Nikifor Kazakoff or Nick Kazakoff – Who’s Who?

While researching my husband’s paternal relatives recently, I found information that said his great-great-uncle Mikit Denis Tomelin (ca 1878-1944) married Anna Perepolkin after his first wife Anastasia (Nastia) Chiveldaeff (aka Mabel Cheveldave) passed away. The info added that Anna was the widow of Nikifor Kazakoff, by whom she had two children, John and Mary.

I didn’t know that Mikit married twice, so I went in search of Anna's first husband Nikifor. I found conflicting information about him in Ancestry.ca trees. I also found a Find A Grave memorial that merged him with a Nick Kazakoff. The confusion is understandable. Both men were born in Russia, both had fathers named Mike, and both were married to an Anna/Annie.

Differences between the men helped to untangle them. For example, Nikifor was known mostly as Nikifor, while Nick was known as Nikolai, Nicholas or Nick. Nikifor was a laborer and later a farmer, while Nick was a farmer and later a mechanic, who enlisted in World War I. Nikifor had one wife and two children, while Nick had two wives and six children. Nikifor’s wife was Doukhobor, while Nick’s second wife was Roman Catholic. Nikifor’s mother was living, but Nick’s mother was deceased.

After I made tables and charts to distinguish the men and their families, I determined that Mikit’s second wife Anna was the widow of Nikifor (“Nikifor Kazakoff, Farmer” in this document) and not the widow of Nick (“Nick Kazakoff, WWI Veteran” in this document). Here is a summary of my findings.

Nikifor Kazakoff, Farmer

Nikifor was born in 1890 or 1891 in Russia. Alternatively, he was born on 9 February 1888. [1] Nikifor left Russia with his younger brother Dmitry, their parents Mikhail and Maria, his uncles Petro, Ivan and Grigory, his grandparents Ivan and Ekaterina, and his great-grandmother Maria. They and nearly 2,000 other persecuted Doukhobors boarded the S/S Lake Superior for Canada in January 1899. [2]

The Kazakoff family lived communally in Saskatchewan with other Doukhobors for a few years. About 1911, Mikhail and Maria moved to British Columbia. [3] I suspect that Nikifor also went to B.C., because I did not locate him in Saskatchewan on the 1916 census. Mikhail and Maria returned to Saskatchewan in 1919 and settled near Veregin. Nikifor was definitely back in that province by 1921, because he appears on that year’s census.

About 1914, Nikifor married Annie (Anna) Perepolkin, daughter of Alex and Dora (Daykoff) Perepolkin. The couple had two children, John and Mary. [4]

Nikifor is presumably the same person as the “Nikifor M. Kazakoff” who died on 28 March 1923 and is buried in Blahodarovka Cemetery, near Veregin, Saskatchewan. [5] After his death, Annie moved to British Columbia and married Mikit Tomelin. She died on 28 February 1954 in Pass Creek, BC. [6] Annie’s daughter Mary married Mikit’s son Alex in 1932. [7]

Footnotes:

1. “Blahodarovka Cemetery – Veregin District, Saskatchewan”, database, Doukhobor Genealogy Website (http://www.doukhobor.org/Cemetery-Blahodarovka.html : 22 June 2017), entry for Nikifor M. Kazakoff (1888-1923).

2. Steve Lapshinoff and Jonathan Kalmakoff, Doukhobor Ship Passenger Lists 1898-1928, Crescent Valley, BC: self-published, 2001), 5.

3. St. Philips / Pelly History Book Committee, History Coming Alive: R.M. of St. Philips, Pelly and District, 2 vols. (Pelly, Saskatchewan: 1958, I: 511); digital images, Our Roots (http://www.ourroots.ca/ : accessed 19 June 2017).

4. History Coming Alive, I: 511. 5. “Blahodarovka Cemetery”, database entry for Nikifor M. Kazakoff (1888-1923). History Coming Alive, I: 511 states that “Mikifor” died in 1924.

6. “Genealogy – General Search”, digital images, BC Archives (http://search-collections.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/Genealogy : accessed 21 June 2017), entry for Anna Tamelin, 28 February 1954, death registration no. 1954-09-004500.

7. History Coming Alive, I: 511 and “Genealogy – General Search”, digital images, BC Archives (http://search-collections.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/Genealogy : accessed 26 June 2017), entry for Alex Tamelin – Mary Kazakoff, 29 December 1932, marriage registration no. 1932-09-900680.

Table 1 Notes:

1. Four Kazakoff households reported only heads of families on the 1906 census. These were Nick’s grandfather (Mikhail), his uncles (Petro, Ivan, and Grigory), and his father (Mikhail).

2. I didn’t find Nick‘s household in Saskatchewan on the 1916 census. He was possibly living in British Columbia at this time, because his son John was born there in Winlaw on Feb. 18, 1915 (according to his social security application) and his daughter Mary was born there in the province on Oct. 18, 1917 (according to her Find A Grave memorial).

3. The Nikifor M. Kazakoff buried in Blahodarovka Doukhobor Cemetery is possibly the same person as the above Nikifor. I searched but did not find a 1923 probate file for him. (“Saskatchewan Probate Estate Files, 1887-1931", digital images, FamilySearch.org (https://familysearch.org/ : accessed 21 June 2017), Yorkton District, 1923, probate files). I also searched 1924, but did not file a probate file for him.

Nick Kazakoff, WWI Veteran

Nikolai (Nicholas, Nick) was born between 1885 and 1891 in Russia. His parents were Mikhail (Mike) Kazakoff and an unknown mother, possibly Dora Tarasoff. [1]

I didn’t find Nick on passenger lists for the S/S Lake Huron that departed in December 1898 for Canada or for the S/S Lake Superior that left in January 1899. [2]

The first time Nick appears in a family unit is on the 1905 Doukhobor village census. The household consists of father Michaylo, son Michaylo (with his wife and daughter), sons Nicholai and Ivan, and daughter Fedosia (Fanny). [3]

Nick appears to have married twice: first to possibly Nastanka (her name is difficult to decipher on the 1911 census image), by whom he had a daughter, and second to Anna, by whom he had two sons (Mike and Nick).

