronymic (Berkovitch) -
therefore the same father - "Ber..."
as in Beryl
Wallach. A perfect match to our directly reported family history.
There is more information in the voter rolls about these men. Both are
qualified to vote based on reason "dg".
which means that they are both significant property owners with value
greater than 300 rubles. From this we can further surmise that Beryl is
dead (since he is not on the rolls), and David and Yankel have
inherited his property (maybe a business, maybe land, or - my best
guess - is that the property is a large herd of sheep. This
guess is consistent with what was reported by the aforementioned David
Wallach of Florida, to cousin Barry Wallach that "Beryl
was a wealthy sheepherder and had
10,000 head of sheep."
So who are
these other eligible voting Wallachs on the list? There is
Shimshen
Volokh,
also eligible
in both '06 and '07, and also
living in Khotin. He is qualified to vote for reason "kn"
meaning
he is an apartment
owner (pays apartment tax). His patronymic is Moshkovitch, so his
father's name
must start with Moshko... and
looking back on the list, we find - Moshko
Volokh,
Shimshen's father, living in Lipkany (about 25 miles away). Moshko is
eligible to vote because he owns property valued in excess of 40
rubles.
Remembering that 24 is the minimum age to be eligible to vote, it seems
safe to assume that Shimshen is the same generation of David and
Jacob, which makes Moshko the same generation as Beryl. Perhaps (we
surmise) Moshko
is Beryl's younger brother. We see that Moshko also has a patronymic - Shamshinov - so we now have
the
name of a Wallach of Beryl's father's generation - Sham
(Shamshin ?) Volohk living in
the area of Khotin. Since Beryl (assumed deceased) is not on the
list, we do not have his patronymic to confirm this hypothesis - but
the story hangs together, and this is the picture that comes into
focus: These are
the propertied Wallachs of Khotin. If Sham Volokh owned a large
flock of sheep, they would have been inherited by his sons Beryl
and Moshko, perhaps Beryl got more because he was older, or perhaps he
was simply a better shepherd/businessman and grew the flock. When Beryl
dies, his sons David and Jacob inherit the flock, both of which are
valued in excess of 300 rubles. Shimsen owns an apartment in Khotin,
while his father Moshko manages the (smaller) flock he inherited in
Lipkany.
There are two
more eligible Wallachs on the list. Gdal
Volohk,
living
in Khotin, eligibility code
"tpl"
(pays a business tax). No patronymic is given so we have no more
clues. He is a businessman in Khotin and probably related in some way -
a butcher? a furrier? a tailor? David's generation? Beryl's
generation? All guesswork.
Finally, one
more - Wolf
Wallach
(Volf Volohk) living in Orgeiv
(Orhei), and
eligible to vote as a code "t"
(Trade/Commerce - owns
shop, trader, merchant, dealer, etc.) So we find a Wolf
Wallach, perhaps a
cousin, perhaps related to Shimsen, as a businessman/trader
living just off a tributary of the Dneister River directly on the
sheepskin and wool trading route between Khotin and the seaport of
Odessa. It is
tempting to see an extended family business here, based on the sheep
trade. Trading posts and markets in Orhei on the route from Khotin to
Odessa,
flocks and apartments in Khotin and Lipkany. This is also consistent
with David/Barry Wallach research that "
..the family shipped sheepskin and wool
to the seaport of Odessa to trade." Wolf does have a
patronymic
listed (Ruvinov), which
identifies another
Wallach, his father
Ruv
Volokh.
So, Wolf is definitely not a brother of Shimsen,
or
Moshko, but could be a cousin.
Ruv Volohk could
also be
a
brother of Beryl and/or Moshko, which
would make Ruv and not Sham our direct ancestor. I'm betting on
Sham - because of the closer Khotin connection. Clicking the map
shows the location of all the eligible Bessarabian
Wallachs qualified to vote in the 1906-7 Russian Duma elections. Clicking the
map shows the location of all eligible Bessarabian
Wallachs qualified to vote in the 1906-7 Russian Duma elections.
Our answer to
the
question posed in the title - Sham is our
great-great-great-grandfather.
