en Jacob von Sievers

Jacob von Sievers
Jacob von Sievers
	Portrait by Josef Grassi
Born	30 August 1731; Wesenberg, Governorate of Estonia, Russian Empire (now Rakvere, Estonia)
Died	23 July 1808 (aged 76); Bauenhof, Governorate of Livonia, Russian Empire (near what is now Valmiera, Latvia)
Occupation	Statesman of the Russian Empire

Jacob Johann Graf^[1] von Sievers (Russian: Я́ков Ефи́мович Си́верс; 30 August 1731 – 23 July 1808) was a Baltic German statesman of the Russian Empire from the Sievers family.

Biography

After serving the Russian army during the Seven Years' War as quartermaster general, he was appointed governor of Novgorod in 1764 by Catherine II. He introduced the cultivation of potatoes to Russia, regulated the postal services, and was instrumental in the abolition of torture in 1767.

Based on Sievers' initiative, the provincial government reform was instituted; he was himself appointed general governor of Novgorod, Tver and Pskov. He was Russian ambassador to Poland and led the second and third partition of the kingdom. Emperor Paul I of Russia appointed him senator in 1796; in 1797 he became head of the new department for water communications. He was knighted in 1798.

In Sievers' honor, Alexander I named the channel that connects the outlet of the Msta River with the Volkhov river the Sievers Canal.

Notes and references

^ Regarding personal names: Until 1919, Graf was a title, translated as 'Count', not a first or middle name. The female form is Gräfin. In Germany, it has formed part of family names since 1919.

Sources

Blum, Karl Ludwig: Ein russischer Staatsmann, Denkwürdigkeiten des Grafen von Sievers, Leipzig 1857–58, 4 vols.
Blum, Karl Ludwig: Graf Jacob Johann von Sievers und Russland zu dessen Zeit. Leipzig; Heidelberg: Winter, 1864
Jones, Robert E: Provincial Development in Russia. Catherine II and Jacob Sievers. Rutgers University Press, 1984

External links

"Sievers, Jakob Johann" . New International Encyclopedia. 1905.

Preceded by Zakhar Chernyshev	Governor General of Pskov 1777–1781	Succeeded by Nikolai Repnin
Preceded by Position established	Governor General of Novgorod and Tver 1776–1781	Succeeded by James Bruce

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[1] Regarding personal names: Until 1919, Graf was a title, translated as 'Count', not a first or middle name. The female form is Gräfin. In Germany, it has formed part of family names since 1919.

[1]