Steve's History Website
my family's journey through time
Shugaevsky Family
Part 6 (Andrei, sometimes spelled André)
Andrei Stefanovich Shugaevsky, 1846-1917
In Part 5 covered Andrei's secondary school education at Chernihiv Theological Seminary. Secondary schools in Russia were more advanced than high schools in the United States, plus the seminary had an additional two years. The following details are what I remember from Valentin’s notes (I’ve lost my transcription). Andrei was twenty-one when he graduated from the seminary in 1867. That year he entered the Kiev Theological Academy (the same school his Uncle Trofim attended). He was unhappy there and lasted a year at the most. He then traveled to Moscow where he enrolled in a university, working on the side to support himself. It is there that he studied law.
Moscow University was the oldest university in the Russian Empire and the only one founded before the 19th century. From the Russian Language Wikipedia article Imperial University of Moscow :
In the 18th century Moscow University was divided into three faculties: Faculty of law, Faculty of medicine and Faculty of philosophy.
A university education in Imperial Russia was quite unusual. In 1870 there were only 5000 university students out of a population of 75 million. Ninety percent of the population was illiterate.
Click on images to enlarge.
Andrei in 1866. He turned twenty that year and looks very well dressed for a seminary student. The following year he graduated, moved from Chernigov to Kiev to study study for the priesthood.. He dropped out and eventually became an attorney.
In 1864, Tsar Alexander II radically changed the legal system, so Andrei was essentially learning to fill a new role in the Russian Empire.
Source: https://www.britannica.com/place/Russian-Empire/Alexander-II
The law of December 2 (November 20, Old Style), 1864, put an end to secret procedure, venality, and dependence on the government. Russia received an independent court and trial by jury. The judges were irremovable; trials were held in public with oral procedure and trained advocates. Appeals to the senate could take place only in case of irregularities in procedure.
I was amazed to find a court speech made by Andrei in July 1879. Thirteen persons were brought to trial for rebellion (they were reading prohibited books) and Andrei was one of the attorneys defending them. Below is part of his speech translated using Google Translate.
…attorney Shugaevsky began his speech with the position that “knowledge is power; the pursuit of knowledge is also a force.” Then, starting from primitive times from Adam, Mr. Shugaevsky pointed out the first example of the striving for knowledge — the taste of our mother of the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Then he went to the children, pointing out examples of their curiosity; from children to adults, and pointed to examples of self-sacrifice because of the desire for knowledge, described the journey of Franklin to the North Pole, and also referred to the studies of Livingstone on South. Further, Mr. Shugaevsky continued: “States owe their origin and strength only to knowledge; hence the legislative measures to spread them.” Then, referring lightly to our laws on education, as well as the statute on military service, the defender came to the conclusion that the desire for knowledge in general is a natural, rational and even legal thing. Then, moving already to his client Luchinsky, he found that at his age this youthful desire for knowledge manifests itself with particular strength…
Andrei also wrote an article about the Shtundists for an Orthodox religious journal called Missionary Review (Миссионерское обозрение). The Shtundists were an illegal protestant sect in southern Ukraine. Andrei was a "judicial Investigator" – I don't know what this position entaled. I found references to the article because it is still cited by modern day historians. Andrei's article is in edition No. 7. I found edition No. 8 on the internet but not No.7. Very frustrating. A recent citation I found was in a graduate dissertation on Dostoyevsky.
Update: Issue #7 of Missionary Review was found (a relevent page is on the right).
Here's some information on the article:
Shugaevsky A. Among the Stundists and their Presbyters (from the observations and memoirs of the judicial investigator) // Missionary Review. 1903. April. Pp. 975-999.
1875 - 1879. Based on personal memories and stories of others. The role of the German colonies in the spread of Baptism among the Orthodox population of the Southwest Territory. Preachers of Baptism in the Kiev province. The way of life, the mood of the sectarians, the struggle against them by the local administration. The official activities of the author in the Tarashchansky district, public interviews with the Baptists and their elders. Observations of folk life.
This is from an English language Wikipedia article, The Shtundists.
The Shtundists (Russian: Штундисты, Shtundisty; Ukrainian: Штундисти, Shtundysty; British: Stundists) are any of several Evangelical Protestant groups in the former Soviet Union and its successor states. More specifically, the term refers to sectarian Spiritual Christian groups that emerged among Ukrainian peasants in southern regions of the Russian Empire (present day Ukraine) in the second half of the 19th century. The Shtundists were heavily influenced by German Baptists, Pietists and Mennonites that settled in the southern parts of the Russian Empire, and somewhat by indigenous Spiritual Christians. Their origin is associated with access to Bibles from the "British and Foreign Bible Society."
First page of Missionary Review from 1903.
First page of Andrei's 1903 article on the Shtundists. The article was sent to me by Maxim, a historian in Ukraine who found it on... Google Books.
Some Documents
The image below is taken from an official translation of Valentin’s birth certificate. It confirms that Andrei was in the legal profession and also that he is a “hereditary nobleman”. This is not to be confused with what it means to be from a noble family in western Europe. Everything in Russia is different.
The image below is from the back of a photo. Written underneath his name is written "attorney at law" with "advocate" written in parentheses.
Andrei in 1903, Andrei turned 57 that year, though his white hair and beard make him look older.
The image below is from Andrei's death certificate. Preceding Andrei’s name is his title – I can't read Russian handwriting, but I can make out the first few letters which corrspond to "Dvor" and must refer to his position as dvoryanstvo (nobility).
From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_nobility#Hereditary_nobility
The Russian nobility (Russian: дворянство dvoryanstvo) originated in the 14th century. In 1914 it consisted of approximately 1,900,000 members (about 1.1% of the population).
Up until the February Revolution of 1917, the noble estates staffed most of the Russian government.
According to André's death certificate he died October 31 (Julian calendar). According to a newspaper death notice, he died on the "night of November 1".
Addendum
In the addendum at the end of Stefan's web page, I show where his house was located and give the address. This information was sent by a historian in Chernihiv who also sent a newspaper article from 1908, announcing that Andrei moved into his own house. The address is similar (one street no longer exists) – I assume it is the same house.
Attorney
A.S SHUGAEVSKY
Moved to his own home,on the corner of Mstislavskaya and Vozdvizhenskaya Street.
Newspaper Chernigov Slovo,
June 29, 1908