The tract on which Kryukov was built is not unknown in the history of the region. This is exactly the place where the Kurukovsky agreement was concluded between representatives of the Polish government and the Cossacks.
As a result of the strong aggravation of the Commonwealth towards Turkey, caused by the Cossack raids on Turkish possessions, the Polish government in 1625 instructed the specially chosen commissars to oblige the Kozaks with conditions in which they would be deprived of the opportunity to continue their raids and would be forced to completely submit to the Polish order. In order to give more impressiveness to the demands of the government Komisars, hetman Konetspolsky was ordered to move an army along with them, and in case of disagreement of the Cossacks, force them to submit with weapons. According to a recently published diary of one of the participants of this expedition (a description from the diary is given below).
On October 15, 1625, the Polish army with commissars approached the city of Cherkasy. the former Cossacks, as before, from Kanev, asked Konetspolsky not to disturb them until their hetman Zhmailo returned from Zaporozhye, and they themselves went to meet him. The Poles continued to follow them along the Dnieper and by October 21 reached Krylov. The Cossacks again asked the hetman and Komisars to wait for Zhmail, who arrived at Krylov with artillery on October 25. Konetspolsky sent Komisarov to him with conditions, the Cossacks at the Rada recognized the conditions as difficult and refused to accept them, then Konetspolsky ordered to prepare for battle. The Cossacks, meanwhile, fortified for the river. Tsibulnik near the Dnieper, at the narrow end of the plateau, but here they were defeated by the Poles. The battle took place on October 29, and according to the details described in the diary, there is no doubt that the Cossack camp was located on the site of the present village. Taburischa, which obviously got its name from here. The defeated Cossacks tried to escape across the Dnieper, but the storm that broke out at that time sank many of their canoes. On the night of 30/31, the Cossacks with Zhmail moved further down the Dnieper. We crossed two swamp or lake crossings and fortified again “near the old dance or settlement, half a quarter of a mile from the lake called Kurukovo.” Here they again suffered a severe defeat and were forced to agree to harsh conditions for them. The tract on which the contract was concluded is also called, both in the mentioned diary and in the acts of that time, Bear Vines. Subsequently, this event was remembered as the Korukovskaya commission (Kurokovskaya, Krukovskaya).
Where to look for the Bear Lozi and Lake Kurukova? It seems to us that it is in Kryukov. The evidence for this place follows.
The distance from the first to the second Cossack camp is about 15 miles (according to the author of the diary). this approximately coincides between Kryukov and the village of Taburish.
The area along which the Cossacks moved, until they reached the second camp, was low-lying and contained swampy lakes and is currently between the village. Taburischem and Kryukov there is quite a lot of water from a group of lakes near the village. Biletskovka just coincides with these lakes, which the Cossacks passed, judging by the diary.
The settlement of Kryukov or, more correctly, Krukov (as they wrote in the last century and as common people say now) is not accidental, but came from the word Kurukovo. Krukov was changed to Kryukov in pronunciation by the Old Believers – the Great Russians who settled here since the time of Potemkin.
The very name Kryukov or, more correctly, Krukov (as they wrote in the last century and as common people say now) is not accidental, but comes from the word Kurukovo. At present, there is neither a lake nor an old settlement in Kryukov, but these signs are not reliable: the settlement could be buried later, and the waters in this area, which are flooded almost annually by the Dnieper, are highly unstable. However, Pishkevich, the author of recently published notes, saw a river in Kryukov in the last century, which was also called Kryukov. There is currently no vine near Kryukov that would be called Bear, but this name could be accidental or not common in 1625 and therefore soon disappeared. Finally, if there is not one of the last signs in the present Kryukov, then there are none anywhere else, to be understood near Kryukov.
We do not know anything definite about the origin of the settlement in this place. In the first decades of the 17th century, it undoubtedly did not exist yet, and because Beauplan did not place it on his map, it cannot be assumed that he could ignore the settlement in view of its proximity to Kremenchug, where Beauplan began building a fortress in the thirties. While under the protection of the castle in a settlement was formed on the left bank of the Dnieper, a settlement could naturally appear on the opposite bank. We do not know when exactly they appeared.
