Procopius Efremov Biography

Efremov is the ancestor of the most famous Chuvash merchant dynasty, the biography of the merchant Prokopia Efremov is a vivid example of how the usual peasant son, thanks to the ingenuity and hard work, was able to break into people and become a respected person - a successful entrepreneur and honorary citizen of the city. The editors of Visitvolga spent more than one day in a statearchy and now knows everything about the eminent merchant gender, whose mansions and at home have been decorating the architectural appearance of Cheboksary for the third century.

Read more in our material. The genealogical tree of Prokopiy Efremov was born in the year in the village of Shinerpos, Cheboksary district of the Kazan province. He was the second son of state peasants Ephraim and Stephanides. Their firstborn lived only a week. The genealogical tree of Prokopia married twice. Ustinya gave him six children. Their only son died in infancy.

But the second wife gave birth to three sons of Nikolai, Sergey and Fedor, as well as four daughters Rais, Eugene, Catherine and Eupraxia. Orlova, still Ephraim Efimov, grandfather Procopia, joined the merchant class. He was able to earn enough money in bread trade and artisanal trade to move with the whole family to Cheboksary. He was considered one of the most prosperous citizens.

Even then, the Ephraim had three residential buildings, two stone barns, an outbuilding on the Volga and an undeveloped plot of land on Blagoveshchenskaya Street. There were legends that the Ephraim found the treasure - hence the wealth of the family. However, the treasure has nothing to do with it. Only hard work and foresight helped grandfather Procopius to get rich. The life path of Procopius of Efremov from all Efremovs by the most famous person, and not only in entrepreneurial, but also in public circles, it was precisely Procopius.

In the county city of Cheboksary, he arrived in pre -reform time in the early XIX centuries. At the same time, he actually remained a peasant selling according to the testimony of the third kind, which in those days was equated with the rights of merchants of the lower, third guild. After the abolition of serfdom, Prokopia Efremov in 10 years made capital, sufficient to declare himself a merchant of the first guild.

Toward the end of the 19th century, he took a strong position in the ranks of the industrial bourgeoisie and the city elite: he was a member of the city accounting committee, a member of the board of the Cheboksary Bank and even twice the director of the Cheboksary city public bank - in - GG. For 40 years he served as a vowel deputy of the Cheboksary district Zemstvo Assembly and the City Duma.

He was awarded the title of honorary citizen of the city. Prokopius died on November 12, their graves were located nearby, at the top of the hill. A little later, a wonderful spin chapel was erected over their graves. The Efremovs' chapel, a few facts about Russian merchants, sign up for merchants at that time was quite simple. The main requirement is to have capital corresponding to the desired category.

Depending on their income, a peasant or tradesman was ranked to the first, second or third merchant guild. Years; G. First Guild; 10 rubles. Second guild; 1 rub. Third guild; rub. But there was one important nuance. The title of the merchant is not a lifelong, but a temporary status. It had to be confirmed by the payment of tax or guild fee every year. The merchant who did not pay the tax was automatically excluded from the noble estate and again became what he was - a peasant or a bourgeoisie.

Why did people dream of merchants about merchant status. For them, it was a chance to break out of the framework of an incomplete peasant class. After all, representatives of the merchants were exempted from bodily punishments, recruitment service and military strokes. To encourage the merchants, the title of honorary citizen was introduced. The merchants of the first guild had the right to foreign trade, ownership of sea vessels and free movement around the country - they had a “passport benefit”.

The merchants of the second guild could own river courts and trade throughout the Russian Empire. The merchants of the first two guilds were allowed to own factories and factories. The merchants of the Third Guild led petty trade, contained taverns and inns, and also engaged in craft. What the Efremov Efim and Procopies did the Efremovs did a state of bread in bread trade.

They sold flour not only in territorially close to Nizhny Novgorod, Rybinsk and other Volga cities, but also exported it to St. Petersburg. In addition, father and son led eggs, honey and hops, and also actively sold the products of Chuvash waders. Rogue culs of bags from Mila and Blok were then the main form of packaging of goods, so they were in demand. Efremov belonged to the largest coolery workshop opened in the year.

