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A Rose for Sharon

    For many years now, I have posted the single pink rose image to my social media on August 19th and June 4th. Those who know me well know it is in honor of my little sister, Sharon, who died in 1994. Her birth date and her death date. That has been the extent of my communication about my sister or her life since. Thirty-two years is a long time to hold onto words. I have considered writing about her. It doesn't matter how deep my feelings are for her or how much I cherish her memory, the words don't come easily, if at all. Words feel cheap and wrong. It's hard to even describe why. Maybe it is because she was our family's: Our sister, our cousin, our niece, our daughter. We knew her best, so no one else should have the right to know about her like we did. Maybe that's why I hold onto my words. But I realize that if I don't tell her story, who will?  I have spent hour upon hour researching my long-gone ancestors, yet I haven't written about my own sister. ...
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FRANJO "FRANK" KOZLINA

Louise & Frank Kozlina.1



31 Days of Writing Family History Challenge

January 12, 2022:   Maternal Great Grandfather #1  - Franjo Kozlina (1885-1946)


by Nancy Gilbride Casey

In the pursuit of one's family history, when stories are scarce, documents and photos may be the main items with which to reconstruct an ancestor's life. This is the case for my mom's grandfather, Franjo "Frank" Kozlina. He died in 1945 when my mother was still a child of 8 or so. If she had any recollections of her grandfather—which may have been difficult given that he lived in Pennsylvania and she lived in Ohio—they were few and far between. And so, in pursuit of Frank's story, I have turned to documents to piece together a bit of his story.

Portion of Franjo's baptismal record.
 

My great grandfather was born and baptized Franjo Kozlina on 26 August 1885, the son of Franjo Novosela Kozlina and Mara Stunja, in Drežnik Podokićki, a small settlement in the Samobor administrative district in Zagreb County, Croatia, then part of the Austria-Hungarian empire.2


An 1883 map of Croatia in pink; Samobor is southwest of Zagreb.3

Present day Drežnik Podokićki indicated by red pin.4

Croatian church records show that Franjo had one brother and four sisters: Toma (Thomas), Barbara, Jaga (Agnes), Paulina and Anna.

Frank emigrated about 1904, arriving on the ship the Kaiser Wilhelm II to the port of Baltimore. In 1906, Frank married Vjekoslava Baltorinic—later known as Louise—in Uniontown, Pa. By 1910, Frank and his wife were living in Lemont Furnace in Fayette County, where Frank was employed as a laborer in a brick yard. Frank and Louise were the parents of eight children born between 1908-1928: Barbara, Stephen, our grandfather Thomas, Anna, Frank, Kathryn, Frances, and William.5

In 1917 Frank made his declaration of intention to become a United States citizen at the Common Pleas Court in Fayette County.  In part the declaration reads:

"It is my bona fide intention to renounce forever all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state or sovereignty, and in particularly to Charles, Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary of whom I am now subject."6

Frank was true to his oath, and became a citizen on 2 May 1924.7

Frank spent his life employed in and around the coal mines in Fayette County, working variously as a laborer, a miner and a digger, like so many other men in the area. He lived with his family in one of the many coal patch towns which dotted the southwestern Pennsylvania landscape.

I wish that I knew more about my great grandfather. What I do know is that Frank Kozlina was one of the several men in my family who worked the various coal mines in Pennsylvania, and made a better life for himself and those who followed.

 

NOTES

1 Photo of Louse & Frank Kozlina, unknown date, photographer and location; private collection of M. Graff [address for private use], 2022.

2 Roman Catholic Church of Sv. Martin pod Okićem, Births, 1858-1886, p. 157, Franjo Kozlina, 26 August 1885; database & images, "Croatia, Church Books, 1516-1994," FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G99X-6N46 : 12 January 20220; citing Arhiva Hrvatske u Zagrebu (Croatia State Archives), Zagreb.

3 "Croatia, 1883," Edmaps.com (http://www.croatia-in-english.com/images/maps/1883.jpg : accessed 12 January 2022).

4 Google Maps, "Drežnik Podokićki," (https://www.google.com/maps : accessed 12 January 2022).

5 For emigration: Fayette Court of Common Pleas (Uniontown, Pa.), Declaration of Intention #4787, 16 April 1917, Frank Kozlina; Protonotary Office, Uniontown. For marriage: "Marriage license dockets, 1885-1916," database with images, FamilySearch (http://bit.ly/3724HQU : accessed 22 Dec 2019); Marriage license dockets v. 39-41 1906, Record #17374, marriage of Frank Kazlina and Louise Baltorinis, 19 June 1906; Fayette County Courthouse, Uniontown, Pa.; FHL film Film # 004460687, image 210. For 1910 residence: 1910 United States Federal Census, Fayette County, Pa., population schedule, enumeration district 54, sheet 24A, North Union Township, dwelling 417, family 419, Frank Coselenn (24); image, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GRVV-VSS : accessed 12 January 2022). For children: 1930 United States Federal Census, Fayette County, Pa., population schedule, ED 66, sheet 18A, family 322, Frank Kozeline (24); image, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XH3S-2PW : accessed 12 January 2022); NARA microfilm publication T626, roll 2040, Washington, D.C.

6 Fayette, Pa. Court of Common Pleas, Declaration of Intention #4787, Frank Kozlina.

7 Fayette County (Pa.) Court of Common Pleas, Petition for Naturalization #4787, 21 May 1924, Frank Kozlina; Protonotary Office, Uniontown.







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