Although Nick was Doukhobor, Anna was Roman Catholic. [4] Daughter of Mike Bazelowski (var. Basalowski, Basiloski) and Evdokia Chopek, Anna was born on 15 August 1895. [5] Her birthplace was either Austria, according to the 1916 and 1921 censuses, or more likely Poland, according to her son Walter’s death registration.

On 28 December 1915, Nick enlisted with the Canadian Expeditionary Forces (CEF) during World War I. [6] He was the only Doukhobor surnamed Kazakoff (or variation) to do so. [7]

Nick and Anna’s last child, Dora, was born about 1924. Nick died presumably in the 1920s, possibly in 1929. [8] Anna remained a widow and died on 13 December 1982 in Trail, British Columbia. [9]

Footnotes:

1. Gwen Gamberutti, “Re: Tarasoff Line”, Doukhobor – Family History & Genealogy Message Board, 5 July 2002 (https://www.ancestry.com/boards/topics.religious.doukhobor/mb.ashx : accessed 21 June 2017).

2. Steve Lapshinoff and Jonathan Kalmakoff, Doukhobor Ship Passenger Lists 1898-1928, Crescent Valley, BC: self-published, 2001). A search of the Lake Huron and Lake Superior’s manifests for Nikolai, his father, or his siblings proved negative.

3. Steve Lapshinoff, List of Doukhobors Living In Saskatchewan In 1905, Crescent Valley, B.C.: self-published, 1996, 146.

4. “1916 Canada Census of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta”, digital images, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 22 June 2017), population schedule, enumeration district (ED) 10, sub-district 10, p. 14, dwelling 145, family 152, entry for Annie Kazikoff [sic], line 45, p. 14, Kamsack, Mackenzie, Saskatchewan; citing Canada, "Census returns for 1916 Census of Prairie Provinces"; Statistics of Canada Fonds, Record Group 31-C-1, LAC microfilm T-21925 to T-21956 [T-21938]; Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa. Also, “1921 Census of Canada”, digital images, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 22 June 2017), population schedule, district 219, enumeration sub-district 61, dwelling 403, family 409, entry for Annie Kazakoff (written as Annie Kazakoff, indexed as Annie Razalaff), line 22, p. 38, Kamsack, Mackenzie, Saskatchewan; citing Library and Archives Canada, Sixth Census of Canada, 1921; Ottawa, Ontario, Canada: Library and Archives Canada, 2013; Series RG31, Statistics Canada Fonds.

5. “Genealogy – General Search”, digital images, BC Archives (http://search-collections.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/Genealogy : accessed 21 June 2017), entry for Annie Kazakoff, 28 February 1954, death registration no. 1982-09-020807.

6. “Soldiers of the First World War, 1914-1918”, digital images, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 22 June 2017), Nick Kazakoff, regimental number 888039; citing "Soldiers of the First World War (1914-1918)"; Record Group 150, Accession 1992-93/166, Box 4930 – 35; Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa.

7. “Doukhobors in the WWI Canadian Expeditionary Forces, 1914-1918”, database, Doukhobor Genealogy Website (http://www.doukhobor.org/WWI-Soldiers.pdf : accessed 21 June 2017), entry for Nick Kazakoff, regiment no. 888039. An Arhip Kazakoff (var. Kozokow), son of Petro Kazakoff, enlisted in the CEF in Montreal, Quebec in August 1915, but he was Russian Orthodox. (“Soldiers of the First World War: 1914-1918”, digital images, Library and Archives Canada (http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/military-heritage/first-world-war/first-world-war-1914-1918-cef/Pages/canadian-expeditionary-force.aspx : accessed 27 June 2017), Arhip Kazakoff, regimental no. 50370, digitized service file).

8. Find A Grave, database (http://findagrave.com : accessed 21 June 2017), record for Nick Kazakoff (?-1929), Find A Grave Memorial no. 74373983, Riverview Cemetery, Kamsack, Saskatchewan, Canada, no photograph; citing burial on 25 Aug 1929; Sec: Old RV; Block:4; Plot:1; Lot: NE.

9. “Genealogy – General Search”, BC Archives, entry for Annie Kazakoff, 28 February 1954.

Table 2 Notes:

1. Early Doukhobor ship passenger lists are incomplete and/or the originals are missing. For example, only 899 names of 1,997 passengers were recorded on the manifest of the S/S Lake Superior that departed for Canada in January 1899.

2. Portions of the 1901 census are incomplete, because 2,811 Doukhobors in 23 villages (located in the present-day province of Saskatchewan) refused to be enumerated.

3. The 1905 Doukhobor village census has only one Nicholas in which a Nick is the son of a father Mike who does not have a wife, which is how Nick described his family situation in his World War I service file.

4. Nick is possibly the same person as “Nick Kazakoff” who is buried in Riverview Cemetery, but I do not know if he is the same one who served in WWI. I searched but did not find a 1929 probate file for him. (“Saskatchewan Probate Estate Files, 1887-1931", digital images, FamilySearch.org (https://familysearch.org/ : accessed 21 June 2017), Yorkton District, 1929, probate files) I also didn’t find a WWI veterans’ death card for him. (“Veterans Death Cards: First World War (Archived)”, digital images, Library and Archives Canada (http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/military-heritage/Pages/military-heritage.aspx : accessed 20 June 2017).)

Copyright © 2017, Yvonne Demoskoff.