The text recalls the story of Janusz Ostrogski, who was associated with the creation of Mołoczek, and his mother (a Pole), daughter of Hetman Tarnowski. The transfer of the estate to Alexander Zaslavsky, Voivode of Kyiv, is mentioned, as well as the further fate of Mołoczek. The rest of the article describes the town itself and the people associated with it (Source: Tygodnik Illustrowany, Warsaw 1881, Series 3, T:12, p. 138, after: Digital Library of the University of Łódź).

A modernised reading of the text

Mołoczki

It is known to all those who love their past that the last of the Ostrogski dukes, Janusz, eldest son of Konstantin Basil, Voivode of Kyiv, a famous conqueror of the Tartars, as a lover of science, turned Ostrog into a capital of education, brought scholars there, founded a school on the model of the academy and a printing house which published many Polish and Ruthenian works. Having converted to Catholicism, Janusz, probably inspired by his God-fearing mother and righteous Pole, daughter of Hetman Tarnowski, and perhaps also under the influence of his young wife Teofila Tarłówna, established an endowment from his vast estate in 1609, and having lost his son and daughter-in-laws, gave it to Duke Aleksander Zasławski, Voivode of Kyiv, married to his daughter Euphrosyna.

From the list of estates contained in the Ostrog Ordinance book, where Mołoczki are already mentioned, we are convinced that they existed even before the creation of the Ordinance, and therefore in the 16th century. After the death of Alexander, Duke of Zaslavl, in 1629, his son Wladyslaw Zaslavl. 1629, his son Władysław Dominik, Voivode of Sandomierz and Cracow, became Ordynat. After his death in 1655 his son Aleksander, born of Katarzyna Sobieska, sister of Jan III, took over the entail and he died in 1673 as the last entail-holder of the Zasławski dukes. His daughter Teofila, widow of Wiśniowiecki, married Duke Józef Karol Lubomirski, Marshal of the Crown. Crown Marshal, she brought the Ostrog Ordinance into the Lubomirski household, and with their daughter Anna Maria, married to Paweł Franciszek Prince Sanguszko, Grand Marshal of Lithuania, after the heirless death of her brother and sister, she passed to the Sanguszko family.

Pavel's son, Janusz Aleksander, Marshal of the Court of Lithuania, having become the owner of a fortune of several tens of millions, and indebted by his prodigal life, in 1753 dissolved the Ordynacja estate (comprising 24 towns and 593 villages), known as the Kolbuszowa transaction, and distributed it among his numerous creditors, mainly the Lubomirskis, reserving for himself only the repayment of debts and a life-long pension. This illegal transaction was approved by the constitution of 1766, subject to certain conditions, which caused great indignation in the country. Having resigned the marshal's office, Duke Janusz died childless in 1773, and his wife Konstancya, née Denhoff, was deprived of her property at a late age by her marriage to Rogaliński, and lived a miserable life. One of Janusz's creditors was also Bartłomiej Giżycki, Castellan of Wyszogród, who, after the dissolution of the Ostrog Ordinance in 1753, became heir to the key. 1753 he became heir to the Krasnopol estate, and with him also Mołoczek. Bartholomew, a distinguished old man of 86, was murdered in 1768 near Kamieniec Podolski in Kniazopol during a domestic riot by robbers, at the home of his daughter Karolina Wisłocka, stolnikowa of Trembowel, together with his wife's cousin Christopher Romer, starosta of Bochtyn, travelling with a large sum of money to Bender to ransom his son Kajetan, ensign of Kyiv and confederate of the Bar, from Turkish captivity.

Bartholomew founded the church in Krasnopol in 1751, and probably also a chapel. Bartholomew founded the church in Krasnopol in 1751, and probably also built the chapel in Mołoczki, which was originally wooden. The grandson of the Castellan of Wyszogród, Bartłomiej also, adjutant to the great Duke Józef Poniatowski, was elected first as gubernial marshal and then as civil governor of Volhynia. He was an energetic man, who introduced many beneficial changes to the administration, a citizen of irreproachable virtues; but his conscientiousness and thoroughness in fulfilling his duty, as well as his insistence that his subordinates do the same, made him many enemies among his own people and strangers.

The governor had four brothers, of whom Franciszek Salezy, a colonel in the Polish army, left from Verenika Sulatycka a son, Nepomucen, former Marshal of Zhytomyr, the last representative of this line, whose civic virtues are gloriously mentioned in the memoirs of Duklan Ochocki, the Volhynian Pasek. Nepomucen was married to Josefa, Countess Walewska, a noble Polish matron, still living in Mołoczki, with her beloved family, and her daughter Albertyna, married in 1861 to Count Franciszek Ks. 1861 to Count Franciszek Ksawery Zamojski.

The noble Countess Zamoyska skilfully manages the Molodeck estate, which consists of several manors, and has now recently purchased the new manor of Strumilówka; the Count himself, a botanical lover and expert, has established parks in Mołoczki and Nosówka, with a variety of both native and tropical trees. When the division of the estate between the Gizycki brothers took place in 1800, Mołoczki was given to the youngest, Bartholomew, governor of Volhynia, who built a magnificent palace (as depicted in the attached woodcut) and other buildings here, and established orangeries and greenhouses in the park, surrounding it all with a mighty wall.

Next to the palace was a wooden chapel, built in the times of the Republic, in which Father Marek sometimes celebrated mass. Later, the late Nepomucen, who inherited the entire estate after the death of his father and uncles, built the present chapel on this spot. Driving from Krasnopole to Mołoczki, upon arrival at the bridge, we see the palace on the right, next to the chapel at the beginning of the park, and a brick pavilion in the grove on the left. All this lies by a pond, formed from the Teterov River. The construction of the Molochkovsky palace began in 1815 and was completed in 1820. The palace contains a portrait gallery of the numerous Gižice family. After Governor Giżycki died in Mołoczki on April 25, 1826, his wife, Ludwika of Illyinske, had a chapel built in the Krasnopol cemetery, and her husband's body was buried there.

Duklan Ochocki characterises both of them in his diary as follows:

"The wife of the Giżycki governor, famous for her beauty and education, alienated everyone with her pride, her demand for endless adoration and her eagerness to humiliate everyone with her sneering sarcasm. On the contrary, the governor was created by nature to excel in higher society. Skilful, cheerful, polite and courteous, in his youth he was universally loved and coveted by all in society. Only when truth and honour were at stake, he could not keep quiet about anyone; hence he fought a dozen duels with determination and happily. His impetuosity, integrity and indignation at the sight of any evil made him many enemies among his equals and subordinates.".

Over the demise of this exemplary citizen, apart from his grieving family, the most heartfelt tear was shed by his faithful and lifelong friend, the very same Duklan Ochocki.