Tcherneshoff Family

Grand dad came here as a stow away on a cargo ship in 1910. Mom says the spelling of his name could be either Petr Ivanovich Tchernyshov , or Chernychov, or Yvanovich meaning Son of John. (Peter John) During the time before he left, there were student revolts, riots and many other disturbances. Many people marched on the palace after he left and there was lots of blood shed. My grandfather said that the Czar and his family were taken somewhere and shot in a firing squad or something like that.

He worked in the Palace of the last Czar, Czar Nicholas of Russia.. Nicholas II became Russia’s last czar in l894, when Granddaddy was 5 years old, and remained in power throughout Granddaddy’s lifetime in Russia. During that period of time, according to the World Book Encyclopedia, the revolutionary movement began, with a series of bad harvests that caused starvation among the peasants. Discontented Russians formed various political organizations, one of which was the forerunner of the Communist Party. Severe economic depression began in l899, and discontent grew among the people. The number of student protests, peasant revolts, and worker strikes increased. The loss of the Russo-Japanese War in l905 caused the unrest to grow further. On January 22, l905, thousands of unarmed workers marched to the czar’s Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, (which was probably not too far from the Tcherneshoff home). The workers planned to ask Nicholas II for reforms. Government troops fired on the crowd and killed or wounded hundreds of marchers. In February, Nicholas agreed to establish a Duma (Parliament) to advise him. However, strikes broke out, and paralyzed the country. After several attempts with two Dumas, which met in l906 and l907, talks broke down because the Dumas could not work with Nicholas and his high-ranking officials. A third Duma was appointed, and served from l907 to l9l2. It was in this time frame that Granddaddy left Russia to come to America.

He went to a Greek Orthodox church school until he was 17.

He lived just outside of Saint Petersburg which may have greatly expanded by today. Lived within walking distance or horse riding distance to the Palace and the church.

An Uncle has located, what is remembered by locals as a Tcherneshoff house that was 5 stories high and who knows how big. He said it had been originally 3 stories high but the government enlarged it and remodel and then rented it out to many families. The government took the house over and put the Tcherneshoff's out and did not let them back into it but brought families in as tenants who rented it out.. There were supposedly two Tcherneshoff families living there prior to the Government taking the house over..

Granddaddy played the balalika and knew all the Russian songs and dances.

We know his family was large. The exact number is uncertain, but I think that he said seven siblings.

During W.W.II the letters between him and his sister were so censored that there was not much they could understand and agreed not write until after the war was over.

My grandfather died in 1945 and in his sisters last letter, she said that her husband and two son had been killed in the war and raked into common graves and there was no one left and if he was gone, she could hardly bear to live.

My mother who was around 15 years of age at this time, had to write the last letter to her, (Maybe Helen, or Elena was her name), to let her know that her brother had died and they never heard back from her.

One of the last letters sent to Russia

Who is this? Could this be Helen or Elena?

My Uncle has been in correspondence with someone in Russia and at one time they informed him that they found a cemetery and a museum somewhere near the Tcherneshoff home.

Buried there was an Ambassador to two countries and the other a General in the Russian army buried with full honor. A cement covering over the grave had a bronze chap or covering embossed with the family coat of arms and something written about each one of them.

Then had removed the two bronze covers and put them in the museum because they were afraid they would be damaged by the war.. These men died during the late 1700's. They assured my Uncle that these must be relatives of our grandfather.. My grandfather was born in 1889.

Could there be records to trace forward the Tcherneshoff's buried in those plots listed above to find relatives still alive today.

We have been told that we have a relative, female in early 20's from Russia, who is a professional ice skater and she lives here in the states. We were told that she's from St. Petersburg. Then we were told that a "could be relative" has been found living in New York. Now I don't know if that's New York City or just the state of New York. A report was to follow, which we've never received it.

My Aunt and Uncle wrote:

I looked on the web for female ice skaters from Russia. I found a Svetlana Chernyshova from Moscow. Could that be her? Who knows. Then Pete sent us an article he had saved from a newspaper in 1975 that he thought could be a relative. His name was Vasily Ivanovich Chernyshov. I thought it was a coincidence that the last names were similar. Ask your Russian friend to look into the ice skater tip. John says your grandfather had a younger brother who survived the revolution. The female ice skater with the name Tcherneshoff (I'm sure spelled another way) could very well be an ancestor from that line. She would be the granddaughter of your grandfather's brother. We were told her father was a professional gymnast in his younger days. If we could only get the final report, maybe we could do our own investigation here in the states.

Peter John Tcherneshoff (Chernychov, Tchernechev, Petr Ivanovich Tchernyshov) came to America in 1910 leaving all his family behind. Since then there are now 6 grown kids with families of their own. There are many grand kids and even great grand kids. For years we have searched for any of our ancestors still living in Russia with no results. Now we ask that you pass this web page to all your Russian friends and relatives to help us find our Russian roots.

If anyone has information, please send us an email to

JTchernesh@aol.com

or
triplere@comcast.net

Let me thank you in advance for your help.