Family Tree

The following information was provided from and e-mail by Leon Zawacki

Dear James,

We are most likely not related. However, I have included the following
information to assist you on you search. With parents' names and a home
village or parish, you can get quite a lot of information either from
Poland or from sources here in the US or Canada. Provided, of course,
that the records desired survived both world wars, which many did. Since
you did not mention what part of Poland you Zawadzki/Zawacki ancestor
migrated
from, I am including some "common sense" information on searching in
Eastern Europe, which is up to date; the information on searching in
Belarus is VERY up to date.

Before I start:
Stop! You might be sitting on a lot of useful information that is very
perishable, namely the memories of your oldest relatives, and their
neighbors and friends. More often than not, they are the only source of
information that might link you and your ancestors. Even if they are
"senile", childhood memories are the last to be lost. Before they die
and all is lost, ask all you oldest surviving relatives, their friends
and neighbors, about names of people, villages, and other childhood
recollections. Even if they were born here, and not in Poland, they
might remember vital facts about your ancestor's life
there because he might have mentioned them once when they were young. 

Zawadzki/Zawacki, is unfortunately an extremely common surname in
Poland, and has spread to all the surrounding countries. The name does
not derive from one common ancestor but was taken by hundreds of
unrelated families, some of which happened to live near any of the
hundred or so villages called Zawady that blanket the Polish, Belarusan
and Ukrainian country side. "Zawady" means literally "on the other side
of the water", and historically refers roughly to "an island on the
river or lake near our village where we can take refuge while our homes
are being pillaged." Some of these islands were later fortified, while
others were washed away by the stream. The name Zawadzki most commonly
occurs near the Vistula River between Wlocawek and Torun, but can be
found everywhere in Poland and wherever Polish influence has been
spread. While the earliest family cluster using the name Zawadzki was
probably aristocratic, the name was later adopted by many, many
commoners who were not related to the original line or to each other.
The name has been used by Roman Catholic [Latin Rite], Lutheran, Greek
Catholic [Roman Catholic, Byzantine Rite], Eastern Orthodox Catholic,
and Jewish families. The name is seen among neighboring peoples as well,
including Germans, Austrians, Czechs, Slovaks, Ukrainians, Belorusans,
Russians, Lithuanians Latvians and Jews. Other spelling variants of the
name I have seen are Zawicki, Sawacki, Zavatsky, Sawatsky, von Sawade,
Zawada, Savadskas, Zavotskij, Saviskas, Sawitzky and many more.

My grandfather, Jo'zef Zawadzki, Polish Roman Catholic, migrated from a
village near Ciechano'w, Mazovia, to Pittston, Luzerne County, PA before
WWI. To the best of my knowledge, he was the sole member of his family
to move to America. His family in Poland,again to the best of my
knowledge, though probably not aristocratic, were "well to do" and were
engaged in breeding fine horses, typical in Mazovia and Mazuria.

Since Zawadzki/Zawacki is such a very common surname of Polish origin,
the chances that two people with this surname are blood related is
remote. It is best to follow the geographical line of research, that is,
finding out the exact village in Poland from which your Zawadzki
ancestors came from and following up with inqueries to their home
parochial, municipal, dioscesan or regional archives. 

Another line to follow is tracing the history of collateral or
neighboring families. When Poles migrated abroad, they often settled
very close to related or neighboring families they knew beforehand in
Poland. For example, the major part of the gmina [township] from which
my mother's families came, about one thousand individuals, migrated en
masse to one of two very small villages in the United States, where they
continued living as neighbors. Such was the case with my grandfather,
Jo'zef Zawadzki, as well. Upon arriving in the United States, he made
his way to a certain nighborhood in Pittston, PA, which was settled
mostly by Poles from the Ciechano'w area. He married a woman whom he
knew already in the old country as well, who came from a villge near
his.

