From a village teacher and a recognized local historian to an enemy of the Soviet system. Timofey Evsevyev (Evseev) is an ethnographer, folklorist, who was one of the first to try to shed light on the amazing history of the Mari people. The ethnographic collections and handwritten materials collected by him more than a century ago now constitute the "golden fund" of the Mari traditional culture and are significant for the entire Finno-Ugric world. A recognized researcher, "awarded" with capital punishment by the country, the republic, whose legacy he glorified and tried to preserve at the cost of his life.