Schwetz (Sciewie), Poland , lies about 75 miles south of Danzig (Gdansk ), on the northwest bank of the Vistula River Vistula delta area. Many congregations could be found surrounding Gdansk (Danzig ), Elbing, Malbork (Marienberg), and Stuhm, and even as far south as Schwetz. Later, Mennonites colonized even farther up the Vistula River , inhabiting villages around Gabin (Gombin) and Warsaw
According to the Przechowka Churchbook, Ratzlaffs lived in the villages of Przechowka (Wintersdorf in German), Bekieszyce (Beckersitz), Jeziorken and Konopat (among others). Here’s a view of the area from a Polish map dated 1879:
This map, also from the late 1800s, shows Jeziorken (upper left) in relation to Wintersdorf (Przechowka) and Konopath:
Traces of the Mennonite villages can still be seen today on satellite images. The Polish paper packaging company Mondi Packaging Sciewie, SA, occupies area immediately to the north of Przechowka. Konopat still exists. http://wikimapia.org/#lat=53.3827652&lon=18.3940315&z=14&l=0&m=b
Traces of the Mennonite villages can still be seen today on satellite images. The Polish paper packaging company Mondi Packaging Sciewie, SA, occupies area immediately to the north of Przechowka. Konopat still exists. http://wikimapia.org/#lat=53.3827652&lon=18.3940315&z=14&l=0&m=b
I am about to leave on a trip to Poland to explore the old Mennonite villages in the Vistula Delta. The Ratzlaffs are my oldest sources here. My great grandmother Maria Ratzlaff, b. 1864, married my great grandfather Julius Hinz (all of Corn OK) and I can trace her back to my 8th great-grandparent, a Ratzlaff born before 1620 in Przechowka, Schwetz, the first Ratzlaff. I intend to visit the village site. Raylene Hinz-Penner
ReplyDeleteVery interesting, Raylene. You are descended from the very youngest of the first Ratzlaff's grandsons, Jacob. I think you and I are 7th cousins once removed. I'm also distantly related to you husband via his Penner line.
ReplyDeleteIt looks to me as if your Ratzlaff ancestors actually lived in the village of Beckersitz for a couple generations before they migrated to Russia. Beckersitz was right to the east of Przechowka.
Hans Ratzlaff, the son of the first Ratzlaff, is documented to have lived in Bzowo, which is about 30km NE from Swiecie, Poland. The very earliest Penners lived at Rosenkrantz which is north along the Visula, just where the Nogat River divides off from the Vistula. I hope you have a great trip! I'd love to see your photos!
Raylene, I am going to be on the same tour with you. My Ratzlaff connection with Przechowka is a roundabout one. My mother's Kleinsasser family was Hutterite, almost none of whom ventured north into Poland/Prussia. Peter Ratzlaff from Przechowka (no birthdate - estimated about 1760 - or parental information) joined the Hutterites in Russia for a brief period in the early 1800s and his daughter Eva married there and remained a part of that community. That makes Peter Ratzlaff my only maternal ancestor that I will be able to associate with the Poland tour. I'll make up for that on the Klaassen side.
ReplyDeleteMy dad and I are very distant matches to Jennifer Matis Vadnais Family Tree. My father and I were both born in Hamburg, Germany. We do not know how we are related. My father's line Cai Unrau, and his parents, Claus Unrau and Catharina Bredenkamp began in Preetz, Schleswig-Holstein. My father told me, shortly before we received his DNA results that his dad had told him, his ancestors had lived in what was once Russia (Empire) and is now Ukraine. I am trying to figure this out, but have limited information. I can't seem to bridge the family. Here is the information from my tree. My father is the last, and the youngest of three brothers. Cai Wilhelm Heinrich Johann Unrau
ReplyDelete9 October 1820 – 16 February 1882 • K6QW-8TT
Would you mind emailing me at auadams@comcast.net? Would love to visit with you. I am wondering where did the settlers in this region of Prussia/Poland come from?