30 adult workers and twice as many teenagers worked here. All of them weaved about 30 thousand bags a year. In Cheboksary, the father and son brought the necessary industrial products, mass consumer goods salt, sugar, tea and manufactory of women's shawls, inexpensive jewelry. For their implementation, they opened several large shops here.The brothers purchased timber in Chuvashia, and also received them from their estate with an area of ​​more than thousands of hectares in the village of Mikhailovitsa in the Vetluzhsky district of the Kostroma province.

In especially successful seasons, the Efremovs hired to saw and carpenters. The plant, equipped not only with a steam machine, but also electricity, was one of the most innovative for its time. In the year, the trading house "P. Efremov with sons ”with declared capital in thousands of rubles. The main occupation of the company was the trade in forest and lumber both in Cheboksary and in other cities of the Volga region.

The main manager of the house was Nikolai, the eldest son of Procopius. In the year, the Efremov partnership in terms of authorized capital was in 4th place among X trading houses in Russia, which were engaged in the implementation of forest and building materials. By the beginning of the 20th century, the monetary turnover of the enterprise reached rubles per year.

Colossal state at that time! Transportation of goods to cargo vessels. The family and philanthropists of the Efremov family lived on the principle of “who has been given a lot, it is asked a lot”, so she always took care of others, helped the poor and destitute.

The Annunciation Church, located in the city on the street of the same name, was the subject of the Efremovi special concern. Thanks to their donations, a new bell tower, a chapel and a house of two floors for clergy were erected. Most of the representatives of the genus actively participated in the life of this parish. Up to a year, the church headman of the temple was Efrem Efremov, in the year he was replaced by Procopius Efremovich.

He held this position until his death, after which his son Sergey became the headman. However, not only Orthodox institutions supported the Ephraims. They allocated funds for the purchase of a house for a four -class female gymnasium, for the construction of a two -story building building in the village. Abashevo, for the maintenance of the Cheboksary Public Library.

In the years, when Russia fought with Japan, the Ephraims contained a free canteen for starving and a shelter for orphans, and also made donations to the Fund for helping wounded soldiers. Annunciation Church. It was destroyed in the early X in connection with the construction of the Volga Hotel in its place. The fate of the descendants of the merchant dynasty is not easy to have the fate of the children of Procopius.

The eldest sons after the revolutionary events of the year left for Kazan. Nikolai and Fedor died in the hungry year. None of them had children. Sergei, the third son, worked at the post office and died in the year. In marriage with Nina, the daughter of the nobleman I. Aristovsky, an accountant of the Cheboksary district treasury, they had eight children, two of whom died in infancy.

He died in the year. The boy born in the year was named in honor of his grandfather Procopius. The youngest son Vladislav is a circus artist. From Catherine, the youngest daughter of Sergei Prokopyevich, went the Kazan branch of the Efremov dynasty. She gave birth to two daughters. The eldest - she died early, and the youngest Irina became a doctor. Ekaterina Sergeevna herself died in the year.

In addition to her daughter, she raised two grandchildren, Oleg and Igor, managed to see the great -grandson - Maksimova Elena Olegovna. Today, representatives of the Ephraim family live in Cheboksary, in Kazan and other Russian cities. These are the descendants of Procopius himself, his brothers and sisters. Prokopiy Efremovich Efremov with his wife Ekaterina and children eternal memory in the year on Vladimir hill in Cheboksary built a family tomb of the Efremov family - the Church in the name of the Holy Great Martyr Ekaterina and the Monk Procopius Architect - Konstantin Oleshkevich, where the relics of Procopia and Catherine rested.

In years, the tomb was returned to the Orthodox Church and consecrated in honor of John of Kronstadt. In the houses of the merchants of Efremov, Procopius Efremovich, brother of Mikhail Efremovich and his sons now housed the Chuvash National Museum and his exhibition hall, the department of the Russian and foreign art of the Chuvash State Art Museum, the Chuvash National Congress.

The street on which the houses of the merchants of the Efremovs are located, before the revolution of the year - Blagoveshchenskaya, in the Soviet years - Karl Marx is now called the boulevard of the merchant Efremov.