Prokip Shumeiko

Shumeyko Prokip (ca. 1570 — †July 10, 1651) was an associate of Hetman B. Khmelnytskyi, a Nizhyn colonel (1649 — 1650; 1651).

He was born into a noble family near Ostro in Chernihiv Oblast. He started cossacking early. In January 1648, Shumeik's troops fought near Loyevo, together with M. Nesterenko and I. Bohun took the Kodak fortress. Shumeiko became one of the leaders of the anti-Hetman opposition, for which in 1650 Khmelnytskyi replaced him with Lukyan Sukhinya.

In 1651, he was appointed colonel again. Died in the Battle of Berestets. According to other sources, he was still alive at the end of 1651.

His son Ivan Shumeiko is a centurion from Morov.

The history of the Shumeik family, a Cossack elder, is closely connected with the history of the Nizhyn regiment and the Nizhyn colonel Prokop Shumeik, an associate and opponent of Bohdan Khmelnytskyi. His son Ivan Prokopovich Shumeyko is mentioned in 1649 as a nobleman with the coat of arms "Polot" (changed), a regimental sergeant of the Nizhyn regiment, a centurion of the Morovsky Kyiv regiment (1672, 1679-1682).

The connection between the Lubek branch of the Shumeik family and the Ignatovych family of the Lubek nobility, whose representative (according to V.V. Kryvosheya) was Demyan Ignatovych (Mnogogryshnyi), who was elected hetman in 1668, is being investigated. Demyan had brothers: Vasyl, Sava and Zinovy. Brother Vasyl Ignatovych is related to the surname Shumeiko (common roots).

If we connect Prokop Shumeik, Ignat Shumeik and Vasyl Shum from the register of 1649 with the Ignatovych branch (as a surname based on the father's name) by family ties, bearing in mind the clannishness of the Cossack elders and the common geographical area (Chernihiv, Nizhyn, Starodub , Lyubich), a very interesting hypothesis about common family roots will be highlighted, which needs further documentary confirmation.

Commemoration

On November 23, 2018, a memorial plaque was installed on the Wall of Heroes in honor of Prokop Shumeik in his native Nizhyn.