Date Last Updated: 18-May-2012

This information was donated by LL

MY FAMILY IN VITEBSK

In 1981 I set out to do my family genealogy, but I encountered a major stumbling block in that my mother was adopted and no one knew who her real parents were. I found a document from an adoption home and it had a name on it and the location of Los Angeles, California. I went to the records divisions in Los Angeles and looked under that name and found the real parents. Then I found the adoption proceedings in the court records so I knew it was my mother that was their daughter. Since the real mother and father were both Russian Jews that made my mother Jewish and me Jewish by law, even though I had been raised a Christian. The family name was Blockoff from Polotsk, near Vitebsk and I started to research living relatives. I immediately found cousins by the name of Satkin from Vitebsk. As I researched the Satkin family I found it to be quite large and spread all over the world. The name was spelled differently in some cases: Sadkin, Zatkin, Zadkin, Tzadkin. A Rabbi in Jerusalem helped me find a Tzadkin buried on the Mount of Olives, and he explained to me that the name came from the word Tzaddik.

The Satkins were predominately woodworkers and painters. One member built railroad cars in Byelorussia. The most famous of the Satkins was Ossip Zadkin was a sculptor and lived in Paris and was friends with Marc Chagall who also came from Vitebsk.

The Satkins (Sadkins, Zatkins, Zadkins, Tzadkins) are in the USA, Europe, South America, Canada, Israel, and South Africa. Some day I hope to connect all of these families together in one family tree.

Tzuri Shadai ben Avraham.

Satkin Family

Unknown Satkins