Russian AnzacsJohn Evanoff
| Alias | Jacob Evonoff (service records); John & Jack Evanoff |
|---|---|
| Russian spelling | Иван Иванович Иванов |
| Born | 25.01.1893 |
| Place | Novo Dilizhan, Elizavetpol (now Armenia), the Caucasus |
| Ethnic origin | Russian |
| Religion | Roman Catholic (?) |
| Father | John Evanoff |
| Mother | Euphemia Evanova |
| Family | Wife Catherine Mary Evanoff (née Lindbeck) married 1919, Annandale; children: twins Joan Euphemia & Betty Alice b. 7.01.1921, Lois b.12.06.1922, North Sydney |
| Arrived at Australia |
from America as AB seaman on 30.04.1917 per Winslow disembarked at Sydney |
| Residence before enlistment | Sydney |
| Occupation | Seaman, labourer, miner |
| Naturalisation | 1939 |
| Residence after the war | Sydney, Nerrigundah, NSW |
| Died | 30.01.1961 Concord, Sydney |
Service #1
| Service number | 4678 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted | 2.07.1917 |
| Place of enlistment | Sydney |
| Unit | 1st Pioneer Battalion, 53rd Battalion |
| Rank | Private |
| Place | Western Front, 1918 |
| Casualties | WIA 1918 (twice) |
| Final fate | RTA 4.01.1919 |
| Discharged | 5.06.1919 MU |
Materials
Naturalisation (NAA) (John Evanoff)
Alien registration (?) (NAA) (Evanoff)
Digitised service records (NAA) (Jacob Evonoff)
Digitised Embarkation roll entry (AWM) (Evonoff)
Family tree on Ancestry.com
Blog article
Newspaper articles
Knocking the police about. Burly Russian soldier pays for little outing. - Sun, Sydney, 10 March 1919, p. 6.
From Russian Anzacs in Australian History:
Sometimes it is so hard to decipher the names of these remote villages from the versions recorded in Australian documents -- such as 'Novo Delgedghn', which was Jacob Evonoff's home, according to his service records. And for a while I despaired over being able to discover where this might be. It eventually turned out to be Novyi Dilizhan, a village in Elizavetpol, the trans-Caucasian province near Lake Sevan (now on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border), an area settled from the 19th century by Russians persecuted for their religious beliefs. This soldier's correct name, incidentally, was John Ivanoff; the enlisting clerk was obviously finding these strange Russian words hard to understand.