Hi, I'm having a hard time finding my Grandmother name, maybe someone on your list could help me. The information I have is from my grandparents immigration papers and word of mouth. They didn't apply for citizenship until the 1940's. They came to the US in 1913. On the papers it is written Bosilgrad, Yugoslavia, for my grandmother. I found the spelling of KRANJE on those papers. She said to me that she was Slovenian (excuse spelling) and that she could speak 5 languages, one of them Italian. I was told my grandfather was from Austria but on all papers Germany is written. My grandparents left all family in the old country and came to US with my father who was an infant and an only child. I did get an email that said that there is no Bosilgrad in Yugoslavia. My father did say that they where from those countries and that the borders had changed. I was told that the name Kranje is VERY Slovenian or maybe Croatian and that you would never find je ending in German. Ellis Island has their ethnicity as Austria, German and place of residence as Deutsch Landsberg, Austria. I always thought that sense Slovenia and Austria are so close that maybe they lived in border towns. They were married in 1906. My grandfather worked in a match factory. Port of departure was Bremen, Germany. My grandfather's family name was KIEFER. I figure that if I keep posting, someday I will find something. My sister and I, along with our husbands would like to visit Europe in about five years. Its would be nice to have a few places to check out. Thank you for your effort. Arlene

Hi Arlene- Don't know if this will help you but.... you need to search Austro-Hungarian Empire; Yugoslavia in and of itself didn't exist at the time of their immigration. Ethnically,the people of the empire were Austrian,German,and Slovenian (and probably others), languages spoken Italian,German,Slovenian, etc. I've had to "figure this out" searching for my own ancestors--get's confusing. You might also try searching Carniola--was a province of the empire from whence many of the emigrants came. Off the top of my head, I can't call it to mind, but there is a web site than converts "new" place names to the "old" ones. Good luck- Jan ----- Original Message ----- From: Arlene Jorgensen <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Saturday, June 23, 2001 9:42 AM Subject: Kranje surname > Hi, > > I'm having a hard time finding my Grandmother name, maybe someone on > your list could help me. > > The information I have is from my grandparents immigration papers > and word of mouth. They didn't apply for citizenship until the 1940's. > They came to the US in 1913. On the papers it is written Bosilgrad, > Yugoslavia, for my grandmother. I found the spelling of KRANJE on those > papers. She said to me that she was Slovenian (excuse spelling) and > that she could speak 5 languages, one of them Italian. I was told my > grandfather was from Austria but on all papers Germany is written. My > grandparents left all family in the old > country and came to US with my father who was an infant and an only > child. > > I did get an email that said that there is no Bosilgrad in > Yugoslavia. My father did say that they where from those countries and > that the borders had changed. I was told that the name Kranje is VERY > Slovenian or maybe Croatian and that you would never find je ending in > German. > > Ellis Island has their ethnicity as Austria, German and place of > residence as Deutsch Landsberg, Austria. I > always thought that sense Slovenia and Austria are so close that maybe > they lived in border towns. They were married in 1906. My grandfather > worked in a match factory. Port of departure was Bremen, Germany. My > grandfather's family name was KIEFER. > > I figure that if I keep posting, someday I will find something. My > sister and I, along with our husbands > would like to visit Europe in about five years. Its would be nice to > have a few places to check out. > > Thank you for your effort. Arlene >