Mikhail Aleksandrovich Sholokhov was born 24 May 1905 in the village of Kruzhilin in the Don Cossack Military Region. Around 1850 his grandfather Mikhail, a merchant from the Riazan’ Province, came to the Upper Don area. He settled in the stanitsa (large Cossack village) Veshenskaia. One of his children was Aleksandr (born in 1865), the future father of the writer. His prime occupation was trade. Sholokhov’s mother, Anastasiia Chernikova, of Ukrainian peasant descent, was born in 1871 in the village of Iasenovka, near Kruzhilin. Aleksandr Sholokhov met Anastasiia at the estate of a Don landowner …

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Citation: Ermolaev, Herman. "Mikhail Sholokhov". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 19 September 2006 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=4062, accessed 28 March 2024.]

4062 Mikhail Sholokhov 1 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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