In 1899, after facing years of persecution from the Tsarist government, over seven thousand Doukhobors left their homeland in Russia to settle on the Prairies of Canada. Among this group seeking religious freedom was the widow Anyuta Semenovna Chernova and her six sons, Aleksei, Nikolai, Ivan, Fyodor, Mikhail and Andrei.

Following the leadership of Peter Vasilevich Verigin, Anyuta and her sons lived communally in the village of Sovetnoye, near Veregin Saskatchewan. In 1912, the Chernoffs, as they came to be known, were assigned to a small settlement called Khutor, where they farmed and raised purebred horses for the community.

The history of the Chernoffs is filled with adventure, suffering and a constant search for higher ideals in their lives. This book is dedicated to my grandchildren, as well as to the future generations of all the descendants of the Brothers Chernoff from Azerbaijan.

Fred J. Chernoff