ABSTRACT
This chapter talks about the autobiography of Andrei Beklenshev, an army officer who was born the second son of a provincial service family in Kursk province. His father left in different years to serve in the sovereign's cavalry regiments, he and his family plowed their own fields without peasants to help. He served first under the command of the boyar Boris Petrovich Sheremetev. He was many years in glorious action away from home. For his infirmity, wounds, and years of loyal service, the War College granted his petition to retire in 1720. His own lands supplement his pay, for the census states that he holds fields still in Kursk province. He has commanded to the steppe once more, to train frontier militia. He has served without ceasing with first one regiment and then another, as commanded, never leaving to return to his home nor to tend his lands and see his family.
