Documentary reconstruction of patrilineal genealogy of V. M. Torosov

Nilogov Aleksei Sergeevich PhD in Philosophy Current Member (Academician), Moscow Academy of Philosophy of Economy; Chairman of South-Siberian Historical-Genealogical Society (Abakan), Member of Russian Genealogical Federation, Head of Laboratory of Genealogical Research, Khakass Scientific Research Institute of Language, Literature and History 655017, Russia, respublika Khakasiya, g. Abakan, ul. Shchetinkina, 23, kab. 23 nilogov1981@yandex.ru Other publications by this author

The interest in the pedigree of the famous Khakass politician V. M. Torosov (1937 – 2018) resulted in the book "The Affairs of the past Years" ^[1], in which the author summarized his own memories and cited archival research by a relative of M. P. Shoeva, who investigated his maternal line of the Chudogashevs ^[2]. Unfortunately, due to the early death of his father, Mikhail Grigoryevich Torosov (1900 - 1938), the tradition of transferring genealogical knowledge through the male line broke down in the family, so we decided to fill this gap. Having personally met V. M. Torosov at the beginning of 2017, we received a metric statement for 1900 about the birth/baptism of his father M. G. Torosov. This metric extract (a copy from the original metric record) for No. 99 was issued on June 15, 1919 by the clergy of the Sabine Peter and Paul Church, which was part of the 4th deanery of the Yenisei Diocese of the Minusinsk district ^[3]. One copy was attested from the metrical extract of the Notengubsnarsud and issued to M. G. Torosov on February 1, 1923 according to the register for No. 304, and in 1930 on its basis – a passport.

Having received this document, we turned to the National Archive of the Republic of Khakassia, where the pre-revolutionary fund I-28 stores metric books on the Sabine Church. In the sought case No. 55, where the metric books for the years 1896-1900 are collected, the metric record No. 67 on the birth/baptism of Mikhail Grigoryevich Torosov was found. According to the record, he was born on November 08 (21), and was baptized on November 19 (December 02). His parents: Grigory Mikhailov Torosov of the Askiz foreign administration and his lawful wife Tatiana Ilyina, both Orthodox. The recipients (godparents) were: Georgy Yelizarov Pelenov, a peasant of the village indicated, and Alexandra Averkiev Pavlushkina, a peasant daughter of the same village. The sacrament of baptism was performed by the priest Platon Valentinov Tyzhnov ^{[4, l. 237ob.-238, No. 67]}. Interestingly, there are some inconsistencies with the authentic record in the metric statement: for example, the surname "Pelenov" is written as "Pelenev", and the father's patronymic is transferred in modern form to "-ich", that is, as "Mikhailovich", while the wife's patronymic is rewritten unchanged. Thus, having this metric record at our disposal, it is possible to reconstruct the direct male line of the Torosovs up to the middle of the XIX century: from Vladislav (1937 – 2018) through his father Mikhail (1900 – 1938) and grandfather Grigory (ca. 1870s - ca. 1922) to great–grandfather Mikhail, recorded in the last two revisions (censuses) of 1850 and 1858.

In addition, at the end of 2020, we managed to establish contact with the son of V. M. Torosov – Igor Vladislavovich – and get additional information about the family of the deceased, expanding the source material to restore their pedigree. In particular, the birth certificate No. 134190 for V. M. Torosov, dated the beginning of the 1950s, has been preserved, in which the parents - Mikhail Grigoryevich and Claudia Terentyevna Torosov ^[5] are indicated. The birth certificate No. 205 was made on March 17, 1937 ^[6]. A note was made on the certificate form on the issuance of a passport in Chernogorsk on March 16, 1953 (on the eve of the 16th anniversary).

As you know, the scientific reconstruction of the pedigree involves referring to such mass genealogical written sources as church metric books and audit tales (population censuses). We are talking about the last three revisions of the Beltir family – the eighth of 1832, the ninth of 1850 and the tenth of 1858, about the metric books on the Shushenskaya Peter and Paul and Bey Intercession Churches of the XIX century, as well as the Sabine Peter and Paul Church of the 2nd half of the XIX – early XX centuries. Most of the necessary archival documents have been digitized and are available free of charge to registered users of the electronic reading room of the State Archive of the Krasnoyarsk Territory through a remote access system ^[7].

