Domeyko was born at a manor house located within the then Russian partition of the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, at Niedźwiadka Wielka (Belarusian: Мядзьведка — Miadzviedka) Manor (Bear Cub Manor) near Nieśwież (Nesvizh), Minsk Governorate, Imperial Russia (now Karelichy district, Belarus). The Domeyko family held the Polish coat of arms Dangiel. His father, Hipolit Domeyko, who was President of the local land court (Polish: sąd ziemski), died when Ignacy was seven years old; his uncles then served as his guardians.