Shershow
Shershow is a town near the source of the river Lsna, in the district of Pruzhany, 3
rd Polish precinct, township of Shershow. It is located 14 verst west of Pruzhany, 168 verst from Grodno, S-E from the ancient Bialowieska forests, and is found along a road leading from Grodno to Kobryn. The town is surrounded on three sides by bogs and treacherous waters, where the river Lsna (Lesna) has its source. The remaining side is a sandy, nonfertile plain, where 750 homes are found, built mostly of timber. There are 9,196 residents, of these 4,217 male and 4,979 female. Of the total population 4,831 are Jews.
The town has a Russian orthodox church built of masonry, an orthodox chapel on the cemetery grounds, a catholic church, an old imposing synagogue built of masonry, 9 Jewish houses of prayer, a district government overseeing five district townships: Shershov, Horech, Staruny, Suchopol and Murawiew, a rural administrative office, municipal administration, and a postal station.
The residents have long ago established a tradition of distilling home made spirits. Towards the end of the previous century local Jews run the local bootlegging, which stopped once the border prohibition was lifted.
The Orthodox parish has 5,273 parishioners, one parish church, two affiliate churches, and three cemetery chapels. The deanery of Shershow comprises 10 parishes (Shershov, Suchopol, Rzechyca, Kotra, Wieznia, Murawa, Dubina, Bialowieza, Cichowola, and Narevka), ten orthodox parish churches, five affiliate chapels, six cemetery chapels and 28,192 parishioners. In 1848, the catholic parishioners erected a masonry church in the name of the Holy Trinity. The Pruzhany catholic deanery numbered 2,750 parishioners. There was a chapel in the Great village. The parish grounds were flat, covered by marshland, forest, the ancient Bialovieska forest, light soil, marl and gravel. The river tributaries are: Biala, Lona, Narewka and Pieshcha.
The standard-bearer Jan Krashewsky, is buried in Shershow, having died while visiting his daughter Joanna Morachewska. His son Joseph Ignacius composed the Latin inscription on the tombstone, next to the church. The grave of the famous Slavic scholar Michal Bobrowsky, once a professor at the Vilnus University, is found at the Russian orthodox cemetery.
In 1569, Shershow was part of the royal holdings, under the rule of Zygmont Augustus. Later together with vast adjoining lands, it became part of the district and province of Brest-Litevsk. According to a census dating from the year 1766, it was owned by the Fleming family and later by the prince of Chartorysh, who paid an amount of (7,602 zlp….and 4,000 ztp in taxes).
May 20, 2006