Father Jan Cieplak was auxiliary bishop of the Mogilev archdiocese, at that time the largest Roman Catholic archdiocese in the world, covering the whole of Russia up to Sakhalin.

On 12 February 1833, Aleksander Czekanowski was born in Krzemieniec in Volhynia. He trained as a geologist, but was not given the freedom to pursue his career as he was sent to Siberia at the age of 30 for taking part in the January Uprising.