Aleksey Yegorovich Fonaryov

About museum

Aleksey Yegorovich Fonaryov was a second-guild merchant. Fonaryov came from the townspeople (meshchane) class of the town of Kovrov in the Vladimir Governorate. In the early 1880s he moved with his family to the village of Kuzedevo, where he began trading with the local Shor population. After improving his prosperity he relocated to Kuznetsk. Fonaryov was one of the wealthiest merchants in Kuznetsk and owned three shops: two in the town and one in the village of Usyaty. He traded in textiles, jewelry, tableware, and foodstuffs. During the Revolution of 1905, his bathhouse housed an 'underground center' where leaflets were printed and stored. Aleksey Yegorovich Fonaryov and his wife died before the revolution. Their heirs were unable to preserve the family business.