History of the Prokhod family: legends and reality (historical and genealogical research, late XVIII – early XX century)

The article reflects the results of historical and genealogical study of the Prokhod family – descendants, according to family legends, of the Zaporizhian Cossacks who lived on the territory of Novorossiya in the Taurida Governorate. The chronological framework of the work covers the end of the XVIII – beginning of the XX century. The main methods and approaches relied on by the authors are analytical, microhistorical, biographical, historical and anthropological. The source base was made up of unpublished archival documents (registers of births, census tales) stored in the State Archives of the Zaporizhia Region (SAZO). A significant role was also played by ego-documents, namely autobiographical sources: the memoirs of one of the representatives of the Vasily Fomich Prokhoda family and Antonina Khelemendik-Kokot, a native of the Berdyansk district of the Taurida Governorate. The authors of the article come to the conclusion that the history of the Prokhod clan is a reflection of the history that was created and made around this family, and its representatives became part of this historical process, in which legends and myths were mixed with reality, and the spirit of «rebellious» and freedom-loving ancestors lived in them and periodically directed the representatives of the clan to search for a better lot, no matter how it was expressed – in acquiring more land or a sense of freedom. The information revealed made it possible to illuminate the history of the studied clan quite comprehensively and present it in the broad framework of events that took place in the country in the late XVIII – early XX century. The article is addressed to specialists in the field of genealogy, microhistory, and researchers of the history of Novorossiya