Sawatzky, Franz F., 1906-1963

Person

Sawatzky, Franz F., 1906-1963

• Sawatzky, Frank F., 1906-1963

1906-1963

Franz F. Sawatzky, Evangelist and farmer, was born on July 15, 1906 in the village of Gnadenthal, Baratov Colony, South Russia. He was one of five surviving children born to Franz F. and Margaretha Sawatzky. He grew up in Gnadenthal where he attended the village school for six years and high school for one. Following war and revolution Sawatzky came to Canada in 1923. He traveled with his mother and three siblings. His father followed later alone. In Canada they settled in Gnadenthal, Manitoba where his father bought a farm. Sawatzky was then able to attend Winkler Bible School for one year. In the Spring of 1928 he was baptized by Aeltester Franz Ens. He was made minister of the Blumenorter Mennonite Church in October of 1934 and ordained on April 22, 1935 in the village of Reinland. In 1938 he began holding evangelistic evening meetings. Sawatzky's main concern in his service to the church was evangelism and he worked over the years for both the Manitoba and the General Conference of Mennonites as an evangelist. In February of 1943, Sawatzky was involved in a serious car accident in which he was injured and his mother was killed. Sawatzky served the church faithfully for many years while making his livelihood through farming. Franz F. Sawatzky died of cancer on July 6, 1963.

GRANDMA ID: 174790

Created May 2010 by AHR (Historical sketch written by Sharon H.H. Brown, 2002).