Ilarion Dragostinov

His father was the Elena frieze dealer Ivan Dragostinov and his mother was the daughter of the eminent Arbanasi merchant Panayot Anastasoglu.

In 1868, he finished the head class school for boys in Tarnovo; besides Greek and Bulgarian, he also learned French and Turkish and later Romanian, Italian and German.

In 1868, Dragostinov moved to Ruse and became close with the leaders of the Zora ("Dawn") community centre (chitalishte), active promoters of revolution and enlightenment.

In Rousse, Dragostinov opened his own broker's firm and worked with merchants from Istanbul (Tsarigrad), Vienna, Bucharest, Galaţi, Odessa, Giurgiu and cities in the Bulgarian lands.

As the uprising broke out prematurely in Panagyurishte amidst arrests, only a few locals followed Dragostinov and formed a revolutionary band in the Sliven Balkan Mountains on 3 May.