So, the Torosov family belonged to the seok "piltir" and was part of the Beltyrsky ulus of the Sagai Steppe Duma, they roamed along the Abakan River in the area of the Suetuk outpost on the Suetuk River ^{[8, p. 204]}. The surname probably comes from the name of Torgochak^[1] (Torchugak), who lived in the XVIII century, whose house (genus) is recorded in the "Nominal list of baptized and married foreigners of the Beltir ulus of the Steppe Duma of the united heterogeneous tribes", compiled on September 26 (October 08), 1854 ^{[13, l. 15, 51, No. 289]}. Under No. 289, the widow Pistol ^[2] (in baptism – Fedosya) of the Torgochakov house is recorded as a 65–year-old wife, baptized in infancy by the Shushensky priest Peter, but she does not remember exactly when and does not know the recipients. She has two sons – Tomocha^[3] (baptised as Philip), 15 years old, baptized in infancy by the Bey priest Peter, who acted as a receiver together with the Cossack daughter Agnia Voroshilova, and Tolika (baptised as Michael), 8 years old, baptized in infancy by the Shushensky priest Peter, the receivers are the peasant Fedot Tolstakov and his daughter Vasilisa.

We have clarified this information according to the audit fairy tales preserved in the State Archive of the Krasnoyarsk Territory and the archive of the city of Minusinsk. According to the tenth revision of 1858, the family of 21-year-old Tomoch Tomkashev Torosov, his 17-year-old brother Mikhail and Tomochin's 68-year-old mother, Pistol Voronin, was recorded under No. 265 ^{[14, l. 96ob.-97, No. 265]}. The Torosov family is listed at the Suetuk outpost^[4] on the Suetuk River/Suetuk^[5], which was located in the south-east of the Minusinsk district and belonged to the parish of the Peter and Paul Church of S. Shushensky ^{[15, l. 230ob.]}. According to the revision of 1850, under No. 305, the head of the family was recorded – Tomkasha, who died around 1849 (aka Tom^[6], Tomya?) Oponasov^[7] (Aponasov) Torasov Torguchakov, who, according to the previous revision of 1832, is shown to be 21 years old, that is, he was born around 1811. Accordingly, his sons are 13–year-old Tomocha and 9-year-old Mikhail, as well as Tom's 60-year-old wife, Pistol (Paston?) Voronina (^{[16, L. 84ob.-85, № 305],[17, L. 73ob.-74, № 305],[18, L. 84ob.-85, No. 305]}). As we can see, for the first time the surname in the form of "Torasov" was attested in the census of 1850, and subsequently as "Torosov". According to the 1832 revision of the Beltyrsky family, one Tomkasha Oponasov Torguchakov was recorded under No. 330, where the form "Oponasov" is a patronymic, probably from the name of Athanasius, and the word "Torguchakov" is still a dedicacy, but not a surname in any way ^{[19, l. 20ob.-21, No. 330]}. The proper name "Torguchakov" as a surname does not occur in the list of Khakass surnames compiled by Professor V. Ya. Butanaev (^{[8, p. 204],[20, p. 68]}). According to our assumption, the pedigree of "Torguchakov" could well become a surname if there were more of his descendants. Undoubtedly, a man named "Torguchak" really existed in the XVIII century, since according to the census of 1832, his probable descendants were recorded wandering in yurts along the Abakan River and engaged in cattle breeding and hunting: under No. 329 Bytochak Torguchakov (ca. 1788 – ca. 1820) and his brother So (born ca. 1792), under No. 330 Tomkasha Oponasov Torguchakov (born about 1811) and under No. 331 the family of Aprinak Torguchakov (born about 1779) with his son Tyrchen (born about 1806) and grandson Azancha (born about 1828) ^{[19, l. 20ob.-21, № 329, 330, 331]}. Most likely, Tomkashi's father, Oponas, was the son of a merchant and a brother to Bytochak, Taka and Aprinak. If the eldest of them – Aprinak – was born around 1779, then, consequently, his father Torguchak could have been born in the middle of the XVIII century, and died before the seventh revision of 1811, as well as his son Oponas – Tomkashi's father. Interestingly, according to the revision of 1850, Torguchakov, who was not found under his own name, was recorded with the "brotherhood" of "Bytochakov", that is, as "Bytochakov's brother" (^{[16, l. 84ob.-85, № 304],[17, L. 73ob.-74, No. 304] [18, L. 84ob.-85, No. 304]}). Died around 1835 "Aprinak (aka Kakorogash) Torguchakov and Toborchinov" in the revision of 1850, apparently, was recorded with two patronymics at once (hardly with a patronymic and a dedicacy?) (^{[16, L. 84ob.-85, № 306],[17, L. 73ob.-74, № 306],[18, l. 84ob.-85, No. 306]}), and his son Tyrchan, according to the last revision of 1858, is already recorded as "Tyrchan Kakorogashev Torbystaev" ^{[14, l. 96ob.-97, No. 266]}. It should be noted that the surname "Torbastaev" belongs to two seocs at once – "ah chystar" and "ah piltir ("hara piltir"), which are part of the Beltyr family, but their relationship with the house of Torgochak today can be established only with the help of genetic DNA testing on the Y chromosome, that is, by direct male lines (^{[8, p. 204],[20, p. 68]}); the surname "Toborchinov" ("Taburchinov") is also recorded (^{[8, p. 198],[20, p. 64]}).