The first mention of Kryukov known to us – obviously as a populated place – dates back to the 70s of the 17th century. On May 26, 1676, Poltava Colonel Pavel Semyonov wrote to Samoilov about the news they had received regarding Zaporozhye. People heard it from one Lokhvichanin
and that Sirko verbally conveyed to him: “I’m not writing to Hanek, but tell him verbally that he will certainly prepare and come to the council in Kryukov near Krylov, where I will be with the Zaporizhian army.”
From the court case over the Nezhin archpriest Semyon Adamovich and over the Starodubsky colonel Peter Roslavets, it is clear that Doroshenko spoke about Kryukov as a place where he could act both on the Cossacks and on the nearest regiments, probably on the left bank.
In the 30s of the 18th century, the name of Kryukov was found in Warsaw newspapers, on the occasion of the attack on Polish Ukraine by haidamak, who, as usual, were crossing the Dnieper near Kryukov.
By the 40s of the same century, the inscriptions existing to this day on various sacred things located in the Kryukovskaya Church of the Intercession date back. Both the language of the inscriptions and the names of the donors show that the original inhabitants of the Kryukov settlement were Little Russians. These inscriptions testify that in Kryukovo there was an Intercession Church already in the forties of the 18th century.
Here are these interesting inscriptions in chronological order:
On the gospel: “In the month of August 1743, this book of the Gospel of the servant of God Martyn Kurk with his wife Maria was canceled to the Church of the Intercession of the Mother of God in the village of Kryukov for the price of seven rubles and sent for church money against silver.”
On the silver discus and star “1744, January 30, this discus and star were canceled by Roman Nazarenko and his wife Evdokia for the absolution of sins to the Church of the Holy Intercession of Krukovskaya.”
At the foot of the silver altar cross “Year 1747 on May 9, the servant of God Vasily Malk canceled this Cross for the remission of his sins.”
On the gospel: “On May 25, 1751, this gospel was canceled by the servant of God Stepan Pashchenko with his wife Paraska Konstantineva to the church of Our Lady in the village of Kryukov for the price of eight rubles.”
Archbishop Gabriel in his “Chronological and historical description of the churches of the Kherson province” refers to the construction of a wooden double-altar Church of the Intercession in Kryukovo in 1781. That the church existed earlier is indicated by the above inscriptions. But His Eminence Gabriel is partly right. The fact is that in Kryukov in the second half of the 18th century there really was no church for some time. Academician Zuev, who visited the shtetl in 1781, says:
“The church was once founded, but not built, and therefore the inhabitants go to church in Kremenchug.”
One cannot think that until that time there was no church in Kryukov, the church was, and in finished form, the inscriptions above refer to it, but being destroyed for one reason or another, could not be soon replaced by another. The Kryukovites began to build a new one, but there were not enough funds and the matter stopped at the laying. During this period of time, the author of the notes visited Kryukov. Bishop Gabriel is mistaken in referring the consecration of the new church to 1781, it should have happened later.
According to Miller, in the first half of the 18th century Kryukov belonged to the Kremenchug Hundred of the Mirgorod Regiment.
During the formation of New Serbia, Kryukov in the fifties was part of the Pandura regiment, and when the Novorossiysk province was formed in 1764, he entered it as the first company and headquarters of the Yellow Hussar Regiment of the Elizabethan province. When separating from the Novorossiysk province of Azov, both provinces were divided into counties, including Kryukovsky in the Novorossiysk province.
When in 1784 one Yekaterinoslav vicegerency was formed from two provinces, consisting of 15 counties, Kryukovsky is not among them. He was converted to the town.
On August 28, 1796, a nominal decree was issued to the Yekaterinoslav, Voznesensky and Tauride Governor General Prince. Zubov with the following content:
“Prince Platon Alexandrovich! According to our idea, we command the place of Kryukov to be attached to the city of Kremenchug and subordinated to the local magistrate, and the Kryukov city hall to be abolished.
But this connection was hardly fulfilled, since, according to the royal decree of November 30 of the same year, Kremenchug was excluded from the Novorossiysk province (that was the name of Yekaterinoslavskaya by Paul I) and was included in the Little Russian province.
