Akinfiy Nikitich Demidov (russian: Акинфий Никитич Демидов) (1678 Tula - 5 August 1745 Yatskoye Ustye, Menzelinsky Uyezd,

Orenburg Governorate Orenburg Governorate (russian: Оренбургская губерния) was an administrative division (a '' guberniya'') of the Russian Empire with the center in the city of Orenburg, Ufa (1802-1865). The governorate was created in 1744 from ...

) was a

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

industrialist of the

Demidov The House of Demidov (russian: Деми́довы) also Demidoff, was a prominent Russian Empire, Russian noble family during the 18th and 19th centuries. Originating in the city of Tula, Russia, Tula in the 17th century, the Demidovs found suc ...

family.

Life

He was the eldest son of

Nikita Demidov Nikita Demidov (full name Nikita Demidovich Antufiev), (5 April 1656 Tula, Russia, Tula – 28 November 1725 Tula) was a Russian Business magnate, industrialist who founded the Demidov, Demidov industrial dynasty. Peter the Great, Peter I of Russi ...

and increased the family fortune, raising it to one of Russia's most important industrial dynasties. He studied the secrets of metallurgical production in

Saxony Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...

. He zealously set to work and became the creator of the "empire" of the Demidovs, which by the middle of the 18th century produced 52% of all Russian metal. He set up at least nine steel foundries and munitions factories from 1717 to 1735, and had 25 by his death. He also created iron and copper mines in the

Urals The Ural Mountains ( ; rus, Ура́льские го́ры, r=Uralskiye gory, p=ʊˈralʲskʲɪjə ˈɡorɨ; ba, Урал тауҙары) or simply the Urals, are a mountain range that runs approximately from north to south through European ...

and Western

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part of ...

to supply them and mines for precious and semi-precious stones, silver and gold. In 1720, having bought from Nikolai Fedorovich Golovin an estate in the Barminskaya volost of the Nizhny Novgorod district, the Demidovs received a letter of nobility from Tsar

Peter the Great Peter I ( – ), most commonly known as Peter the Great,) or Pyotr Alekséyevich ( rus, Пётр Алексе́евич, p=ˈpʲɵtr ɐlʲɪˈksʲejɪvʲɪtɕ, , group=pron was a Russian monarch who ruled the Tsardom of Russia from t ...

rewarding his services by making him a hereditary nobleman, as he also did with Akinfiy's brothers. He commissioned the

Leaning Tower of Nevyansk The Leaning Tower of Nevyansk (russian: Невья́нская ба́шня) is a tower in the town of Nevyansk in Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia, built in the 18th century. Its construction was funded by Peter the Great's associate Akinfiy ...

, with its underground rooms and secret routes towards one of his factories. By the end of his life Akinfiy was the richest man bar the Tsar. In 1734 he founded the

Nicholas-Zaretsky Church The Nicholas-Zaretsky Church (''Николо-Зарецкий храм'') is a church in Tula in Russia. It contains the family vault of the Demidov family of industrialists. Its usual name is the Nicholas-Zaretsky Church, though it has held variou ...

in Tula. In 1740, Akinfiy Demidov received the rank of State Councillor (статский советник), and in 1744 a Privy Councillor (действительный статский советник). Empress

Elizaveta Petrovna Elizabeth Petrovna (russian: Елизаве́та (Елисаве́та) Петро́вна) (), also known as Yelisaveta or Elizaveta, reigned as Empress of Russia from 1741 until her death in 1762. She remains one of the most popular Russian ...

granted a special patronage, that the Demidov brothers were exempted from compulsory military service and many taxes. The Demidovs turned out to be the freest, according to one of the biographers of the family, people in Russia.

Family

He married firstly Avdotya Jevdokia Tarassovna Korobkova (1688-1728), and married secondly in 1723 Jevfemia Ivanovna Paltseva (1713-1771). He had five children: * Maria Akinfievna Demidova (1706-after 1760), married Fedor Petrovich Volodimerov and had issue. *

Prokofi Akinfiyevich Demidov Prokofi Akinfiyevich Demidov (1710–1786) was a Russian industrialist and philanthropist. The eldest son of Akinfiy Demidov, Prokofi inherited the enormous Demidov family fortune on his father's death in 1745. He gave freely to charitable works, ...

(1710-1786); married firstly Matryona Antipovna Pastukhova (1711-1764) and secondly Tatyana Vasilievna Semyonova (1746-1800). Had nine children with the first wife and two children with the second wife. *

Grigory Akinfiyevich Demidov Grigory, Grigori and Grigoriy are Russian masculine given names. It may refer to watcher angels or more specifically to the egrḗgoroi or Watcher angels. Grigory * Grigory Baklanov (1923–2009), Russian novelist * Grigory Barenblatt (1927201 ...

(14 November 1715 - 13 November 1761), married 23 May 1731 Anastasia Pavlovna Surovtzova (16 December 1713 - 3 December 1763), and had issue; *

Nikita Akinfiyevich Demidov Nikita Akinfiyevich Demidov (russian: Никита Акинфиевич Демидов) (7 September 1724 – 7 May 1789) was a Russian industrialist and arts patron. Life He was the younger son of Akinfiy Demidov, brother of Prokofi Demidov ...

(1724-1789); married three times, had issue. * Jevfemia Akinfiyevna Demidova (17??-1772), married Ivan Mikhailovich Serdukov and had issue.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Demidov 1678 births 1745 deaths 18th-century businesspeople from the Russian Empire Inventors from the Russian Empire Akinfiy Tsardom of Russia people