Hoven, Christopher Khristoforovich

Coming from the nobles of the province of Courland , Lutheran religion.

Family

Wife:

• January 29, 1831 - Sibylla John (Jeannette) Christina von Schroders, daughter of the Courland landowner.
• from 08.22.1858 - John Amalia Dorothea Henrietta Maria von Schroders.

Children (from the first wife):

• Elizabeth (1831),
• Nikolay (1835) - served in the Grodno Life Guards Hussars ,
• Alexander (1840),
• Wilhelmina (1843).

Service

He joined the service on February 22 ( March 6 ), 1814 as a non-commissioned officer of the first cadet corps , from where on February 10 ( 22 ), 1814 he was released as an ensign in the 16th artillery brigade.

After the Tatar population moved from Bessarabia to Turkey in 1812, the government, wishing to settle the newly acquired area with Bulgarians and German colonists, appointed a special batch of topographers for preliminary delimitation and topographical surveys of the deserted area; but since the matter was moving forward tightly, then the head of the party of topographers, Colonel Kornilovich, petitioned in 1816 to send Envoy Baron Khoven to help him.

Having devoted himself to teaching extremely little land surveyors at the time to topographic surveys with tablets and drawing mountains in the then Leman system, Hoven gained fame as a very capable surveyor .

From 5 ( 17 ) August 1817 to 3 ( 15 ) October 1820 produced a military topographical survey in Bessarabia , especially Budjak (as the Turks called the southern part of this area), for which in April 1818 Alexander I produced Khoven as a second lieutenant and determined in his retinue on quartermaster part. Chisinau acquaintance A.S. Pushkin ; I saw Pushkin "almost every evening" ^[1] .

In 1819 he taught geodesy at the Moscow Columnar School . Soon, as an indispensable specialist, he was transferred to the headquarters of the 2nd Army to train geodesy of 15 boys- cantonists , whose success prompted the king to create a special corps of topographers , which was founded in 1822 .

Continuing his teaching classes with topographers, Baron Khoven switched to practical exercises and during the years 1823 and 1824 carried out surveys in the Podolsk , Kherson and Tauride provinces , and organized the organization of roads on the southern coast of the Crimean peninsula . For successes January 20 ( February 1 ) 1825 was promoted to the staff captains of the General Staff .

In 1826 he made a detailed map of the southern part of Russia.

In 1827 he carried out a military topographical survey in Kiev province .

From 1828 to 1830 - chief of surveyors at the General Staff of the second army. He formed a special squadron of topographers , organized a marching drawing with geodesic and lithographic equipment, which contributed to the success of the Russian army during the war with Turkey .

In May 1828, during the imposition of the fortress of Brail , under the strongest enemy fire, he surveyed the environs of the besieged fortress and reconnoitred the Danube crossing necessary for our army. Emperor Nicholas I , convinced of the extraordinary accuracy of these works and the enormous benefits they had when crossing the Danube and taking the fortress, personally thanked Khoven and generously showered him with favors, among which was the Order of St. Anne 3rd degree with a bow. Also, Baron Hoven made surveys of the outskirts of the town of Shumla and the Balkan Mountains with passages in them, Varna and other fortresses.

Taking advantage of the mistake of the Turkish army, which left the mountain passes without cover, Baron Hoven, together with his topographers, disguised as Turks, spent several winter months in the Balkan Mountains ; enduring all sorts of hardships and being in constant danger of being recognized, in view of the enemy, he carried out detailed reconnaissance of the entire mountainous country and passages. The result of his stay in the mountains was an excellent topographic map and a detailed description of the secretly investigated country. Based on the work of Baron Khoven, the Russian army quickly and freely moved to the fortress of Silistra and other cities. For this reconnaissance Khovenu was granted a golden sword with the inscription "For courage" .

After the conclusion of the Peace of Adrianople (in 1829 ), Baron Hoven was entrusted with the shooting of Bulgaria and Rumelia . He completed this work in October 1830 and at the same time compiled a topographic map of European Turkey based on astronomical points determined in the same year by the ranks of the General Staff. These works, as well as the subsequent topographical surveys of the Caucasus Mountains, performed at constant danger to life from the wild Highlanders, which resulted in a very detailed topographic map of the Caucasus region, acquired Baron Khoven a great name among the experts of this business and the royal favor, expressed, among other things, in a 12-year lease of 1,200 rubles .

In 1831 he was seconded to the Ostsee Governor-General Lt.-General P.A. Palen to the post of chief of staff for conducting military operations against Lithuanian rebels . Then he was appointed chief of staff under Major General Shirman the 1st ; pursued a brigade of Major General Anthony Helgud from Shavli to the Prussian border.

From August to November 1831, he was the head of the cordon line on the Prussian border from Yurburg to Palangen . Engaged in capturing the rebels.

In November 1831, he was seconded to Königsberg and other cities of East Prussia "to find the topographic maps of the Warsaw Depotmap, which had been plundered by insurgents, and to explain to the Poles who fled to Prussia the exact meaning of the all-gracious manifesto."

From March to October 1833 - Head of the 3rd Division of the Military Topographical Depot.

In 1833 he was appointed Ober Quartermaster of the Separate Caucasian Corps , repeatedly served as chief of staff.

In 1836 he was promoted to major general .

On December 6 ( 18 ), 1836, for 25 years of irreproachable service, he was awarded the Order of Saint George of the 4th degree (No. 5384 according to the list of Grigorovich - Stepanov ).

From May 1838 to April 1841 - Chief of Staff of the Separate Siberian Corps . Conducted topographic studies Zauralie . Consisted with the Minister of War (April - July 1841 ).