Using the updated revision data, we decided to identify the metric records of the birth of two sons of Tomkasha Aponasov Torosov – Philip according to the Bey Church of the Intercession and Michael according to the Shushenskaya Peter and Paul Church. It was possible to identify only a metric record of the birth / baptism of Michael in 1842 at the Peter and Paul Church of S. Shushensky. According to the required entry No. 89, Mikhail was born on September 05 (17), and baptized on September 06 (18). His parents: villages? yasachny Ivan Ivanov and his lawful wife Fedosya Alekseeva, both of Orthodox faith; the recipients are the peasant Fedot Tolstakov and his sister Vassa Tolstakova ^{[23, l. 108ob.-109, No. 89]}. In the previously quoted "Nominal List ..." of 1854, information about the Torosov family contained the following information: Tomkashi's wife is a widow of a Pistol (Fedosya was baptized), and her youngest son Mikhail was baptized in infancy by the Shushensky priest Peter, the recipients are the peasant Fedot Tolstakov and his daughter Vasilisa. Since this information was recorded from words, some inaccuracies could creep in. Based on the metric record, Mikhail was baptized not by the priest Pyotr Matveyevich Lakhin ^[24], who actually served in the parish at that time, but by his colleague Georgy Nikolaevich Pudovikov ^[25]. As for the names of the recipients (godparents), they completely coincided, except for the relationship between them: if in the "Nominal list ..." it is written that Vassa Tolstakova is the daughter of Fedot Tolstakov, then in the metric she is a sister. The coincidence of the mother's name – Fedosya – fully certifies the identified record, allowing to expand the pedigree of the Torosovs and along the female line. For example, the patronymic "Alekseevna" may indicate the name of Fedosya's father (Pistone Voronina), but for this it is necessary to identify a metric record of her marriage / wedding. Mikhail's father is recorded as the yasachny of the village to PUT DOWN Ivan Ivanov, apparently, under his baptismal name, which was not reflected in the revisions. We have looked through the metric books on the Shushenskaya and Bey churches for the years 1848-1850 in order to identify the record of the death/burial of Tomkasha Torosov, who, according to the revision, died around 1849, but the desired record was not found ^[26].

After reviewing the metric books of the Intercession Church of S. Beisky for 1835-1841, we were unable to identify the record of the baptism in infancy of Tomkasha's eldest son, Philip. The priest Peter mentioned in the "Nominal List ..." who baptized Philip and became his successor (together with the Cossack daughter Agnia Voroshilova) is probably Peter Alexandrovich Silin ^[27], who served in the Bey parish during this period. The metric books on the Shushenskaya Church for the years 1836-1839 were also reviewed, but the result was negative. The presence of such detailed information about baptism, including information about the recipients, suggests that the fact of baptism really took place, therefore it is necessary to continue the search in the State Archive of the Krasnoyarsk Territory ^[28], in the funds of which the largest collection of mass genealogical sources on foreigners of the Achinsk and Minusinsk counties of the Yenisei province is collected ^[29].

In the course of the conducted archival and documentary research of the Torosov family, we have the following patrilineal chain: Torguchak (Torgochak) – Oponas (Aponas, Athanasius) – Tomkasha (Tom, Tomya) – Mikhail (Tolika) – Grigory – Mikhail – Vladislav. For a full-fledged scientific verification of this pedigree, it is necessary to genetically study the direct male descendants of Torguchak on the Y chromosome to determine the haplogroup of the genus ^{[30, pp. 57-65]}.

