Atanasko Mihailović, whose origins are related to the village of Beršići, is one of many significant, and not that known people who left an indelible imprint on the history of Rudnik and Takovo Region. He was born in 1771 as a child of Aleksije (or Aksentije) and Jelena (maiden name Vukomanović), who was the aunt of the future Princess Ljubica Obrenović. He participated actively in both Serbian uprisings, and with time he became one of the closest associates of Prince Miloš. What testifies best about their close relation is the data that the Serbian ruler called him ‘my friend Atanacko’.
During the years of building up a national state, he took over numerous important and responsible duties. Among everything, he had the positions of a prince, then the captain of Montenegrin military district, following which he was the member of Rudnik Magistrates’ court, and finally he was a delegate for two times in the Ottoman Porte.
He was married to Gospava and the two of them had a son Jovan and nine daughters, who are remembered for their ‘beauty’. One of them was Kruna, who was married to master Jovan Obrenović – Prince Miloš’s brother – and who gave birth to his two children. She died at the beginning of 1835 and was buried in the Savinac Monastery. On the other hand, following the unsuccessful Jovan’s rebellion in 1838, Atanasko withdrew himself from the public and decided to spend final years of his life in his village Beršići, where he died in 1849. He was buried in the churchyard of Saint Dimitrije’s church in Brezna.
The legacy of one of the richest and most influential people in Rudnik administrative unit (‘nahija’) – and Atanasko Mihailović was one of them without a doubt – includes title deed to a house, land and a watermill from 1829, as well as a family register from 1831, which are all now kept in the museum in Takovo thanks to his descendants. All the names of the Mihailović family members, starting from Mijailo in 1831 and ending with Veselin in 1998, are written down in ink on 58 pages in a small leather notebook.
Register and memorial books have long been used as a way of keeping memories of deceased ancestors. Nowadays, even though they are scarce in number, these books represent a valuable source for studying family histories, that is their genealogy. Besides the Mihailović family register, visitors can see similar ‘family trees’ of Spasoje Đurović from Pranjani and Miljko Radonjić from Gornji Branetići within the permanent collection of the museum in Takovo.