Julia Stenanets
From the history of the Chagalls: new archival documents
There have been many attempts to unify and draw the family tree of Marc Chagall in details. And always the grounds for any research of the artist's life and creativity were his memoirs in his autobiographical book "Ma vie", Chagall's biography written by his son-in-law Franz Meyer or recollections of his contemporaries. Substantial articles by Arkadi Shulman "From great-grandfather to great-grandson" and "Flesh of flesh" were published in the "Mishpokha" journal which is regularly published in Vitebsk (Mishpokha. №3, 1997. p.86-88, 90-93). The research conducted by Liudmila Khmalnitskaya in respect of the family history of Bella Rosenfeld (Marc Chagall's wife) is of great interest (Mishpokha. №4, 1998. p.30-32).
With the purpose to study Marc Chagall's biography in details we have launched a research of numerous volumes of "By-family lists of the Jewish merchants and petty bourgeoisie in the city of Vitebsk" of the late XIX - yearly XX centuries kept in the National historical archives of Belarus in the city of Minsk. Thereupon I would love to thank Viacheslav Nosevich for his assistance in the archival search.
The Vitebsk city council started to make the by-family lists in 1874 and the last records date back to the after-Revolution years. We were interested in the Chagalls, the Chernins (relatives of Marc Chagall's mother), and the Rosenfelds (relatives of his wife). The most numerous records regard the Chernins and the Resenfelds.
First we encountered the reference to the family of Chagalls in "By-family lists of the Jewish merchants and petty bourgeoisie in the city of Vitebsk" as of January 1, 1881 (NHAB, f.2496, оп.1, file 2525). Under the record №1558 by census in the column "Прозвание (или фамилия), имя, отчество лиц мужского пола" (surname, name and patronymics of a male person) we read: "Шагал Довид Еселев" (Chagall Dovid Eselev). The column "Возраст. Лета к 1 января того года, в котором составлен посемейный список (Age. Years by the 1st of January of the reporting year) (i.е. 1881.)" indicates 56 years old, the column ‘‘Год, месяц и день рождения по метрике" (Year, month and day of birth according to birth certificate) has no records. In the column "Отметка о прибыли и убыли лиц мужского пола после составления списка" (record on arrival and departure of male persons after the list was made) we read: " Внесены по дате указанной Мещанской управой 15 августа 1880 года №2551. Довид Еселев с сыном Гиршею исключен предписанием Казенной палаты от 5 декабря 1883 года №18306 за перечислением в Добромыслянское общество Оршанской управы. Отношение мещанской управы 15 декабря 1882 г. №4829. Распоряжение по управе №4428". (Made as of the date indicated by the Bourgeoisie board on August 15, 1890 record No. 2551. Dovid Eselev with his son Girsha excluded by order No. 18306 of December 5, 2883 by Financial chamber after transition to Dobromyslianskoje society of Orsha council. Council resolution No. 4428.)
At that time the borough of Dobromysli despite its territorial vicinity to Vitebsk belonged to the jurisdiction of Mogiliov province. Apparently, Hatskel Chagall was registered to Dobromyslenskoje society as in the "List of real estate owners in the city of Vitebsk in 1915 " (Списках владельцев недвижимого имущества города Витебска за 1915 год) he was written down as a Dobrosysli petty bourgeois, owner of one-storied stone house with a shop, wooden house, two outbuildings in the yard and a barn made of planks located in Pokrovskaya street in the 3rd area on Vitebsk (NHAB, ф.2496, оп.1, file 5182, pages 354-355).
In the biography of Marc Chagall Franz Meyer wrote one can read: "Several generations ago the ancestors of Chagall moved to Vitebsk from more southern Mogiliov province, his birth certificate was registered not in Vitebsk, but in his original society from which he came from - Dobromysli. At the beginning his surname was Segal. Only the artist's father changed it to Chagall " (Meyer Fr. Marc Chagall. Paris, 1995. P.19).
Let's look through " By-family lists of the Jewish merchants and petty bourgeoisie in the city of Vitebsk" of the year 1881. In the column for registration of "female persons belonging to families" ("лица женского пола, к семействам принадлежащие") we read: "David's wife in the second marriage - Basheva (Давида жена 2 брака - Башева)". Age - 36 years.
