Vankovich, Jan Edward

Jan-Edward Vankovich was born on October 23, 1834 in the estate of Malaya Slepianka (now the territory of Minsk , Republic of Belarus ) in the eponymous village belonging to his father to the famous artist Valenty-Wilhelm Vankovich and his wife Anelia Vankovich (1800 - 1870). He came from a wealthy gentry family coat of arms "Fox" was the youngest of four children. He also had older brothers Adam Vankovich (1827 - 1895) and Kazimir Vankovich (1831 - 1891) and sister Helena Vankovich (married Rogovskaya). After the death of his father, he inherited the estate in which he was born.

In 1860 he graduated with honors from the St. Petersburg Forest Institute and was assigned to work as a forester in the Ekaterinoslav province , but was soon transferred to Bialowieza ( Grodno province ), where he was appointed to the post-supra forest. He came into contact with clandestine patriotic organizations, was personally acquainted with K. Kalinovsky and V. Vrublevsky , at their suggestion he joined the radical organization of the Reds , which included in 1861 - 1862 actively assisted in the preparation of a future rebellion.

Yan Edward Vankovich, like his brothers, took an active part in the uprising of 1863-1864, his detachment formed in the vicinity of the village of Ruda received orders to move south of the Grodno province, initially the Vankovich detachment consisted of only a few dozen people, but in mid-May the remains joined Florian Stasyukevicha detachment, under the command of Casimir Narbuta retreated from Brest county after the defeat of the regular troops at the village Domachovo 2 (14) in May 1863 as a result of which they lost 11 people killed and 17 prisoners, and several transports. ^[3]

As a result, the number of fighters of Vankovich’s detachment was about 100 personnel, after which Vankovich decided to move to join Traugutt. In the second half of May, in the Belinsky forest near the village of Ovsichi, Pinsk Uyezd joined with a detachment of 200 people under the command of Romuald Traugutt, after which Traugutt received an order from the National Government to move to Volyn through the south of the Minsk province .

Already in early June, the Traugutt-Vankovich detachment, crossing the Goryn River, became a camp in the forest near the village of Varyany, where the next day was attacked by a detachment of regular troops of Major Kemer, having lost 17 people killed and 19 wounded and prisoners, against only two killed by the Russians, the rebels were forced to retreat in a hurry. Already on June 17 (29), near the village of Kolodnoye, in the vicinity of the city of Stolin ( Pinsk Uyezd ), the Traugutt-Vankovich detachment was suddenly attacked by a detachment of regular troops consisting of 2 rifle companies under the command of Lieutenant Petrovsky. Having lost 7 people killed, 8 captured and leaving several convoys, the rebels with difficulty escaped from the encirclement and having managed to cross the Styr River, they left for the territory of northern Volhynia. ^[four]

Thanks to the help of Eliza Orzeszko , he managed to escape to Galicia in July 1863 . All of Vankovich’s property on the territory of the Russian Empire was confiscated, and he himself was sentenced to life expulsion and a ban on living on its territory.

About a year he lived in Lviv under a pseudonym, worked at the Galitsky Bank, but was soon arrested by the Austrian authorities, but managed to escape from custody. Until 1869 he lived in various countries of Europe. After the Austrian authorities pardoned all those wanted for participating in the 1863-1864 uprising, he returned to Austria-Hungary and settled in Krakow . He worked in a bank. He died on August 2, 1899, was buried in the Rakovitsky cemetery . ^[2]

Since 1870 he was married to Stanislav Vankovich (nee Yasklovskaya) ( August 15, 1843 - June 24, 1903 ). The daughter Yanina Vankovich (married Tsekhanovskaya) was born in marriage ( November 14, 1871 - March 3, 1955 ).