A list of information useful to family historians and genealogists, with a focus on the region around Dubrovnik.
This Library will grow much larger. Please send us your suggestions and ideas on what to add here. Contact us at this email address.
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1. [book] The Slav Community of Watsonville, California (1881-1920). A collection of
all newspaper articles that mention the surnames or businesses of Slav immigrants, as found in the
newspapers of Watsonville, California, published between 1881 and 1920. Includes lists of villages
of origin, maps, and short biographies of early Slav immigrants. ISBN 978-0-9610470-4-7. 835 pages;
PDF (2014). Editor: Thomas Ninkovich. Download free from the link page.
♦ https://archive.org/details/watsonville-slav-book-1881-1920
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♦ https://archive.org/details/watsonville-slav-book-1881-1920
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2. [treatise] A short treatise (18 pages) on the Skurić / Scurich family of Čilipi, Croatia,
that immigrated to Watsonville, California, in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Compiled and designed
by Thomas Ninkovich in Cavtat, Croatia, in 2020 (PDF).
♦ https://archive.org/details/scurich-family-history
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♦ https://archive.org/details/scurich-family-history
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3. [excerpt] These are pages 1345 to 1351 of The Slav Community of Watsonville,
California (1920-1929), Vol. 2; editor: Thomas Ninkovich. ISBN 978-0-9610470-8-5. PDF
(2017). Sixty-six fruit and vegetable labels of Croatian businessmen and Croatian businesses of
Watsonville, CA, from the 1920s and 1930s.
♦ https://archive.org/details/apple-labels-from-Watsonville-Slav-book
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♦ https://archive.org/details/apple-labels-from-Watsonville-Slav-book
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4. [excerpt] Four pages of “group photos” from the book, The Slav Community of
Watsonville, California (1920-1929), Vol. 2; editor: Thomas Ninkovich. These are group
photos taken in Watsonville in the 1920s and 1930s, and collected by Tom Ninkovich between 2002 and
2010. Pages 1338-1341 of the above named book. (PDF)
♦ https://archive.org/details/watsonville-slav-book-groups
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♦ https://archive.org/details/watsonville-slav-book-groups
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5. [photo] Croatian Fraternal Union Children’s Group, Watsonville, CA (around 1929). Married
names are in brackets [ ]. Identifications accumulated by Tom Ninkovich in 2004 by talking with the
Croatian community of Watsonville, some of whom were in the photo. Original photo from Andrew Mekis
of Santa Cruz, CA, who is #68 in the photo. (PDF)
♦ https://archive.org/details/cfu-kids-1929
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♦ https://archive.org/details/cfu-kids-1929
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6. [book] The Slav Community of Watsonville, California (1920-1930), Vol. 1 of 2. A
collection
of
all newspaper articles that mention the surnames or businesses of Slav immigrants, as found in the
newspapers of Watsonville, California, published between 1920 and 1930. Includes lists of villages
of origin, maps, and short biographies of early Slav immigrants. ISBN 978-0-9610470-8-5. 725 pages;
PDF (2017). Editor: Thomas Ninkovich. Volume 2 is below in #7. Download free from the link page.
♦ https://archive.org/details/the-slav-community-of-watsonville-california-1920-1929-vol.-1/
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♦ https://archive.org/details/the-slav-community-of-watsonville-california-1920-1929-vol.-1/
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7. [book] The Slav Community of Watsonville, California (1920-1930), Vol. 2 of 2. A
collection
of
all newspaper articles that mention the surnames or businesses of Slav immigrants, as found in the
newspapers of Watsonville, California, published between 1920 and 1930. Includes lists of villages
of origin, maps, and short biographies of early Slav immigrants. ISBN 978-0-9610470-8-5. 693 pages;
PDF (2017). Editor: Thomas Ninkovich. Volume 1 is above in #6. Download free from the link page.
♦ https://archive.org/details/the-slav-community-of-watsonville-california-1920-1929-vol-2/
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♦ https://archive.org/details/the-slav-community-of-watsonville-california-1920-1929-vol-2/
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8. [photo collection] Photos taken in 1908 in Konavle, Austria (today in Croatia). Negatives
of these
photos were found by John Scurich in the office of his farm in Watsonville, California, in 2010. He had never
seen them before and had no idea what was in the photos. John is the grandson of Steve Scurich (1868-1944) who
was born in Čilipi, Austria (today in Croatia), immigrated to California in the 1880s, and returned to
Konavle in Jan. 1908 to visit his family. These photos were taken during that visit. His brother Peter went
with him, and Luke Cikuth, also from Konavle and living in Watsonville, made the trip at the same time. All of
these people and some of their wives are in these photos. These are some of the earliest candid
(non-professional) photos of Konavle known to exist. (PDF)
♦ https://archive.org/details/konavle-1908-scurich-photos/
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♦ https://archive.org/details/konavle-1908-scurich-photos/
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9. [book] Od prvog prebivališta do vječnog počivališta by Branka Bezić Filipović, 2022, ISBN
978-953-263-674-1. Index (surnames). 201 photos, many
in color. 172 pages.
Croatian language.
Published by Naklada Bošković, Split, Croatia.
In English, the title is something like From the First Residences to the Eternal Resting Place. The book reports on Croatian and Dalmatian emigrants, from their first lodgings as migrants to the cemeteries where they were buried, from the 1800s to the mid-1900s. It covers their businesses, such as boarding houses, hotels, saloons, restaurants, grocery stores and shipbuilding, and their manual labors, such as mining, farming and fishing.
A lot of people have an interest in the Croatian and Dalmatian diaspora who emigrated to all parts of the world over the years. But very few have actually visited the places of immigration, and have documented the immigrants' journeys and lives in the New World. The author of this book, Branka Bezić Filipović, is the only person I know who has done this. For this reason alone, this book is of great interest to historians and genealogists. A list of places visited and mentioned in the book can be found here.
Table of Contents:
Pages 1 to 150:
Introduction by the author
Lodgings and hotels
Saloons and restaurants
Accommodations in the homeland [efforts made by emigrants and returned emigrants to create better accommodations back home]
Eternal resting places [cemeteries]
Pages 151 to 172:
A Review [by Dr. Josip Lasić]
List of photographs [list of images and their sources]
Bibliography
Index of names [list of surnames found in the text]
A note from the author
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Croatian language.
Published by Naklada Bošković, Split, Croatia.
In English, the title is something like From the First Residences to the Eternal Resting Place. The book reports on Croatian and Dalmatian emigrants, from their first lodgings as migrants to the cemeteries where they were buried, from the 1800s to the mid-1900s. It covers their businesses, such as boarding houses, hotels, saloons, restaurants, grocery stores and shipbuilding, and their manual labors, such as mining, farming and fishing.
A lot of people have an interest in the Croatian and Dalmatian diaspora who emigrated to all parts of the world over the years. But very few have actually visited the places of immigration, and have documented the immigrants' journeys and lives in the New World. The author of this book, Branka Bezić Filipović, is the only person I know who has done this. For this reason alone, this book is of great interest to historians and genealogists. A list of places visited and mentioned in the book can be found here.
Table of Contents:
Pages 1 to 150:
Introduction by the author
Lodgings and hotels
Saloons and restaurants
Accommodations in the homeland [efforts made by emigrants and returned emigrants to create better accommodations back home]
Eternal resting places [cemeteries]
Pages 151 to 172:
A Review [by Dr. Josip Lasić]
List of photographs [list of images and their sources]
Bibliography
Index of names [list of surnames found in the text]
A note from the author
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