Chagall mentioned in "Ma vie" that his grandfather's name was David, and his grandmather's name was Basheva. There he wrote: "Granny said pointing at the gravestone: "Here is the grave of your grandpa, father of your father and my first husband ". She could not cry, only smacked her lips, whispered: either talking to herself or praying. I could hear her groaning bent in front of the stone and hill as if in front of grandpa himself, as if she was talking into the depth of sole or into the case where something is locked forever.: "Pray for us, David, I beg you. It is me, your Basheva. Pray for your sick son Shatia, for poor Ziusia, for their kids. Pray that they always are innocent to the God and people (Бабушка говорила, указывая на плиту: "Вот могила твоего деда, отца твоего отца и моего первого мужа". Плакать она не умела, только перебирала губами, шептала: не то разговаривала сама с собой, не то молилась. Я слышал, как она причитает, склонившись перед камнем и холмиком, как перед самим дедом, будто говорит вглубь земли или в шкаф, где лежит навеки запертый предмет: "Молись за нас, Давид, прошу тебя. Это я, твоя Башева. Молись за своего больного сына Шатю, за бедного Зюсю, за их детей. Молись, чтобы они всегда были чисты перед Богом и людьми)" (Chagall М. My life. Мoscow, 1994. p. 10-11)".
Further in "By-family Lists" we read the column indicating names and patronymics of male persons: "His sons (i.e. David's sons): 1. Girsha, 32 years old; his son Movsha-Aaron, 12 years old (born in 1869). 2. Hatskel, 18 years old. 3. Zusyja, 13 years old. 4. Abram, 8 years old (born on August 8, 1873). 5. Jankel, 3 years old. (Его сыновья (т.е. сыновья Давида - Ю.С.): 1. Гирша, 32 года; его сын Мовша-Арон, 12 лет (родился в 1869 г.). 2. Хацкель, 18 лет. 3. Зусыя, 13 лет. 4. Абрам, 8 лет (родился 18 августа 1873 г.). 5. Янкель, 3 года)".
Let's get back to Franz Meyer: " Though grandfather David Segal was a teacher in the religious school, he sent his two sons to study: Zakhar - to Jakhnin, herring trader,and Zusia - to barber. " (Meyer Fr. Marc Chagall. P.20). Marc Chagall also mentioned in his "Ma vie" his uncle Zusya, barber, "who could have worked in Paris " (M. Chagall. Ma vie. p.24).
Thus, in the archives we found a document constituting a family list of Marc Chagall's grandfather David Eselev Chagall. Obviously, the artist's grandfather had a double name - David-Mordukh, as Marc Chagall's father was mentioned in other archival documents as Hatskel Mordukhov Chagall. As we can see from "By-family lists", the name of the artist's grandfather was not Segal, but Chagall. The rest coincides with the date from other sources: Dobromysli, grandma Basheva, uncle Zusia, written down in the By-family Lists" as Zusyja, and Chagall's father Hatskel who later changed his name into more Russian Zakhar. Basheva was the second wife of David-Mordukh Chagall, so the age difference between her and his elder son Girsha makes only four years.
We can add that according to the "Lists": Girsha Chagall's son Movsha-Aaron was drafted for service in the army with the 2nd rank privilege in 1890. The "Lists" also mentioned Girsha's wife Feiga, who turned 32 in 1881. The same date regarding the family of Girsha Davidov Chagall can be found in the "By-family lists" of the year 1889 (NHAB, ф.2496, оп.1, file 2546), where the family is indicated as a separate unit. We found that Girsha's family had grown significantly and by 1889 he had not only Movsha-Aaron, but three more sons: Abram, born in 1882, Mendel' who had turned 2 years old by January 1, 1889 and Esel' born in 1875, who for some reason had not been included into the "lists" of 1881. Girsha also had daughter Mantkha, who turned 16 in 1889. In the column "Record on arrival and departure of male persons" we read: "From petty bourgeoisie of Dobromysly. Put down from reference of bourgeoisie board in record №123 - year 1890.".
Girsha's son Movsha-Aaron (Мовша-Арон) was drafted in 1890, and in 1894 he was listed among the soldiers of the 1st rank according to the certificate by the Vitebsk province military state of the year 1890. Abram Girshev (Абрам Гиршев) was registered in the draftees lists in 1903 without privileges. On February 26, 1907 the Vitebsk province military committee notified that Abram Ubhitdbx Chagall was finally discharged because of illness. Esel' Girshev (Есель Гиршев) was put into the draftees list in 1896, but was excluded after his death on the 4th of February.
Thus, summing up the results of our research we can say that now we have the exact birth dates of the relatives of Marc Chagall's father's kin. The artist's grandfather David-Mordukh Chagall (Давид-Мордух Шагал) was born in 1825, grandmother Basheva (Башева) - in 1845, uncle Girsha (Гирша) - in 1849, Basheva's elder brother Hatskel (Хацкель) (Marc Chagall's father in future) - in 1863, Zusia (Зуся) - in 1868, Abram (Абрам) - in 1873, Jankel (Янкель) - in 1878. We also know the exact birth dates of March Chagall's cousins (children of his uncle Girsha).