An important note on the spelling of the name: Zawadzki and Zawacki are
pronounced exactly the same in Polish, are exactly the same name, and
both spellings exist in Poland and abroad. Both are proper Polish
spellings of the name. In Poland today, the Zawadzki spelling is more
common [the D is preserved in recognition of the fact that the name is
derived from a placename spelled Zawady], whereas in America, the Polish
phonetic equivalent Zawacki is preferred [it is shorter, and easier for
English speakers to spell and mispronounce]. It is very common to find
the name spelled both ways when referring to a single individual at the
turn of the century, for example, the pastor might spell it one way on a
marriage certificate and, nine months later,the other way on a birth
certificate. The name also could be spelled Sawacki, especially in areas
where German was spoken, since Polish Z and German S are pronounced the
same. The name might appear in a shortened form, Zawada, and in fact,
some real or pretend noble Poles have translated the name Zawadzki into
German as von Sawade [one family by this name, formerly of Gdansk, is
famous for their chocolates]. Others have translated it phonetically
into German as Sawatsky. Chech and English speakers would often replace
the W with a V, hence the forms Zavadski, Zavacki. English speakers
would be prone to replace the second A with and O, hence Zavotski,
Zavotskey, Savotski, Savotskey, etc. In Lithuanian, the name is most
commonly spelled Zavadskas or Savadskas, though more variations are seen
due to the fact that Lithuanian spelling was not codified until 1920. A
Zawadzki from eastern Poland might see his name transcribed as Zavotski,
Zavotskii or Zavotskij, if he were in the habit of spelling it in the
Cyrilic alphabet, or if the processing clerk for the ships line, the
port, or the INS was more familiar with Ukrainian, Belorusan and Russian
names than Polish spelling rules.

The Polish surame Zawicki may be another spelling of Zawadzki. I believe
they might have originally been two distinct surnames with two unrelated
meanings, which were later often confused, and then used interchagably.
After hearing the name spelled Zawacki be pronounced more often than not
by English speakers as "zuh-WICK-ee", and after becoming more familiar
with Polish regional pronunciations, I can see how this could happen.
Variants of Zawicki would be derived in other languages by most of the
same processes listed above for Zawadzki.

With this common surname, do not assume that you may be related to
anyone who spells or spelled it the same way, and do not assume that you
are not related to anyone who spells or spelled it differently. The only
reliable guides you have with a name this common and with so many
variant spellings are church and civil records from the persons parish
or village of origin. If you do not know the persons village of origin,
ask the oldest surviving members of your family AND HIS NEIGHBORS'
FAMILIES [remember, meighbors in Poland tended to settle very near each
other in America]. They might not know the village itself, but know
important facts about locating it like "We used to walk to the Vistula
to fish" or "We used to pass by his house when we went to church in
Plock" or "his family had to move because they were building the
railroad from Warsaw" or "He spoke good Lithuanian". Like pieces of a
puzzle, enough seemingly unrelated, might fall together help identify
his place of origin.

Another warning about Polish place names: Only rarely are they unique.
Zawady is a good example; there are hundreds of villages named Zawady
all over Poland and in former Polish territory in Belaus and the
Ukraine. There are about a thousand called Nawisiolka or something very
similar. I tried to find the village of "Kelpini" for one relative of
mine. I ended up with a short list of several hundred possibilities. You
absolutely need to know which "Wojewodstwo", "Gubernia" or
"Regierungbezirk" [administrative district] they lived in, which larger
towns or cities were nearby, and even then, I am still trying to
determine which of the three O...ka's formerly in the Augustow Gubernia
close to S...ki is the one that an aquaintance is looking for. Names of
neighboring villages, rivers, lakes, churches, and nearby international
borders are usually vital. Take into account that the village, though
once in "Poland", might be in Lithuania, Belarus or the Ukraine at the
present time, if it was not simply wiped out during the wars.

Getting records from Poland should only be attempted after you
positively identify the persons place of birth, and have consulted
others about where records from this town or parish might now be
archived. There is a good chance that these records might have survived
the wars, but many were destroyed. The parish or townhall might still
hold the records, but the might be stored in the central dioscesan,
archdioscesan, regional, or national archives, not neccessarily in
Poland, but in Lithuania, Belarus, the Ukraine or Russia as well.

Once you locate them, you might have to wait two years or more for an
answer. If they are now in Belarus, don't hold your breath waiting;
unless you are a Russian speaking Communist in good standing and with
influential connections, or know someone who is, you are very unlikely
to get any information out of Belarus for the forseeable future. Even
large bribes are unlikely to get you anywhere near your ancestors
records in Belarus. A Belarusan living in Belarus who has the means to
pay large bribes is unlikely to get any information out of his own
government, which is now very anti-Belorusan, and rabidly anti-Polish
and Anti-Lithuanian. Lithuania and the Ukraine are slightly more
cooperative, and Poland and the Roman Catholic Church are still often
difficult to deal with, though some exceptions exist in some dioceses
and regional archives.

