In concluding my article on Apollinary Podrez, I mentioned that a spiritual will was discovered after his death. According to it, the great physician bequeathed his house and yard on Hryhoriia Skovorody Street to Kharkiv University so that a specialized clinic for the treatment of genitourinary diseases could be opened there in the future.
There were quite a few such stories in the 19th and early 20th centuries, when residents of Kharkiv bequeathed their property to the city or the region for various purposes. Reports of such donations appeared frequently in the pages of periodicals of that time. Nowadays, it’s probably hard to imagine a news story appearing in the media about a certain lawmaker or businessman, say, bequeathing part of his estate for the construction of, for example, a hospital or a park in the city…
In today’s article, I’d like to talk—even if only briefly—about the wealthy (and not-so-wealthy) citizens of Kharkiv who loved our city so much that, even though they had heirs, they included it in their wills.
For example, in 1894, G. I. Shaforostov, a former member of the Kharkiv County Zemstvo Council, bequeathed 1,000 rubles each to the Kozachansk Public School and the local Church of St. Nicholas.
That same year, pursuant to the spiritual will of Ivanov, a wealthy homeowner from Klochkivska Street, a sum of 10,000 rubles was bequeathed to the Kharkiv Bourgeois Almshouse on Kholodna Hora. A few years later, in accordance with the will of another Ivanov, 125 rubles were bequeathed to establish a free public library and reading room in the remote village of Cheremushnoe in the Valkivsky District.
In late 1896, after a serious illness, Titular Counselor Andrei Ivanovich Timchenko died suddenly. As early as July 10, 1892, he had written a will consisting of only 32 clauses. The deceased bequeathed part of his money to numerous relatives and close friends, but the majority of his estate went to various charitable institutions in Kharkiv:
— 50,000 rubles — to the Kharkiv Orphanage for Homeless Orphans.
— 30,000 — to the Kharkiv branch of the Red Cross.
— 20,000 — to the Saburova Dacha “for the maintenance of as many hospital beds as possible, on my behalf,” and for the purchase of warm winter clothing for the poorest patients.
— 15,000 — to the Alexandrovskaya Hospital for the maintenance of hospital beds and the purchase of warm winter clothing for the poorest patients.
— 5,000 — to the 1st and 2nd Kharkiv Girls’ Gymnasiums.
— 2,000 — to the board of trustees and clergy of the Myronosytska Church.
— 2,000 — to the night shelter.
— 1,000 — to the Kharkiv Shelter for Juvenile Offenders.
— 1,000 — to the Society for the Assistance of Needy Governesses and Teachers.
— 500 — to the Kharkiv Children’s Hospital.
— 300 — to the Kharkiv Shelter for the Blind.
No less famous posthumously in 1898 was the wealthy merchant Fyodor Sergeyevich Karpov, who, during his lifetime, donated tens of thousands of rubles to establish a shelter for juvenile offenders, as well as to a literacy society. According to his will, a total of 75,000 rubles was bequeathed to the Moskalevka School, the city hospital, and the House of Industry. Other merchants also tried to keep up. For example, in early 1902, Kharkiv burgher Alexei Nekrasov bequeathed his courtyard property with buildings on the Netichenska Embankment to a girls’ orphanage. That same year, on April 17, 1902, newspapers reported the death of merchant Pyotr Ivanovich Gubenko. And by mid-June, the prosecutor of the Kharkiv District Court had forwarded to the provincial administration excerpts from his will, according to which Pyotr Ivanovich bequeathed 5,000 rubles to the local zemstvo hospital with the intention of using the interest from those funds to provide “……as many beds for the mentally and neurologically ill as could be provided with these funds.” The will also specified that these beds were intended for the poorest patients and were to be called “the Petr Ivanovich Gubenko Beds.” However, this wealthy resident of Kharkiv did not limit his care to the sick alone. In the summer of that same year, the following appeared in the media:
“Merchant P. I. Gubenko, who passed away this year, bequeathed, as is evident from his will, 80,000 rubles for the construction of a new church in the city of Kharkiv, within the parish of the Dmytrivs’ka Church, dedicated to St. Peter, Metropolitan of Kyiv, St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, and the Venerable Martyr Eudokia. The city of Kharkiv is to provide a suitable site for the construction of this new church free of charge, in agreement with the testator’s executors.”
In addition, Pyotr Ivanovich bequeathed 5,000 rubles each to the construction of a parsonage for the clergy of this church, the Kharkiv Charitable Society, and the Kharkiv House of Industry.
According to the will of Kharkiv merchant V. V. Artyukh, dated 1912, the following was bequeathed:
— To the Kharkiv Imperial University for various purposes — 4,500 rubles
— To the Kharkiv Technological Institute — 1,000 rubles
— To the Kharkiv Veterinary Institute — 1,000 rubles
— Kharkiv Women’s Medical Institute — 2,000 rubles
— Society for the Support of Persons Released from Prison — 500 rubles
— Literacy Society — 1,000 rubles
— House of Industry: 500 rubles
— Parish councils of the Annunciation and All Saints parishes: 500 rubles each.
The merchant’s employees also received fairly large sums, and he bequeathed the rest of his estate to his nephews and nieces.
Amid such large donations, smaller gifts—given from the heart—were no less valuable. In 1897, the merchant’s wife Vepritskaya bequeathed 150 rubles each to the Alexandrovsk City Hospital and the Alexandrovsk Provincial Zemstvo Hospital. Stepan Sofienko, a simple peasant from the Valkovsky District, also bequeathed a small sum for the needs of his native village. In 1898, Kharkiv newspapers reported that, thanks to the will of a peasant named Lapin, the Uspenskaya parish school in the Kolomak settlement was moving to new premises. And in 1904, the Kharkiv District Court approved the execution of the testamentary will of Baroness E. A. Grevenits, a former landowner in the Izyum District, according to which:
— The peasant society of the village of Novoselivka in the Izyum District received 22,000 rubles “for educational and charitable purposes.”
— The Kharkiv “Yasli” Society received 2,000 rubles and a house near the Church of St. Panteleimon.
In closing, I would like to note that by no means did everyone bequeath their property and savings to orphanages, hospitals, and the like. Moreover, disgruntled heirs who felt they were entitled to a larger share were also not uncommon. The following story is illustrative: In mid-February 1905, a hearing was held in our city’s district court regarding the contested will of N. A. Firsov, a hereditary honorary citizen who had died in 1904 in Essentuki. The deceased bequeathed 28,500 rubles to them, while the remainder of his estate (98,550 rubles in gold and 26,250 rubles in promissory notes) Firsov left to the mutual aid fund for writers and scholars. Ultimately, a Kharkiv court upheld the deceased’s will, and the three relatives received what they were entitled to.
Our city also received significant bequests after the deaths of such prominent figures as the merchant Vasily Ivanovich Pashchenko-Tryapkin, the outstanding chemist and mayor Yegor Stepanovich Gordeenko, and many others. But I’ll definitely write about them some other time. So, to be continued…
