MAPS OF THE UKRAINE

SHOWING LOCATION OF PLACES OF POSSIBLE FAMILY ORIGIN

 

 

This beautiful map, published by Blackie & Sons of Edinburgh, shows the gubernias (provinces) of the Ukraine in 1882:

 

 

The city of Yekaterinoslav - spelt here as Ekaterinoslav and now called Dnepropetrovsk - can be seen towards the west of the gubernia of the same name. This is where it is thought that Chaim Jankel Tarakhovskii (later Tarachow) and his family lived on their return from England in c.1894, until they fled the pogroms in three stages, between 1908 and 1910. However, the bulk of existing evidence suggests the Tarakhovskii family originated much further north, in Chernigov Gubernia. This was the most central of the northern gubernias, and is enlarged below:

 

 

Unfortunately, the northern-most region of the gubernia is not shown on this map, but the main towns of interest are visible. The largest railway junction in the gubernia occurs in the town of Bakhmach (spelt here as Bachmatch), and it is in the vicinity of this town that the Tarakhovskii family is thought to originate.

 

By following one of the smaller railway lines out of Bakhmach to the east, the first town marked is Borzna, which is probably the town referred to as "Borsnij" on the 1909 Ellis Island manifest and "Borisna" on the 1910 Ellis Island manifest (click here to view these manifests). Borzna was just under 16 miles from Bakhmach. Another possible town that this listing may refer to, though less likely, is Berezna, situated further north, just to the west of the main railway line running north out of Bakhmach. The distance from Berezna to Bakhmach was just under 51 miles.

 

However, it cannot necessarily be assumed that the town of "Borisna" was the family's ancestral home, as immigrants often gave the name of the nearest town, if they came from a remote village close by. The photo of Gitl and Nyunya Tarakhovskii appears to have been taken in a town named Peski, which was not far to the south-west of the Bakhmach region.

 

The map below shows the town of Borzna in 1782, from a book published in the Ukraine in 1990: