Tree Climbing
Tree climbing --- family tree climbing--- can be a rewarding
experience. There, waiting for you--- in an old churchyard, in parish records, in
Grandfather's oral history or in that bunch of letters you found up in the attic---
is a genetic inheritance that goes back, generation upon generation, into the mists
of time Each one of us is the sum of many parts. And how can we truly know ourselves
if we know not from whence we came?
I have long been fascinated by these unseen influences, these gifts from the past. And I am fortunate; a lot of digging into family history was done before I was born. Musty documents in cardboard boxes dot my childhood landscape, along with fading photographs and the occasionally embroidered remembrance by aged aunts.
Exploring the past is an occupation I highly recommend; climbing the family tree can offer an enthralling view when you reach the upper branches.
Here are a few of the more interesting folk whose genes I have inherited and who have, without ever knowing it, helped shape my life. It's a way, perhaps, of saluting them from a great distance, creating a memorial for them that would have been beyond their wildest imaginings. And if you think you're a part, however distant, of my extended family, I'd be delighted to hear from you and pass on all the information I have. I must here acknowledge recent information from the Oxford Slavonic Papers 1975 and an article by Professor A.G. Cross, Yakov Smirnov, A Russian Priest of Many Parts; John Kane, of Queensland; and the late Jan Hicks, of Wamberal, NSW. John and Jan both have transcribed surviving letters and other esoteric information and John has discovered Smirnov burial information in London. And I am indebted to Bud and Patricia Lindsey, of Big Bear Lake, California, who have recently contacted me with information about Patricia's great-great-grandfather, George James Firth Begbie, son of Peter James Begbie and brother of Alfred Daniel Campbell Begbie. I have added information about him and his descendants in the online family tree. For specific genealogy information, relating to this branch of the Begbie family, in direct descent through the male line since 1584 to the present day (thirteen generations - each generation is numbered, go here or here.
Further information about the Begbie family is available from two archives, one in Australia and one in Switzerland:
meischke_rogermarion@bigpond.com
CLEMENT DECK, of Vèzelise, near Nancy, France, goldsmith to King René of Anjóu; armorial bearings (Or, an annile azure between four thistles proper) granted in 1496. My (count 'em) great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great- great grandfather, on my mother's side. A descendant, in direct line, Jean (John) Deck came to England in 1725, died in 1761 and is buried in St James' Churchyard, St Edmundsbury. I know nothing about Clement or what he might have fashioned in gold for the king, but he probably looked something like this. Any French Decks out there?
Alison Begbie probably looked like this and Clement Deck would have dressed somthing like this
ALISON BEGBIE. The object of poet Robert Burns' affection,
Alison Begbie (born 1759) lived in the same small hamlet near Haddington, Scotland,
as the Burns family; Burns' mother and sister lie in Bolton churchyard as do many
neighbouring tenant-farming Begbies. Burns proposed to Alison in 1781, when both
were 22 years of age, after writing her a series of very proper love letters. But
Alison, it seems, had other ideas and politely rejected his proposal. Burns wrote
a poem for her, which is now a well loved Scottish song:
Mary Morison
Mary at thy window be,
It is the wish'd, the trysted hour,
Those smiles and glances let me see
That make the misers' treasure poor,
How blythely was I bid the stoure
A weary slave fare sun to sun
Could I the rich reward secure,
The lovely Mary Morison.Yestreen when to the trembling string
The dance gaed thro' the lighted ha',
To thee my fancy took its' wing,
I sat, but neither heard nor saw:
Tho' this was fair and that was braw,
And yon the toast of a' the town,
I sigh'd and said 'among them a'-
Ye are no Mary Morison'.O Mary Canst thou wreck his peace
Wha for thy sake wad gladly die?
Or canst thou break that heart of his
Whose only faut is loving thee?
If love for love thou wilt not gie,
At least be pity to me shown:
A thought ungentle canna be
The thought o' Mary Morison.
No portrait of Alison has survived.
It seems likely that she was the daughter of my great-great-great-great grandfather
(on my father's side) Alexander Begbie (1825-1783) of Begbie Village.