Already at the beginning of the 19th century, Kryukov gradually merged with Kremenchug. By decree of 1803, he was subordinate to the department of the Kremenchug police, leaving dependence on the court and reprisals regarding the district of the Yekaterinoslav province, to which he belonged. Kherson military governors Duke de Richelieu and c. Langeron was later presented to the government several times that since 1803, when Kryukov was attached to Kremenchug by police, there were great difficulties from the division of departments, and therefore they asked that Kryukov be connected to the Yekaterinoslav province by police. Then the committee of ministers, taking into account the closeness and continuous relations between Kryukov and Kremenchug, decided in 1817 to annex Kryukov to Kremenchug completely. By decree of May 17
Posad Kryukov, not only in terms of the police, but also in all parts of the administration, was assigned to the Poltava province, to the city of Kremenchug. The Kryukovskaya town hall was destroyed, the inhabitants were supposed to participate in the elections of the Kremenchug
mayor.
According to the spiritual administration, Kryukov was part of the Kherson diocese and remained in it until 1837, when he was transferred to Poltava.
We can say very little about Kryukov’s internal state in the last century. Academician Zuev reports very interesting information in his Notes.
This small town, says Zuev, despite the proximity of the provincial city, has its own district government. It was built in the same way as Kremenchuk, with large straight streets, and moreover, there is a small fortress. It contained quarantine during the pestilence. The buildings are all wooden, scattered on a flat field, no more than 200 houses, in which, in addition to officials, state settlers, property owners and Little Russian subjects, a small number of merchants, philistines and guilds live.
Particular attention of the author of the notes was attracted by the state garden, in which watermelons and melons were bred mainly for the imperial court. The German Bilav from Brandenburg was identified as the gardener. He seemed to be an expert in his field. Nowhere, says Zuev, you will find as many varieties of melons and watermelons as in the Kryukovsky and Elizavetgrad gardens; they are very different in size and in appearance and in seeds. But the best of the watermelons are those that have marbled seeds. They will be born both red and yellow, the emperor distributes the seeds of these watermelons only “to whom he will judge for good.” It happened that from this variety of watermelons, specimens weighing 13 pounds were served at the governor’s table. “Melons with green meat are considered the best here.” Part of the vegetables was served at the governor’s table, the best part was sent to the imperial court. In addition to various varieties of melons and watermelons, other vegetables were bred in the garden, of which travelers noted, as a rarity, pitcher pumpkin, explaining its use by local residents, and another variety of pumpkin, similar to the “Persian Turban”; gardeners especially protected the seeds of the latter from spreading. Other table and cooking vegetables and fruit trees were also bred. For the maintenance of the garden there was no release from the treasury of any special amount, except for the salary of the gardener. The garden was supposed to exist on the proceeds from the sale of the fruits, flowers and vegetables bred in it. Four versts from the city there was another garden, which consisted only of fruit trees, but the author of the notes does not write anything specific about it.
In one of the letters of the governor Kokhovsky dated 1789, Kryukovka is mentioned as a state store for a food warehouse.
The commissariat commission that existed in Kryukov in 1809, by decree from the military college, was renamed Kremenchug, although it remained in Kryukov.
During the accession of Kryukov to Kremenchug, the Poltava provincial government demanded from the Kryukov City Hall information about the number of inhabitants of the settlement, about its trade, welfare, and other things. The town hall did not answer this question, but in response to the rest, it reported some interesting information, which we present here as the latest data related to Kryukov’s independent state.
“The Kryukov settlement, wrote the town hall, is located near the Dnieper River and from it on the sides of the bays, by means of which it is very convenient to moor ships that come from different places of the Belarusian provinces, as well as from the Crimean salt lakes of other cities and the Kryukov settlement, by merchants evenly to be exported by land to the same salt, which the former bought from the latter, was loaded onto ships, and in this trade, which takes place only in summer, the industrialists of those are charged as city income, according to the content of the annual regulation of Articles 26 and 146. The amount of those articles, although it comes in annually, is not equal, one year more, another year less, so it comes from a decrease or increase in commerce. In the present year of 1817, through the month of August, two thousand two hundred and twelve rubles eighty-five kopecks were received by the parish.
This money went to the maintenance of the town hall, the police, fire tools and to repair bridges and gates in Kryukov.
Since 1817, Kryukov has been one of the parts of Kremenchug and lives the same life with it.
Excerpt from the book “City of Kremenchug”. Historical sketch of F.D. Nikolaychik 1891