The Khimshiashvili were purportedly descended from the Abazasdze family, which first appears in the Georgian annals in the 11th century. Their likely eponymous forefather, Khimshia Abazasdze, fought Timur's invading army in 1399 and then was granted by the king of Georgia lands in Kakheti. According to the historian Cyril Toumanoff, the latter-day Kakhetian noble family of Khimshiashvili descended from these "Abazads of Marili". The Khimshiashvili are included in the list of the Kakhetian princes ("tavadi") attached to the Russo–Georgian Treaty of Georgievsk of 1783. On Russian annexation of Georgia, they had their rank ("knyaz") recognized by the new regime, officially in 1850. Many of the Khimshiashvili pursued military careers, such as Georgy Khimshiyev (1836–1917), general of artillery in the Imperial Russian ranks, and Gogi Khimshiashvili (1892–1923), colonel in the Georgian service, who was executed by the Soviet regime.