Labun Supplemental Revision Lists for 1863 and 1864 - out from hiding!

One of the ongoing frustrations of my genealogy research is the relative paucity of extant records from my paternal family's community in the Russian Empire. There are no known Jewish vital records or full revision lists (similar to census records) from Labun, Zaslav Uyezd, Volhynia Gubernia. With a few minor exceptions, what we know about the Jewish community in Labun is from records of those who left the Russian Empire in the early part of the Twentieth Century or who died in the Holocaust. 

Periodically a few records surface. When I visited the Zhitomyr Archive in the summer of 2013, we asked to see the 1863 Supplemental Revision List that is included in Miriam Weiner's Routes to Roots archive inventory (Fond 118, Opis 14, Spravi 319). Unfortunately, the record listed only a few names. None were familiar to me from my research into more recent landsman. I recorded the names in my research notes but did not (unfortunately) at that time acquire a copy of the record.

Now, however, Ukrainian Alex Krakovsky, who has been digitizing Jewish records from archives in Ukraine, posted the Volhynia Gubernia 1863 Supplemental Revision List along with another, previously unknown one from 1864 on his Wikimedia page. 

The Supplemental Revision List volumes contain information from many communities. Images of the 1863 Labun pages I'd viewed while in the Zhitomyr Archive in 2013 start with image 242 and continue with 243. The 1864 Supplemental Revision List was found in Fond 118, Opis 14, Spravi 79. The pages for Labun may be seen in images 85 and 86.

For each Supplemental Revision List there are two facing pages. The left side includes males who had been missed in the previous revision. The right side includes females.

26 May 1863 Labun Supplemental Revision List 
Supplement to the 1858 Revision
[left side, image 242] 

Supplemental Revision List. Year 1863, 26 May. Volyn Guberniya, Zaslav Uyezd, Town of Labun
Families		Male Gender	According to the previous revision and whether arrived since then	Of that number, these have departed	Current age by person
Number by Sequence	Number by the 10th revision	Jewish Townsmen	Years	When, exactly	Years
1		Yos Ekheskeliovich [Yos, son of Khaskel]	Has returned from being in hiding…being outlawed		20
2		Yankel Yos Shmuliovich Kargman [Yankel Yos Kargman, son of Shmuel]	Has returned from being in hiding…being outlawed		22
3		Gershko Duvidovich Barshtejn [Gershko Barshtejn, son of Duvid]	Has returned from being in hiding…being outlawed		33
		Altogether males present			3

Of course when transliterating names from one alphabet to another spelling is not important. However, some clarification of names is warranted when dealing with naming conventions with which we are unfamiliar.

• Yos Ekheskeliovich was Yos, son of Kheskel.
• Yankel Yos Shmuliovich Kargman was Yankel Yos Kargmen, son of Shmul
• Gershko Duvidovich Barshtejn was Gershko Barshtejn, son of Duvid

[right side, image 243]

Supplemental Revision List. Year 1863, 26 May. Volyn Guberniya, Zaslav Uyezd, Town of Labun
Families		Female Gender	Absentee	Current age by person
Number by Sequence	Number by the 10th revision	Jewish Women	Since when	Years
3		Rivka, daughter of Shmul, wife of Gershko Barshtejn		25
		Altogether females present		1

30 March 1864 Labun Supplemental Revision List  
Supplement to the 1858 Revision
[left side, image 85]

Supplemental Revision List. Year 1864, 30 March. Volyn Guberniya, Zaslav Uyezd, Town of Labun
Families		Male Gender	According to the previous revision and whether arrived since then	Of that number, these have departed	Current age by person
Number by Sequence	Number by the 10th revision	Jewish Townsmen	Years	When, exactly	Years
1	85	Fajvel Smuelevich Durfinkel [Feivel Durfinkel, son of Shmuel]	Has returned from absence		18
2	123	Pejsah Itskovich Lyubarsky [Peisakh Lyubarsky, son of Itsko]	Has returned form absence		36
3	190	Moisej Berkovich Brodetsky [Moisej Brodetsky, son of Berko]	Has returned from absence		16
4	14	Srul Lipovich Bernshtejn [Srul Bernshtejn, son of Lipa]	Has returned from absence		24
		Altogether males present			4

• Fayvel Smuelevich Durfinkel was Feivel Durfinkel, son of Shmuel.
• Pejsah Itzskovich Lyubarsky was Peisakh Lyubarsky, son of Itsko.
• Moisej Berkovich Brodetsky was Moisej Brodetsky, son of Berko.
• Srul Lipovich Bernshtejn was Srul (Yisrael) Bernshtejn, son of Lipa.

