The Patons: history of the family

In the article the author covers the history and reconstructs the genealogy of the Patons family, from which a whole galaxy of prominent figures comes - military (Petro Ivanovych Paton, Petro Ivanovych Paton-Fanton-de-Verraion, Mykola Ivanovych Paton, Oleksandr Mykolaiovych Paton), diplomat (Oskar Petrovych Paton), lawyers (Ivan Petrovych Paton, Oskar Mykolaiovych Paton), architect (Petro Yuriiovych Paton), public figure (Mykhailo Oskarovych Paton) and scientists (Yevhen Oskarovych Paton, Volodymyr Yevhenovych Paton, Borys Yevhenovych Paton, Yevheniia Borysivna Paton). To reach the goal, the author used mostly the sources of official origin from the archives of Ukraine and Russia, in particular the nobility records. They contain a huge amount of documents of the genealogical and general biographical nature. All the documents have a high level of reliability. Although, despite this, during the verification of the information, they were critically considered and compared with other sources. The article also gives a detailed analysis of the historiography of the studied problem.