The following text has kindly been provided by Marion Scheinberger-Koudacheff.
There are two branches of this family, one which remained Muslim and the other one, which converted to the Christian faith in the beginning of the 17th century, since it was obligatory to take up the orthodox faith in order to be admitted to the Russian nobility by Czar Boris Godunov. Our ancestor Kudach Murza took the precaution to only convert his first three sons.
According to old Russian archives our ancestor KUDACH MORZA (murza being a tatar title equivalent to prince) was given land by Czar Boris Godunov, in the region of Temnikov (Tambovsk gubemija) and its wealth came from the cultivation of bees (bee-hives), Bees are still part of the coat of arms of the region of Ternnikov and Tambovsk.
