Most ancient family that dates back to the early 1500’s. The founder Alexander Alyabiev came to the Court of the Grand-Duke Vasili Ivanovich from Poland, and there were given to him fiefdoms of various villages in the region of Murom. His descendants served the Russian governors as administrators and in other capacities. They received land ownership from the Tzars.
The coat of arms depicts on a red field: three arrows, one of which is longer and three loaves of bread in descending measure.
Various are the Alyabievs to be remembered inasmuch as they were prominent people, but coming to more recent times we find Alexander Alyabiev (1746-1823). He left his military career at 31 as a colonel. After having received other civil offices he was governor of the city of Tobolsk, and after that governor of Kazan, therefrom President and Director of the Ministry of Mines. He had one son, also having the name Alexander, who was a renowned composer. The following are romances which survived him: Serotine Agreements, The Splendor of the Evening, The Nightingale.
“The Hymn of the Cherubim” is still sung in Russian churches.
We saw, in the section on the Shatilovs, that he was deported to Siberia with his cousin Nicola Shatilov for a serious gaming accident. His sister Varvara Alyabiev had just married Nicola Shatilov; their daughter married Alexandre Stael Holstein (1802-1875).
The Ruggeri-Laderchi Family 