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.