Quick Facts
Biography
Anthony Sadowski (c. 1669 – April 22, 1736) was a Polish-born Indian trader and interpreter employed by the provincial governor of Pennsylvania as an Indian agent in the western country.
Biography
Early life
Anthony Sadowski was born in about 1669 in Poland. He hailed from Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski near the town of Kielce. His father was Marcin Sadowski, who was a chamberlain at the Polish king's castle in Gostyń, and, as a deputy of the Polish Sejm, an inspector of the king's land holdings in Ukraine. Though it is not known which schools Anthony attended in his youth, he did receive a classical education.
During the Great Northern War in 1701, Sadowski was taken captive with his brother at Riga. He managed to escape captivity, and made his way to Scotland, England, and, subsequently, America, reaching New York City in 1704.
In America
When Sadowski moved to the New World he married Marya Bordt (Mary Bird), daughter of Andrew Bird of Newtown, New York. They would have six children. Their eldest son Andrew Sadowski and three daughters, Justina, Anna, and Sofia, left progeny. Two of their grandsons through son Andrew, James and Jacob Sadowski, became famous Kentucky pioneers. Sadowski moved his family from New Jersey to Pennsylvania in 1712, to a 400-acre (1.6 km2) property along the Schuylkill River. He, along with George Boone—father of the famous frontiersman Daniel Boone—was a founder of Amity Township in Berks County in 1719.
Sadowski worked to establish friendly relations with the Native Americans in the area, learning the Delaware and Iroquois languages and serving as an interpreter.
As a trader, Sadowski traveled as far as Logstown (near modern Ambridge, Pennsylvania). With two other Indian traders, he established a trading post at present-day Kittanning, Pennsylvania in June 1729. He became a citizen of Pennsylvania in 1735.
Death and legacy
Sadowski died on April 22, 1736 in Amityville, Pennsylvania, and is buried in the cemetery of Old St. Gabriel's Episcopal Church in Douglassville.
His grave marker bears the following inscription:
Whether or not he opened an Indian trading post on the shores of Lake Erie and gave his name to Sandusky, Ohio, here lies the greatest Polish frontiersman of colonial times, an organizer of Amity Township in 1719, and founder of the Sandusky family in America.
However, French maps as early as 1718 identified Sandusky Bay as Lac Sandouské.