Expect to pay fairly for these records if they are found. Someone, after
all, has to sort through enormous piles of papers to find the ones you
are interested in. This is not bribery or blackmail; most Polish records
are kept in poorly catagorized archives that are not searchable on a
computer database. Never insist that the original papers themselves be
sent. They are public records, and not your property, but that of the
Church or Government, to hold in public trust.

Most Eastern Europeans speak several languages, however, English is
usually not as among them. All correspondence should be in the language
of the country you are dealing with; vitually all replies from them will
be in their language. Records will not be translated by the home
country, and information from Polish archives might be in Russian or
German, in addition to Polish.

The exception is Belarus- the use of the Belarusan language in Belarus
is, to put it lightly, officially discouraged in Belarus. Actually,
Belarusans speaking Belarusan in Belarus are often invited to the local
Belarusan police station for "dental adjustments" by their Belorusan
comrades in blue. Correspondence should be in extremely formal,
beaurocratic, Stalinist-era Bolshevik Soviet Russian, for which you will
need a very experienced native translator, i.e. not you great aunt, who
speaks fluent, colloquial Russian. Contact the university nearest you
for help finding one. Sometimes, this service might be available for a
low price if the major part of the tranlation is done by a student as an
exercise, while the finishing touches are added by a master.

If you live in a large city, you might want to get to know that
neighboror co-worker of yours who is rumored to be a memeber of the
local Russian syndicate solely for the purpose of translating. The
service probaly won't be free, but many members of this organization
have "business" and political connections in Belarus [and in Poland,
Lithuania and the Ukraine as well]. Alot of them are former officials
themselves; they know how to "walk the walk and talk the talk". But
then, maybe Boris the janitor at the elementary school might have been
Deputy Secretary of the Omsk Oblast Ministry of Forestry and Forest
Products [in other words, no small fish himself] before he came here
right after the Soviet Union fell. This isn't a joke; I have heard of
such cases. Nevertheless, it is my duty to advise you against any action
which violates the internationally recognized laws of any country,
Belarus included.

Most of all, never write in Polish to any other country except Poland;
this is a sore spot for Lithuanians and Ukrainians, and an absolute
insult to Belarusans. [I hope I don't need to remind you not to write in
German under any circumstances]. You will need a very good,
professional-level native speaking translator, preferably a native-born
seminarian, priest or university level professional. Yes, this might
cost some money, but remember, you are making a first impression with
this letter. A good translator can open the door for you by writing the
the letter to minimize the trauma it may present to the reader, editing
out references to Poland or Polish or politely putting them in quotes.
Remember, they have the records, and you have to polish their apples to
get them. 

This is not to say that Poles are universally disliked by their
neighbors to the east, but that many of these neighbors do not want to
have the fact that they were once under Polish political or cultural
domination rubbed in their faces any more than a Pole would like to be
reminded that his country was under Prusian, Austrian, German, Russian,
Nazi or Soviet domination. Lithuanian and Ukrainian archivists are eager
to help, if asked politely, reimbursed fairly, and treated patiently.
Their archives are generally in even worse shape than those in Poland,
and it does take time to find that needle in a haystack [two years is
the expected wait for Lithuania].

Fortunately, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints [Mormons]
is very interested in everyone's geneology. They have taken advantage of
connections and thaws in international relations to copy, archive and
database alot of records from eastern Europe. They are also much easier
to deal with, and they have Family History Center's in many towns across
America. If they have a copy of the records, you can expect to get them
sooner than from the home country. They do not have copies of all
records, but even so, the Family History Center is the place to start.
They can help you hone you geneological skills so that even if they
don't have what you are looking for, you will be better prepared to
search in the home country on your own. I have no personal experience
with them, other than their website, but have heard many success stories
from other researchers. Unfortunately, the vital records of my own
ancestors were repeatedly blown to smithereens in both world wars and
the Polish wars in between, as would have been my ancestors' vitals
themselves had they not decided to make a dash before the first Germans
occupied and pillaged their township in 1915.

All the best in your search,

Leon Xavier Zawacki

PS: I love Belarus and Belarusan's, and Lithuanians, Ukrainians and
Germans everywhere. In spite of the fact that I have a photo of the
German's in the act of pillaging my mother' parents' village in WWI, I
have nothing against the German people. I speak fluent German myself and
studied in Germany for two great years as well. It is an unfortunate
fact that the present government in Minsk is extremely hostile even to
its own people. Also, I am not a Mormon, nor am I propagating their
beliefs, but they, and the Jews, are the undisputed experts in eastern
European geneology.