^[1] Cf.: V. Ya. Butanaev: "Torys is vigorous. The surname Torystar – Torosovs was formed from the name" (^{[8, p. 145],[9, p. 56]}). Cf. also: M. I. Borgoyakov: "The Koibal surname of the Torosovs apparently comes from the name of the man Toros, about whom M. A. Kastren recorded a whole legend in the 40s of the XIX century" ^{[10, p. 239]}. We are talking about the ancient legend of the Toros-taskyl, which was told to the Russian philologist Kastren by his Tatar guide (^{[11, p. 402],[12, p. 236]}). Taskyl (taskhyl) is a mountain peak covered with large masses of snow that does not melt. Here is a full story about Toros-taskyl, which, according to Castren, has "no doubt a historical basis".: "A hummock was a soyot who lived for 200 years and paid tribute to the Chinese emperor. To get rid of this tribute, Toros fled to Siberia with his entire family, consisting of 35 people. Angered by this, the Soyots set off in pursuit of him. When Toros noticed that he was being chased, he rushed to the mountain, nicknamed by his name, and hastily made his way to the top of it. This road, as they say, is still visible and is called by the Tatars the Toros road. Having climbed the steepest rock, Toros rolled several tree stumps to the very edge of it and, having secured them here with ropes, piled a pile of stones on them. When the pursuers approached the bottom of the rock, Toros suddenly cut all the ropes that held the stumps and stones, and they flew at those standing below and killed everyone to the last, and Toros and his family continued their journey and got safely to the Amyl River, where he began to live with the mators in peace and harmony" (^{[11, p. 403],[12, p. 236]}).

It should be noted that in the book "The Affairs of the past Years" V. M. Torosov gives a similar interpretation of the origin of his surname, however, in our opinion, there was some confusion in the spirit of folk etymology: "The surname of the Torosovs is Turkic, it comes from the word "toroz", which has a pre–Indo–European basis (tor - mountain, ridge). In the Turkic countries, the concept of "toros" is used quite widely. Mountains, ridges, mountain systems, etc. are called there. The surname Toroz is also quite common there. By the way, my ancestors in previous centuries were also written as Torozovs [the author does not provide documentary confirmation. Russian Russian officials changed the surname somewhat later, in the XIX century, under the influence of Russian officials [the Khakas' surnames appeared just thanks to Russian clerks. – A. N.'s note], it is based on the word "hummocks", which is more understandable to Russians – ice blocks (formed when ice compresses in large reservoirs, seas, oceans) [the version is akin to a conspiracy theory. – A. N.'s note]. Apparently, since then our surname has been written with the letter "s". My dad joked about this: "In Turkic or in Russian – the difference is small: in the first case, a mountain, in the second – a block, but in fact – it's still a hill." Namesakes with the surname Torosov are very rare in Russia, mostly they are close relatives" ^{[1, p. 8]}.

^[2] Pistol is the fifth child ^{[8, p. 123]}.

^[3] Tomocha is a derivative of Tom ^{[8, p. 144]}.

^[4] Cf.: M. I. Raikov: "The village of Karatuzskoye is one of the outposts (Suetuk, Kozhsky, Shadat, Sayan, Arbat, Tashtypsky, etc.) founded by the Russians at the beginning of the XVIII century to protect the Minusinsk district from Mongol invasions through mountain passes. With the emergence of this semicircle of outposts, the Mongolian influence on the foreign population of the Minusinsk district ceased. Subsequently, when more peaceful relations were established between the Russians and the Mongols, exchange trade began between the Cossacks and the inhabitants of these outposts, and the Sayans, subjects of the Mongols, in the last century" ^{[21, p. 436]}. According to M. I. Raikov, the word "Suetuk" comes from the word "s?ttg" ^{[21, p. 435]}.

^[5] Suetuksky outpost (Cossack village of Suetukskaya at the rivers Bolshoy and Maly Suetuk) is now the village of Nizhny Suetuk of the Ermakovsky district of the Krasnoyarsk Territory ^{[22, No. 964]}, and to the north, in the Karatuzsky district, is the village of Verkhny Suetuk (Verkhne-Suetukskaya at the river Verkhne-Suetuk) ^{[22, No. 965]}.

^[6] Tom is the elixir of health ^{[8, p. 144]}.

^[7] Opan – Athanasius ^{[8, p. 138]}.