IVAN SMIRNOV
My great-great-great grandfather (on my father's side) was known to our family as Chevalier Jean de Smirnoff (French being the language used in Diplomatic circles in Petersburg and elsewhere). He was born in 1767, in the Ukraine, as Ivan Linitsky, the son of a village priest of the same name. He had three brothers: Yakov, the eldest, who became Chaplain to the Imperial Russian Embassy in London; Ioann, who also became a priest and who was later granted patents of nobility in Kharkov; and Stepan, who received his patents at Voronezh in 1788 and was attached to the Caucasian Fiscal Board. Both Yakov and Ivan changed their surnames to Smirnov, upon advice that certain officials in the Russian Civil Service were prejudiced against Ukrainians. Ivan joined his brother at the embassy in London as a translator and later, after rising through the Civil Service ranks, was appointed Russian Envoy to the Court of Holland. This was an important position: he was in charge of "victuals" and other logistical supplies to be used by the Russian army after it had pursued Napoleon across the winter snow and out of the country.
Smirnov took his family with him--his wife Maria (born Maria Mason, daughter of Robert Mason, of Cirencester Place, St Marylebone, Middlesex -- Smirnov probably met her when he was working as a translator at the Imperial Russian Embassy, in London), his eldest daughter Maria (see following story), Stephen, John, Helena, Louisa and Anette. The family hadn't long been in the Netherlands when tragedy struck. According to the police report, dated July 14th 1815, "yesterday, the thirteenth of the month, at the hotel called "The Bathhouse", at approximately half past six in the evening (the Director of Police) found the Consul-General of Russia, Mr Smirnoff, residing at Amsterdam, and who, owing to a heavy loss of blood and through inflicted wounds, was not in a state to give any information as to the causes...
...it has come to light that in the afternoon of yesterday a certain Basily Mironnof called, describing himself as a Major in the Eighth Class, in Russian Service, serving with the Administration of Foodstuffs sent from St. Petersburg to Rotterdam; that the above mentioned Consul-General, found him there writing, and complained to him that others assumed a hand in affairs which were in his charge; that... he got into a rage and drawing his sword, gave him a slash over the head, and that, whilst the said Consul-General attempted to get away from his attack, he followed him again and punished him by the infliction of several wounds until he fell down powerless."
Smirnov about the time of his assassination
The assailant was put under arrest and imprisoned in Rotterdam. He was transported
to the Russian Headquarters on the 29th August 1815, where a court martial sentenced
him to be shot. This judgment was executed near Melun, France.
In our family records, obtained from the archives of the Russian Foreign Ministry
in Moscow, are other interesting documents, not the least of which are reports from
eye-witnesses, including one deposition taken from George Law, a 28 year old visitor
from the United States.
One of the reports obtained recently from Moscow.This one gives an eye-witness account from Baltimore lawyer George Law, who was passing by, looked in the window and saw a murder taking place
The story ends with this report in the "Rotterdamsche Courante" of Saturday 5th August, l815.
"ROTTERDAM AUG 4 The remains of Chevalier Jean de Smirnoff, Consul-General of His Majesty the Czar of all the Russians...were buried here to-day...The funeral was one of the most impressive and striking that can be remembered as ever having been seen in this town. All those who followed the body were touched by the sad fate which had torn such a worthy man and so faithful a servant of his Emperor and Fatherland untimely from his honourable career, and from the arms of his tender loving spouse and six young children, and from the midst of his admiring friends.
The order of procession was as follows:The drums and band of the Musketeers and the two flanking companies of the 1st Battalion.
Four Mutes.
The Arms-bearers, bearing the Coat of Arms of the deceased.
Six Russian soldiers with wax candles, who chanted in turn with the Armenian Priest, clad entirely in black, and another carrying in front of him, a picture of St. Nicholas.
Several Russian Officers, three of whom bore the insignia of his Order of Chivalry on a black cushion, together with his sword.
The hearse was drawn by four black horses, draped with Coats of Arms, and led by four liveried servants; six Russian Officers acted as Pall bearers.
Surrounding these, were non-commissioned officers of the Musketeers and of the Russian Troops stationed here, carrying Russian flags....
Thus, having arrived at The Groote Kerk (Great or St Lawrence Church) the body was borne by Officers to the graveside in the choir, and, after some religious ceremonies, lowered into the tomb to the sound of three volleys from the Musketeers standing outside the Church...The church bells tolled for several hours."
The family returned to St Petersburg, where a Grace and Favour residence was provided, debts were paid, a pension supplied and the children educated. Maria was sent to the Smolyni Institute (or St Catherine School), graduated and soon was married. Stephen joined the Civil Service, became a member of the Privy Council and Councillor of State at St Petersburg. John joined the army and died in the Crimean War in 1855. Helena married Baron Theodore de Rosen. Louisa married an Artillery Officer, Colonel Alexandroff. And Anette married Alexander de Brelewitch, of the Russian Civil Service.
