09-22-2017, 05:39 AM
how'd you come up with that?
leo,
Did you mean mean Fyodor Petrovitch Koshkarev?
If so, I'm rereading Gogol's Dead Souls, the story of a man who traveled the Russian countryside offering to buy deceased peasants on the cheap. The Russian tax system of the 19th century, much like our present day real estate tax system in Hawaii, taxed property based on old assessments. So in Russia, if your serf died last year, the government still made you pay a tax on him this year. However, buying dead peasants to relieve a land owner of his tax obligation is not without its intrigue and complications...
Fyodor Petrovitch Koshkarev is an amalgam of several characters in the book. Russians have three names, 1) their given name, 2) their surname or family name, and 3) the patronymic (father or ancestors name).
The Donner Party really wasn't that great of a party, was it?
leo,
Did you mean mean Fyodor Petrovitch Koshkarev?
If so, I'm rereading Gogol's Dead Souls, the story of a man who traveled the Russian countryside offering to buy deceased peasants on the cheap. The Russian tax system of the 19th century, much like our present day real estate tax system in Hawaii, taxed property based on old assessments. So in Russia, if your serf died last year, the government still made you pay a tax on him this year. However, buying dead peasants to relieve a land owner of his tax obligation is not without its intrigue and complications...
Fyodor Petrovitch Koshkarev is an amalgam of several characters in the book. Russians have three names, 1) their given name, 2) their surname or family name, and 3) the patronymic (father or ancestors name).
The Donner Party really wasn't that great of a party, was it?
"I'm at that stage in life where I stay out of discussions. Even if you say 1+1=5, you're right - have fun." - Keanu Reeves