© Mennonite Heritage Centre, Winnipeg, Manitoba (Last updated January 31, 2003)
Retrieval numbers: Vol. 2118-3
Title: Franz F. Sawatsky fonds
Dates: ca. 1942-1949
Extent: 21 p.
Franz F. Sawatsky, 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 Sawatsky. He grew up in Gnadenthal where he attended the village school for six years and high school for one. Following war and revolution Sawatsky came to Canada in 1923. He travelled with his mother and three siblings. His father followed later alone. In Canada they settled in Gnadenthal, Manitoba where his father bought a farm. Sawatsky 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. Sawatsky'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, Sawatsky was involved in a serious car accident in which he was injured and his mother was killed. Sawatsky served the church faithfully for many years while making his livelihood through farming. Franz F. Sawatsky died of cancer on July 6, 1963.
This fonds contains notes for eight sermons. One is entitled "V for Victory" based on Ephesians 5:15. The remainder are not titled but are based on scripture passages including: Psalm 62:2, Exodus 23:25 and Hebrews 10:35, Psalm 121 and Mark 4:35, Colossians 3:19, and Isaiah 54:10.
Sawatsky, Franz F., 1906-1963
No other finding aids currently available.
Collected by David and Trudy Schellenberg of Winkler for the Christian Heritage Library.
Hand-written Gothic German
Described by Sharon H. H. Brown December, 2002.
None
Acc. no. 97-150