[right side, image 86] 

Supplemental Revision List. Year 1863, 26 May. Volyn Guberniya, Zaslav Uyezd, Town of Labun
Families		Female Gender	Absentee	Current age by person
Number by Sequence	Number by the 10th revision	Jewish Women	Since when	Years
1	85
2	123	Pejsakh Lyubarsky’s wife Alta Duvidova [Alta, daughter of Duvid]		32
3	190
4	14
		Altogether females present		1

• Alta Duvidova was Alta, daughter of Duvid and wife of Peisakh Lyubarsky (listed on previous page).

Revision Lists were somewhat like census records, but collected for the purpose of taxation in the Russian Empire.[1] Unlike census records, with which we are more familiar in the United States, the goal in the Russian Empire was not to enumerate everyone. Only those subject to taxation were identified. In addition, the lists were verified and revised periodically. Thus, these supplemental lists.

In all, ten revisions were held in the Russian Empire. The last one was conducted between 1857 and 1858. The two supplemental lists shown here are for the 1858 Revision. Unfortunately, no Labun Revision Lists have been found in any Ukrainian archive.

The notations for the three men in the 1863 supplement are a bit more informative than that shown in the 1864 supplement ("has returned from absence"). The reasons provided for those added in the 1863 supplement: "has returned from being in hiding...being outlawed." It would be interesting to know why these men were hiding and for what reason(s) they were "outlawed."

Boris Feldblyum, in his 1998 Avotaynu article about Russian Revision Lists, noted that historical accounts provide evidence that many Jews in some areas avoided being counted.[2] In Minsk gubernia, for example, officials estimated that only about 40 percent of the Jewish population were registered in the 1858 revision. It is not far-fetched to believe that this same behavior to avoid taxation was exhibited in other locations. But being, apparently, on the lam seems different. 

In the second half of the nineteenth century, Russia's resistance to change left the empire as one of the few feudal states in Europe. Economic and cultural changes in Western and Central Europe earlier in the century led to widespread emanicipation. 

In the Russian Empire, the years before and after 1861 were economically and politically fraught. In response to pressure by liberal politicians concerned about uprisings among the peasant classes, Tzar Alexander II issued the 1861 Emancipation Manifesto, which freed serfs on private estates. More than 23 million people were granted liberty.

While the feudal economic system had taken some glancing blows in the previous 60 or so years, the 1861 Manifesto set the stage for the final death of feudalism in the Russian Empire. But, emancipation, while generally welcomed, did not always include effective transitional actions to transfer land and allow peasants to make a living in the new economic system.

Freeing the serfs did not necessarily mean they would suddenly be economically self-sufficient. The Empire struggled with how to compensate the nobility for their loss of land. Most freed serfs did not have the wherewithal to purchase land.

In the past, a small subset of Jews in Eastern Europe had their assigned roles in the feudal system, holding contracts to act as brokers for the agricultural goods produced by peasants and owned by nobles. Other Jews were tradesmen and merchants. Jews, like serfs, were landless. Even after the 1861 Emancipation Manifesto Jews were restricted in where they could live and what they could do for a living.

Thus, despite changes implemented through the 1861 Emancipation Manifesto there was still unrest. 

We might imagine that the three men identified in the 1863 Supplemental Revision were part of the resistance. But we do not know why Yos, Yankel and Gershko had been in hiding. I am glad, however, they could come out and be counted!

~~~~~~~~~~

Special thanks to Josef Ash and David Price who provided translations of images I posted on JewishGen's ViewMate on and Asia David Gluzman who provided some clarification. The portions in the tables in italics are my notations.

Notes:
1. The only full census in the Russian Empire was take in 1897. There is no known copy of the 1897 census for Labun.
2. Boris Fedlblyum, "Russian revision Lists: A History," Avotaynu, 14:3:59-61, Fall 1998.