At 06:22 AM 6/22/98 -0700, Pattee wrote: > Busic ggrandfather was burgermeister of Ponikve, Jugoslavija in >late 1800's. Gvozden lived on same land they had lived on since Turkish >Invasion in (1100's?) in Gvozdeni, some relatives in nearby Ogulin. Divic >family married into Busic family in Ponikve. Relatives/ancestors came to >McKeesport and Aliquippa, PA in early 1900's. Looking for people familiar >with these areas in the former Jugoslavija who might be able to give me >advice/suggestions about how to do research in that country and anyone who >might be connected to these families. The area you mention is known as Lika. The Turkish conquest of the Balkans took place over many decades, even centuries, beginning in the 1300s and reaching its greatest extent around 1680. Croatia itself was an independent kingdom in the early Middle Ages, but when the native dynasty died out in 1102 the Croatian nobility elected the King of Hungary as the King of Croatia, and from then until 1918 Croatia was ruled by Hungary. In 1526 the Turkish army defeated the Hungarians at the battle of Mohacs at which the King of Hungary was killed. The Hungarian nobles whose lands remained outside of Turkish rule then elected the head of the House of Habsburg as King of Hungary. Thereby Croatia also came under Austrian rule. By the end of the 16th century the Habsburg court had established a border zone with the Ottoman Empire, called the Military Frontier = Militargrenze = Vojna krajina. The part of this zone which lay in Croatia was ruled directly from Vienna instead of through Budapest, and was organized into regimental areas. The Austrians settled colonists, especially Serbs who had fled the Ottoman Empire, as soldier/farmers in this area, where they lived until 1995 when the Croats drove all of them out. As for doing research on Serbs in that area, there are two basic types of sources: Austrian military records, and Serbian Orthodox church records. Some of the former have been microfilmed, but may not be all that helpful. As far as I know, the church records have not yet been microfilmed, or if they have been, they have not yet been cataloged and made available. I have no idea what has happened to the Serbian Orthodox church records from that area due to the recent war, but my guess is that it is currently extremely difficult if not impossible to get any response. Hope this helps. Gordon McDaniel [email protected]