Ashley Tiwara - Hello: Noted your recent message containing a reference to the town of Rijeka, Croatia, formerly known as Fiuma, Austria. I have a strong interest in the town of Rijeka, Croatia as my grandfather, JAKE SCARAVICH, was born in Fiuma, Austria, in 1878. It is too much to hope that you in your research relating to Rijeka came across the surname of SCARAVICH. But, if you have, I would greatly appreciate hearing from you. My current request of you is for any suggestions as to whom or what to contact in Rijeka that may be able to assist me with data relating to JAKE SCARAVICH. Names, postal mailing addresses, and, hopefully, e-mail addresses would be most welcomed. Your cooperation and assistance will be greatly appreciated. And, many thanks for your time and efforts. Robert Peterson e-mail address: rpeter8370@AOL.com SCARAVICH

Robert, I think Frank's response is worth pursuing. However, saying you are from Rijeka is possibly like saying you live in Chicago, when your mailing address might be Oak Park or Evanston or even Libertyville or St. Charles. Have you tried for a lookup in the Croatian postwar census? Ask the list if someone could check that surname for you. If Scaravich shows up, you will then have some possible towns. I suspect it is not actually Croatian but an adaptation for Americans. the likely source is actually STARCEVIC. Have you checked the surname STARCEVIC or STARCHEVICH on all the boards and lists? Rootsweb and GenForum both have extensive surname lists as do quite a number of other sites. I would suggest writing Wen at Appleby also, as she covers Rijeka, if you haven't already posted there. She can be extraordinary in finding descendants to write to. You are aware that a Jake SCARAVICH was listed in the New Orleans directory for several years around 1890? New Orleans had a lot of early Croatian residents, as did Galveston. Many city directories are available at Ancestry.com, and also in hard copy at public libraries. You could try to see if New Orleans has an on-line library. Again, I would suggest pinning down what information you can find in public directories here in the USA before looking too hard in Europe, when you are not sure of the location. I do suspect the name is from the Rijeka area however and you might get a hit off the microfilms for that town. If you want to check this out in Rijeka, go to the archive there. The address has been posted several times to this list and last summer, 2000, extensive directions were posted about making use of it and what results to expect. Do a search at the Croatia-L archive to find the specific postings. The cost at the Rijeka archive was modest. It works best if you give specific data and dates, which you do not now have, but what's 50 or 100 dollars if you have no alternative sources. Hoping this helps, Ashley RPETER8370@aol.com wrote: > Ashley Tiwara - Hello: > > Noted your recent message containing a reference to the town of Rijeka, > Croatia, formerly known as Fiuma, Austria. > > I have a strong interest in the town of Rijeka, Croatia as my grandfather, > JAKE > SCARAVICH, was born in Fiuma, Austria, in 1878. > > It is too much to hope that you in your research relating to Rijeka came > across the surname of SCARAVICH. But, if you have, I would greatly > appreciate hearing from you. > > My current request of you is for any suggestions as to whom or what to > contact in Rijeka that may be able to assist me with data relating to JAKE > SCARAVICH. > Names, postal mailing addresses, and, hopefully, e-mail addresses would be > most welcomed. > > Your cooperation and assistance will be greatly appreciated. > > And, many thanks for your time and efforts. > > Robert Peterson > e-mail address: rpeter8370@AOL.com > > SCARAVICH