The Charney Family of Mir, Belarus

Following from an 1836 Marriage Record g1816 Revision List g1795 Revision List g1784 GDL Census

The city of Mir was in the Novogrodok district of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the 18th century and this town is now in Belarus.  Hadassah Lipsius traced her Charney family back through the 19th century using an 1836 Warszawa (Warsaw) marriage record and the 1816 revision list for Mir. She was fortunate to find a 1795 revision list for Mir, which enabled her to recognize her family on the 1784 Grand Duchy of Lithuania list.

Hadassah began with an 1836 marriage record in Warszawa (Warsaw) for her 2nd great grandparents from which she first learned that her 2nd great grandmother came from Mir:

1836 Warszawa Marriage Record

Chawa Moszkowna CZARNY, an unmarried girl, in the town of Mir, living with her parents. Born of Moszka CZARNY, a merchant and his wife Zeldy daughter of Solomon

Her 2nd great grandmother signed her name in Hebrew as SHACHOR, not CZARNY:

However, Charney means black in Polish and Russian, and Shachor means black Hebrew. When she died a notary record stated that her maiden name was SCHWARTZ!

Hadassah observed, "Mir is 243 miles from Warsaszawa. Quite a distance to travel to find your bashert [soulmate]".

On the 1816 list for Mir, there are eleven CHARNEY families.  Five of these have heads of household who are sons of Leyba, and three are shown below.  Movsha and Zelda (family #92) on the following 1816 list are Hadassah’s 3rd great grandparents.  

Mir 1816 Revision List

Hadassah then tried to identify her family on the 1795 Revision List, which is more difficult because it does not contain many surnames.  She found Leyb, the father of Itsko [Icko], Meyer and Movsha [Mausze].  In family #8: Leyb son of Hersz has a wife Mirka, and children Mousze, Chana, Icko in the same household.  His son Meyer has established and is head of a separate household, with a wife Ryvka and two sons. 

Mir 1795 Revision List

Looking at the Mir Grand Duchy list, Hadassah was able to find her family at #82:

Leyba son of Hirsz (Leyba Hirszowicz), the landlord, his wife Mirka, his son Idel (he was also listed in 1816), his son Icko (probably Itsko in 1816), his son Mowsza, (who was also listed with the family in 1795, and as a separate head of household in 1816), his daughters Gnesia, Cywa, Chana (Chana was 18 on the 1795 entry) and Meyer and his wife Rywka, who also appeared in 1795.

 1784 Grand Duchy of Lithuania Census for Mir

Leyba son of Hirsz, the landlord, his wife Mirka, sons Idel, Icko, and Mowsza, daughters Gnesia, Cywa, Chana and son Meyer and his wife Rywka.

This example shows how Hadassah Lipsius was able to trace her CHARNY family from the 1816 Revision List, on which they had a surname, first names, patronymics, relationships and ages, to the 1795 Revision List, on which they lacked a surname, but are clearly linked by first names, patronymics and other family relationships. With the knowledge of names and relationships of the household in the 1795 list, she was able to find them on the earlier 1784 Grand Duchy Census.

Leyba, son of Hirsz, was 59 on the 1795 revision list (and 48 eleven  years earlier on the 1784 census). Leyba would have been born in 1736. It would be reasonable to estimate that his father - Hirsz - who we know of because of Leyba’s patronymic - would have been born at least 20-30 years earlier, circa 1706-1716. It will be interesting to see if Hirsz appears with this family on the earlier 1764 GDL Census. If so it would be possible to trace the family back to the mid to late 1600s.

Sources: 

1836 Marriage Record found by Hadassah Lipsius as a volunteer for JRI-Poland Warszawa Shtetl CO-OP.  1816 and 1795 Revision Lists are available on the Belarus SIG website.  1784 Census of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania from the Jewish Family History Foundation’s Grand Duchy Project.