Исторически преглед

Издание на Института за исторически изследвания при БАН

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И.Ист.И.

Genealogy of Two Families from Gabrovo, Part of the Romanian Elite (18th–20th Centuries)

Генеалогия на два габровски рода, част от румънския елит през XVIII–XX век

Исторически преглед, 82 (2026) No. 3, pp. 42-77 (ISSN 0323-9748)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.71069/IPR3.26.BS03

Boris Stanimirov / Борис Станимиров

Boris Stanimirov, PhD - University of Telecommunications and Post, Bulgaria; ORCID 0000-0003-4871-489Х, Scopus ID: 58288992800, Web of Science Researcher IDLMN-9887-2024; e-mail: b.stanimirov@utp.bg

Abstract: This article presents new data – previously unpublished in Bulgarian – on the genealogy of two merchant families in Bucharest from the late eighteenth to the twentieth century whose origins lie in Gabrovo. It reconstructs the lineage of Ivan H. Bakaloglu, outlines the activities of his brothers, and clarifies his exact relationship to the Mustakov family. The study also offers a critical assessment of claims connecting the Gabrovo branch of the H. Bakaloglu family with the Romanian scholar Emanoil Bacaloglu (1830–1891) and with the interwar journalist and public figure Elena Bacaloglu (1878–1947) and her family, presenting genealogical charts for the families discussed. The second lineage examined is that of the descendants of Petre Steneț Gabroveanu, who in the nineteenth century acted as donors and trustees of the “Holy Archangels” Church in Bucharest; a family tree spanning ten generations is reconstructed. Taken together, the two case studies illustrate the mutual permeability of Balkan elites and the operation of transnational merchant kinship networks across different state and political formations. Embedded in local social structures, these families functioned as a “shared elite” in the societies in which they lived. With the consolidation of nation-states, members of the active generations articulated an identity connected to their geographical homeland and became part of its national and state elite.

Keywords: genealogies, Bulgarian National Revival, Bucharest, Balkan elites, Gabrovo, H. Bakaloglu, Bulgarians in Romania, genealogy, transnational mercantile networks.