From July 1841 to December 1848, he was the military governor of the city of Voronezh and the civil governor of Voronezh.

December 6 ( 18 ), 1847 promoted to lieutenant general .

From December 1846 to March 29 ( April 10 ), 1848 - the Novgorod governor.

By the decree of Nicholas I of March 17 ( 29 ), 1848, he was appointed military governor of the city of Grodno and the Grodno civil governor. The post took 6 ( 18 ) April 1848 . Hoven's activities were aimed at strengthening Orthodoxy in the Grodno province . Probably, it was not without preliminary talks with the Bishop of Grodno Ignatius who entered the Lithuanian Governor-General about the transfer of the Bernardine church with monastic buildings to the department of the Orthodox confession. He wrote:

Turning then to the closed Bernardine monastery, I find that, first of all, he never had parishioners and only very recently, about 3 thousand parishioners were separated from Grodno, the Church of Farny, which is attributed to the Bernardine monastery. such a deduction was not inconsistent, while in Grodno there are many Catholic churches that are not rich in parishioners, so even the distribution between them and the Bernardine parishioners would not be a burden. But, not wanting any constraints, I saw not only the opportunity, but also the important convenience in the appointment instead of the Bernardine church for the named parishioners, who are now in the government department of the Grodno Carmelite monastery, with transferring all the church accessories to one of Bernardine. As is well known to your Excellency, in the buildings of the Carmelite monastery correctional arrest chambers have to be placed, but in addition, inside it there is still a huge huge house with outbuildings and economic institutions that are completely unoccupied, the church and the monastery are in satisfactory condition and require very little amendments; consequently, with the transfer of the church from Bernardine to the Carmelite church, which now stands empty, the Catholic church will find excellent accommodation and other benefits, and meanwhile, thus, the former Bernardine monastery, located on a picturesque place, remarkable for its enormity, architecture, would have become with all its property the property of the Orthodox clergy and, at the same time, its rich acquisition. Perhaps, from this church, a magnificent Orthodox Church would be reborn with low costs for that, which would be called a cathedral, a religious school or a seminary would be built in monastic buildings. At the same time, it is impossible to lose sight of the fact that the male Orthodox monastery on Kolozh, near Grodno itself, is now completely destroyed, being a washed-up r. Neman, so there is no means and support him, why the need is clearly given to transferring him and his whole place to another place, to serve as an excellent place to meet the stated needs, as in the formation of the school, or in the transfer of the Kolozhsky monastery to the now-occupied premises of the local vicar bishop This would not be enough for such an institution, and therefore it became necessary to build new buildings, which are very expensive.

In the governor’s report for 1855 it was noted that

in order to preserve this shrine in the remaining building, the need to strengthen the coast under the Kalozhskaya Church requires 6 thousand rubles. ^[2]

In 1849, Hoven allowed the Lutheran community to raise funds in Grodno by community members for the restoration of 1849 schools and housing for teachers who had burnt down on March 25 ( April 6 ).

Contemporaries testify that Hoven "in the activities of the governors ( Voronezh , Grodno , Novgorod ) was a real keeper of the rule of law and a merciless enemy of the arbitrariness of both the bureaucratic and the landlord."

He was dismissed from his post by royal decree of May 3 ( 15 ), 1856, with permission to hold office in the Senate .

In 1869 he was promoted to the rank of General of Infantry .

In the last years of his career, he was Vice-Chairman of the Committee for the Construction of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow .

He served 75 years, died at the 95th year of life.

In the collection “Imperial Russia in faces and facts, issue 4” the following case is given:

“After the famous denunciation of Captain Mayboroda to Tulchino, on December 13, 1825, General Alexander Ivanovich Chernyshev (1785-1857) arrived for a showdown. He agreed with the commander of the 2nd Army, Peter Christian Wittgenstein, to take the necessary measures against the conspirators, and already on December 14, Colonel P. I. Pestel, summoned to headquarters, was arrested.

On December 15, Chernyshev and General P.D. Kiselev went to Linz to seize Pestel's papers, and also arrested several officers there.

But Kiselev himself was under suspicion of the authorities, so at the same time Colonel Baron Christopher Christoforovich von der Hoven, by order of Chernyshev, seized Kiselev's papers from his house and brought them to Wittgenstein. Wittgenstein was generally a kind person, he was good to Kiselev and was upset by the finds: “He died, our poor Kiselev! He will go to Siberia. " Von der Hoven said: "You can save him." Wittgenstein was surprised: “But how?” Hoven was brief: “And this is it,” he said and threw a stack of papers into the fireplace.

P.D. Kiselev never forgot this service of von der Khoven and always supported him in the future. ”

Among other awards, Hoven had orders:

• Order of St. Anne 3rd degree with a bow (1828)
• Golden sword with the inscription "For courage" (1829)
• Order of St. Vladimir of the 3rd degree (1831)
• Order of St. George 4th degree (December 6, 1836)
• Order of St. Stanislav 1st degree (1838)
• Order of St. Anne 1st degree (1840, the imperial crown to this order granted in 1844)
• Order of St. Vladimir 2nd degree (1850)
• Order of the White Eagle (1867)
• Medal for the Turkish campaign.
• The insignia of the XXX and XXXV years of immaculate service.

• Autobiography (unpublished), giving an idea of ​​the state system of Russia in 1830-1870.

• Hoven, von der, Christopher Khristoforovich // Russian biographical dictionary : in 25 volumes. - SPb. - M. , 1896-1918.
• List of senior generals . Corrected on June 21. - SPb., 1840. - p. 323.
• List of senior generals . - SPb., 1889. - p. 21-22.
• The team of authors. Historical overview of the activities of the Corps of Military Topographers . - SPb. , 1872. - 737 s.