Hi Frank, Thanks for the info. I have located the LDS centre close to me and have only managed to identify 1 roll of film for Croatia which I find strange. I'm interested in the Lukovdol Parish in Osojnik in Karlovac, prior to 1927. Can you help with any film numbers which I should be able to source in the local LDS centre in Australia. Regards, Branko Colavizza branko.colavizza@bigpond.com http://www.geocities.com/bcolaau/ -----Original Message----- From: Frank Kurchina [mailto:frankur@worldnet.att.net] Sent: Thursday, 28 February 2002 7:05 AM To: CROATIA-L@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [CROATIA-L] Domitrovic and Colavizza (Kolovica) Branko wrote: > > Hi folks, > > I'm new to this game and need some advice. I have traced through living > relatives the two family names back to somewhere in the 1850's and can not > proceed. The Colavizza name goes into Italy (Udine) where records appear not > to exist prior to 1870. I have found a family in Columbia who would appear > to relate but again all goes back to Udine. > > The Domitrovic name goes back into Osojnik and little to get on with. > > If there is anyone out there that can point me in the right direction or > even relate to these two names I would welcome the information. What I have > to date has been posted at http://www.geocities.com/bcolaau/ > > -------------------------------------------------------- > Regards, > Branko Colavizza > branko.colavizza@bigpond.com > http://www.geocities.com/bcolaau/ More Slavic surnames begin with the initial letter K than other letters. Italian has no letter K and uses the letter C instead. [letter 'C' (before e/i) is pron. as phonetic ch letter 'C' (before a/o/u) is pron. as phonetic k] The Italian letter z is generally pron. like ts. Any consonants can be doubled for a more foreceful sound. In most Slavic languages the plain letter c is pron. ts. So would expect that surname Colavizza is the Italian equivalent of the surname Kolovica. Following WW 1, Italy took for itself the southwestern portion of duchy of Carniola, the county of Gorizia-Gradisca, the margraviate of Istria, the town of Trieste, the southern portion of the county of Tyrol, city of Zadar /Zara (formerly part of the Kingdom of Dalmatia), and the islands of Cherso/Ceres, Lusino/Los^inj, and Lagosta/Lastovo When the Italian Fascists took power in the 1930s they forced some Croatians in territory mentioned below to convert their surnames to Italian names. Trieste (I) Trst (C/Sl) Triest (G) In 1926, Trieste, Istria, southwestern Carniola, and northern Dalmatia was divided into the districts of Trieste/Trst Rijeka/Fiume, and Pula/Pola by Italy. 1815-1866 Istria (including Trieste) was part of the Austrian Empire. 1867-1918 Istria was part of of Austria under the dual Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. 1918-1947 Istria was part of Italy, not Croatia or Yugoslavia. The 1947 (WW 2) peace treaty recognized Yugoslavia's acquisition of the former Italian territory. This included Dalmatian city of Zadar/Zara and the islands of Cres/Cherso, Los^inj/Lusino, and Lastovo/Lagosta, as well as former city of Rijeka/Fiume and, farther north, western Slovenia and part of Istria. There are Croatian Italian surname bearers who ancestors never set foot in Italy proper. Some Croats had two surnames, a Croatian surname and an equivalent Italian family name. Some Croatian surnames bearers had Italian first names. There are two place names Osojnik in Croatia. A Osojnik is located just NW of Dubrovnik. A Osojnik is located near Bjelovar. The Croatian telephone directory lists : 2 surname Domitrovic' under Dubrovnik. 2 surname Domitrovic' in Istria. 22 surname Domitrovic' under Bjelovar county. 60 surname Domitrovic' under Karlovac county. 135 surname Domitrovic under Zagreb. There probably are others as well. As for Croatians in South America. Many Croatians emigrated to that continent early on. Mostly to Brazil. But, also to Argentina, Peru, Chile, etc. Of course, early on many Croatians did emigrate to the Land of Oz and to NZ.