Kamen

Kamen before 1917

History

1262	- Kamen was founded as a settlement in the Great Lithuanian Princedom.
Beg. XV century	- Kamen was a private possession of Ghedygoldovich magnate family.
1451	- Vilno high official S. Ghedygoldovich founded a Roman Catholic church in Kamen.
End XV-XVI centuries	- Kamen was a private Possession of Zabrzhezinsky noble family in the Great Lithuanian Princedom. Jewish population appeared.
1522	- Zabrzhezinsky family founded a Roman Catholic Cathedral of St. Paul in Kamen.
XVII-XVIII centuries	- Kamen became a possession of Dolmat-Isakovsky, then Yudytsky noble families.
1679	- Dolmat-Isakovky family renovated the Cathedral in Kamen.
Since 1793	- in Russian Empire.
Since 1801	- Kamen was a shtetle in Minsk District of Minsk Province, a possession of Sologub and Plevako noble families.
Since 2nd half of XIX century	- Kamen was a private possession of Arnoldi and Yashtold-Gavorko noble families.

Vital Statistics

Date	Number of Jews	Number of Non-Jews	Commentaries	Specific gravity in total population number
XVI century			Jewish population appeared
1795	268		Total population	No info
1859	603		Total population	No info
1880	about 700		Total population	No info
1897	117	633	Both sexes	15,6 %
1905	980		Total population	No info

Jewish Life

In 1898 LEVIN Mordukh son of Movsha was the Monitor (Gabe) of Kamen Jewish Community.

By 1900 there was 1 praying house in Kamen.

Economical Review.

Traditional activities of local Jewish population were trade with timber, grain and vodka.

Since XVIII century there was a big fair in Kamen.

During Russian principality, vodka trade was under state hard control and became less popular among Jewish businessmen. But Russian authorities did a lot to develop the region because of military and fiscal reasons mostly. First of all, old communications were reconstructed there:

trade road Ivenets - Naliboki.

In XIX, because of development of the AllRussian Market, new types of communications appeared in the region.

Since 1871 the closest railway and telegraph stations were in Zaslavl (42 km).

But as far as the railroads were too far from Kamen, they did no effect seriously to the shtetle development. The one continued to develop as it did before new communications appeared.

In 1897 there were several stores and shops, 3 blacksmiths and a Turkish bath.

Here is the table of development of Kamen in the 2nd half of XIX - early XX century:

Date of record	Number of houses
1795	49
1859	60
1880	>80
1905	110

We have no information about any big enough businesses in Kamen before 1917.

General cultural information.

In beg. XX century in Kamen there were a Roman Catholic Cathedral and a boarding-house in Kamen. The closest doctor was in Volozhin (35 km), closest post office and synagogue were in Ivenets (6 km).