Where in Russia?

[cordley]

I have received a copy of the Admin letters for Grant of Probate for a rellie who died in Edmonton in 1908.

I had been unable to find him after his marriage in 1878, and his new bride was with her parents in 1881.  He had been noted as an Engineer.

So I surprised to see he was formerly of somewhere in Russia. (see attached)

Can anyone identify where this is, and why my rellie might have been there?

Really curious, what are records like for Russia at that time???

Thanks,  Pam.

[Ruskie]

It looks like:

Alexandroffsky near St Petersburg

 

There are a few Alexandrovsky districts - one called Alexandrovsky Bank in St Petersburg, and any others showing on google aren't very "near St Petersburg".

[cordley]

Gosh, that's quick!!!

Looks right - so why would a British person (engineer) be there from 1880 - 1900 ish??  What was going on there??  Haven't found an army connection...

[Ruskie]

Wild guess, but they were probably working there.

I can see that an engineer could have had useful knowledge and experience. Maybe the company he worked for in the UK had some business there?

What sort of engineer was he?

There have been several threads on rootschat about people's British ancestors being employed in various jobs in Russia.

[Skoosh]

Railway engineer?

Skoosh.

[cordley]

All I know is from his marriage certs (he married 3 times) and was just 'engineer'. 

In 1861 he is in Stoke Damerel / Davenport with wife no 1,  and is a Engineer, Turner and Fitter.
He marries in 1859, 1865, and 1878 - but cannot find him in other censuses.

His family was very much involved in Railway construction, bricklaying, and a sibling of his went out to Mexico about 1900 to help construct tunnels), so certainly a possibility.

Are there any census type records from Russia in the last quarter of the 1800s?

[cordley]

"There are a few Alexandrovsky districts - one called Alexandrovsky Bank in St Petersburg, and any others showing on google aren't very "near St Petersburg"."

And that is by the Vitebsky Railway Station https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitebsky_railway_station which was rebuilt in 1901 - what a place!!!

Am I adding 2 + 2 and getting a dozen???

[Ian999]

There are many references to Alexandrovsky in this area of Russia and British engineers had a great presence in the area.
I think it likely that the Probate Letter refers to Alexandrovskaya, which is a small village next to the Alexandrovsky Park at Catherine's Palace some 20 Km South of downtown St Petersburg (and well worth visiting!)

Check out the Wiki on John James Hughes, born in Merthyr Tydfil. He developed the process for making armour plate while everyone else was making railway lines. Think "ironclads" for the navy.

His company won the contract to clad the Kronstadt fort, which are on an island at the mouth of the River Neva and acts as a major naval defense for the city of St Petersburg.

He was also invited to develop iron and coal mines in what is now the Ukraine (then part of imperial Russia). His steel mill was the largest in Russia for a long time.

The town around the mill was named Yuzovska, the best the Russians could do to copy Hughes. It later was renamed Donetsk and is in the middle of the fighting between Russia and Ukraine. It is thought that at least 25% of the people in Donetsk have Welsh origins!

[cordley]

This is fascinating - thank you so much.

Do you know whether there is any online access to census type info for 1880-1905 for this area???  He is missing from UK records for that period.

Really intrigued about this man's reason for being in Russia.  B 1837 and died 1908 in Plumstead, London.