Mennonite ancestors: Sawatsky, Sawatzki, Sowatske, etc.

From my book JACOB SIEMENS FAMILY SINCE 1685

[which includes many traditionally Mennonite names]

According to The Mennonite Enclyclopedia, the name Sawatzky is of Slavic origin. As we have seen, many of the first Mennonites were Dutch. But soon a number moved east to the Polish-controled Danzig area. (See the map, page 179.) There, people of Polish and other backgrounds joined them. Often the converts married Mennonites. This may be how Sawatzky got to be a Mennonite name.

The name has many spellings. Among them are: Sawatsky, Sawatzki, Sowatske, Sawadsky, Sabatzke, and Zawacky.

Horst Penner, in his book Die Ost- und Westpreußischen Mennoniten (The East- and West Prussian Mennonites), says the Sawatzkys stem from West Prussian-Polish nobility. He writes of a Johannes Zawacky who went  to school in the city of Elbing, Danzig area in 1620. By 1640 this nobleman Zawacky was overseer of a district called Schwetz, south of Danzig. A number of Mennonites lived in the Schwetz Lowland. The Mennonites, experts at building dykes, were draining the Lowland marshes for farming.

As overseer of Schwetz, Zawacky came into close contact with Mennonites. Records  show he had important land dealings with Mennonites of Schwetz in 1642 and 1645. Did his Mennonite contacts lead him to marry a Mennonite, as some suggest? We don't know for sure. If he did, he may be the ancestor of many or all Mennonite Sawatzkys.

I haven't been able to trace our Jacob Siemens back to the Polish nobleman Johannes Zawacky. Perhaps it's just as well, since nobleman Zawacky seems to have lost his wealth at some point. Also, by 1670 he was in big trouble with Elbing city hall officials. Somehow he seems to have harmed their ability to collect customs money from ships in their harbor. At least that's what they said.

Though we can't trace our Jacob Siemens back to nobleman Zawacky, we can trace him back to a certain Sawatzky born about 1685. This Sawatzky hailed from Elbing, the same as Zawacky. He also had the same first name--Johannes or Johann. Could this Johann Sawatzky be a grandson, nephew, or other relative of Zawacky's? We don't know.

What we do know is that Johann Sawatzky married a Johanna Wiens. And records show he may have been minister of Rosenort Mennonite Congregation, Danzig area in 1743. Researcher Henry Schapansky says this Johann Sawatzky could be "the ancestor of most Mennonite Sawatzkys living today." (Mennonite Family History  Jul 1992.)