The Verderevsky family (Russian: Вердеревские or Верхдеревские) is a Russian noble family from prominent boyars of the Duchy of Ryazan. The Verderevskys are listed in the 6th part of the Ryazanian genealogical book. The Verderevskys were the largest landlords in the Duchy of Ryazan: in the 16th–17th centuries they owned at least 30 allods and about 40 fiefs. Today, descendants of the family live in Russia, Canada and France.
The Verderevsky family is considered descendants of Murza Salohmir (Salhomir), who arrived in Ryazan in 1367 (1371, according to the genealogy of the Apraksins[1]) to the court of Duke Oleg.[2] According to the generalogical tale, Salohmir came with his brother Edugan, who is said to be the progenitor of the Khitrovo family. Salohmir was baptized in Russian Orthodoxy under the name of Johan (Ioann) Miroslavich. Oleg II of Ryazan married off to him his younger sister Anastasia, and soon made Salohmir a boyar. He was granted with large landed estates, including Verderev, Venyov, Rostovets, Mikhailovo polye, and Besputsky stan.
In 2004 during construction works at Solotchinsky monastery (Solotchino near Ryazan), there was discovered a large memorial stone dated by April 23, 1543, for 'the brother-in-law of Oleg Ivanovich of Ryazan, Ivan Miroslavich Skhorosmir, in monkhood schemamonk Josef', saying that his body was replaced under request from his relatives.[3]
The descendants of Salohmir included such noble families as Kryukov, Shishkin, Porovaty, Duvanov, Koncheev, Rataev, Bazarov, counts Apraksin, and Khanykov. The Verderevskys are directly descended from Salohmir's grandson, Grigory Grigoryevich Verhderevsky. Many Verderevskys were voivodes after the incorporation of the Duchy of Ryazan by Moscow. Some Verderevskys had reached the duma ranks, but none of them had ever been created Moscow boyar. Six of the Verderevskys had become stolniks under Peter the Great and one was a dumny dvorianin.[4] Ryazanian landlord, Mikhail Petrovich Verderevsky, who had later become a stolnik (1678), was among the signers of the Sobornoye Ulozheniye of 1649.[5]
In 1685 Stolnik Ivan Ivanovich Verderevsky build a monks' monastery in the city of Ryazan.
In the 18th century, the Verderevskys remained landlords in Ryazan Governorate. When the so-called Charter to the Gentry was established, some of the family filed to be included, together with their immediate families, in the 6th part ('ancient nobility') of the Ryazanian genealogical book (1792 - state councillor Aleksey Alekseyevich Verderevsky (1726 – after 1792); 1794 - rottmeister Ivan Vasilyevich Verderevsky (1731–1800); 1803 - court councillor Nikolay Ivanovich Verderevsky (1761 – circa 1828),. Different members of the family filed for formal nobility under the new imperial regime separately and sometimes in different parts. For instance, colonel Viktor Nikolayevich Verderevsky was added to the 2nd part ('military nobility') of the Ryazanian genealogical book. Some Verderevskys were deprived of nobility for crimes. For example, in 1859 the nobility of captain Aleksey Evgrafovich Verderevsky was revoked for corruption and he was reduced to a private. In 1862 guards porutschik Vasily Vasilyevich Verderevsky and his brother Boris were deprived of nobility and all due rights and sentenced to 12 years of katorga for accidental murder of their brother in a brawl.
After October Revolution, most family members stayed in Russia, hiding their background, while some managed to escape overseas. Now, apart Russia, descendants of the Verderevskys are found in Canada and France.
The Arms of the Verderevsky family wasn't included to the General Armorial and had never been authorized by the Russian Imperial Heraldry Department. However, the Armorial of Anisim Kniazev, published in 1785, contains the illustration of the family's arms as found on the grave of lieutenant-general Nikolay Ivanovich Verderevsky who died in 1812. Kniazev's armorial describes their coat-of-arms as follows:
The escutcheon is sectioned into three fields. The two upper fields are silver, the lower one is red. In the upper left-hand field there is a gilded star; in the upper right-hand field there is a silver-white sword. In the lower field there is a silver moon crest. The shield is sided by a mantling and finished with a noble crown with no helmet.[7]