Cousin Oby states that Johann Adam Bonnewitz was our first ancestor in America, although the United States was not yet a gleam in anybody's eyes. We don't really know when he arrived or how old he was, but; we do know he was paying taxes in 1754.
It has been a common practice since before the Christian era to take a place name as a surname when you leave home and live somewhere else, as with Saul of Tarsus. So Johann Adam became a Bonnewitz because he took the name of his village after he left home and immigrated to North America.
How do I know this? After extensive searching, I have determined that there is only one place in the world with the place name Bonnewitz. It is a small village outside of Pirna, which is a suburb of Dresden in Germany. Specifically it is located at 51 ° North latitude and 13.93 ° East longitude in the State of Sachen, not too far from both the Czech and Polish borders in southeastern Germany. It is about 150 km southeast of Berlin.
Cousin Oby also stated that the 'itz' name place ending on Bonnewitz had something to do with the Wendz, a Slavic tribe. And indeed he is quite correct. The only place names in Europe with 'itz' endings are of Slavic derivation.
A much older designation in the historical authorities than Slav is the name Wend. It is under this designation that the Slavs first appear in history. The first certain references to the present Slavs date from the first and second centuries. They were made by the Roman writers Pliny and Tacitus. The name Wend, however, was never completely forgotten. The German chroniclers used both names constantly without distinction, the former almost oftener than the latter. Even now the Sorbs of Lusatic are called by the Germans, Wends.
It can therefore be said almost positively that the original home of the Slavs was in the territory along the Dneiper, and farther to the northwest as far as the Vistual. From these regions, they spread to the west and southwest. The migration probably took place much earlier than is generally supposed. Probably, it took place slowly and be degrees. One tribe would push another ahead of it like a wave, and they all spread out in the wide territory from the North Sea to the Adriatic and Aegean Seas.
The Slavonic peoples can be separated into the following groups on the basis of philological differences:
- The eastern or Russian group; in the south this group approaches the Bulgarian; in the northwest the White Russian dialects show an affinity to Polish. The eastern group is subdivided into Great Russian, that is, the prevailing Russian nationality, then Little Russian, and White Russian.
- The northwestern group. This is subdivided into the Lechish languages and into Slovak, Bohemians, and Sorb tongues.
The first sub-division includes the Poles, Kasubes, and Slovintzi, also the extinct languages of the Slavs who formerly extended across the Oder and the Elbe throughout the present Northern Germany. The second division includes the Bohemians, Slovaks, and the Lusatian Sorbs.
The Lusatian Sorbs are the residue of the Slavs of the Elbe who once spread across the Oder and Elbe, inhabiting the whole of the present Germany. During centuries of combat with the Germans their numbers gradually decreased. They are divided into three main groups:
- the Obotrites who inhabited the present Mecklenburg, Lüneburg, and Holstein whence they extended into the Old Mark;
- the Lutici or Veltae, who lived between the Oder and Elbe, the Baltic and the Varna;
- the Sorbs, who lived on the middle course of the Elbe between the Rivers Havel and Bober.
The Lutici died out on the Island of Rügen at the beginning of the fifteenth century. In the middle of the sixteenth century there were still large numbers of Slavs in Lüneburg and in the northern part of the Old Mark, while their numbers were less in Mecklenburg and in Brandenburg. However, even in Lüneburg the last Slavs disappeared between 1750-60.
Only the Lusatian Sorbs who lived nearer the borders of Bohemia have been able to maintain themselves in declining numbers until the present time. The reason probably is that for some time their territory belonged to Bohemia. At present the Lusatian Sorbs numbers about 150,000 persons on the upper course of the Spree. They are divided into two groups, which differ so decidedly from each other in speech and customs that some regard them as two peoples; they also have two separate literatures. They are rapidly becoming Germanized, especially in Lower Lusatia. The Lusatian Sorbs are Catholics with exception of 15,000 in Upper Lusatia.
Most of this information came from LEOPOLD LÉNARD
Transcribed by Angela Meady
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume XIV
Copyright © 1912 by Robert Appleton Company
Online Edition Copyright © 1999 by Kevin Knight
Nihil Obstat, July 1, 1912. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor
Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York
The area around Bonnewitz is called Lausitz. These people are our very long lost cousins. As I understand it the Lusatian Sorbs continue to decline in numbers. I believe that last estimate I saw estimates only 50,000 to 60,000 people still speaking the language. However, they have a lot going for them. They have;
|
