Semyonovsky Uyezd was an administrative-territorial unit of the Nizhny Novgorod Governorate of the Russian Empire and the RSFSR, existing from 1779 to 1929. Its uyezd town was Semyonov.[1]

History and Composition

The uyezd was established in 1779 during Catherine II's gubernatorial reform, when the Nizhny Novgorod Viceroyalty was created on the basis of older territories. Nizhny Novgorod Viceroyalty Semyonovsky Uyezd was included alongside the Knyaginsky, Nizhny Novgorod, Makarievsky, Lukuyanovsky, and Sergachsky uyezds; this administrative division remained unchanged until the October Revolution. On the territory of the uyezd, in the Kerzhensky and Chernoramenskiye forests, stood Old Believer sketes on the Kerzhenets River — including the Komarovsky Skit (Old Believer Hermitage), one of the oldest Old Believer sketes in the Nizhny Novgorod area. The sketes survived the Pitirim's Devastation of the early 18th century and the persecutions of the 1850s under Nicholas I, and were finally abolished only in the 1930s.

Ties with Nizhny Novgorod

Semyonovsky Uyezd held a special place in the philanthropic activities of Nizhny Novgorod merchant Nikolay Bugrov. In 1884 he donated to the city an estate on Gruzinskaya Street and a capital of 40,000 rubles, the income from which was designated "annually, in perpetuity, as relief for fire victims of Semyonovsky Uyezd."

Abolition

During the Soviet period, the governorate's administrative map was redrawn multiple times. The uyezd ceased to exist in 1929; in 1893 the Nizhny Novgorod Provincial Zemstvo had published a detailed statistical description of the uyezd — "Materials for the Assessment of Lands of Nizhny Novgorod Governorate. Economic Section. Issue 11: Semyonovsky Uyezd" (748 pages with a map), prepared by the statistical department of the provincial zemstvo board and printed at the A. Rzhosnnitsky printing house in Nizhny Novgorod.[3] The territory of the uyezd subsequently became the Semenovsky District of Nizhny Novgorod Region.[1]

When the viceroyalty was established it was divided into 13 uyezds; in 1796, following the transformation of the viceroyalty into a governorate, some of them were abolished — including the Knyaginsky, Makarievsky, Pochinkowsky, Pyanskoperevozsky, and Sergachsky uyezds — while Semyonovsky Uyezd was retained within the governorate.[2]

Sources

  1. nashipredki.com — When the Nizhny Novgorod Viceroyalty was established in 1779 it was divided into 13 uyezds; in 1796, following the transformation of the viceroyalty into a governorate, some of (archive)
  2. nnov.ngounb.ru — In 1893 the Nizhny Novgorod Provincial Zemstvo published a detailed statistical description of the uyezd — "Materials for the Assessment of Lands of Nizhny Novgorod Governorate. Economic sec (archive)
  1. Wikipedia (ru) — Semyonovsky Uyezd (archive)
Based on materials from articles (4)

Bugrov, Nizhny Novgorod Province, Makarievsky Uyezd, In the Forests and On the Hills