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It's Leaves on the Tree's 7th Blogiversary!

Image by rawpixel.   Seven years ago, I had a crazy notion to start a blog about my family stories. I was sorting through family photos and was enjoying them so much; I wanted a place to post them and to tell the stories behind them.  My very first blog featured this fun photo of my mom, Anna Margaret Kozlina (1937-2010) and her brother, Tommy Kozlina (1940-2015). I absolutely adore this photo! Mom looks cute and determined and the whole scene just looks like something out of The Little Rascals TV show.  Two hundred sixty-seven (267) posts later, my goal of sharing photos and stories has mushroomed to include posts on my research discoveries, heirloom investigations, methodology, and more, and covers not only my direct family lines, but also my husband (the Hubs)'s lines. It's a big, happy mashup of families hailing from Slovakia to Oklahoma, Croatia to Ohio, Pennsylvania to Coajila y Tejas, and pretty much everywhere in between. And it's been FUN! I am so excited to ...

BARA CELINŠĆAK - RECORD FOUND, PARENTS LOST

The translation of "agricola" from this marriage record was one of two discoveries today.1

31 Days of Writing Family History Challenge

February 2, 2022:  Maternal Great, Great Grandmother #2 - Bara Celinšćak (1846-1918)


by Nancy Gilbride Casey

This writing challenge has proven fruitful for a number of reasons. First, I have not researched some of these ancestors in a while. It is fun to revisit their records, and spend some time finding missing documents and facts to fill in their timelines. Second, I am always looking for interesting discoveries about them, and today I discovered not one, but two things.

One important discovery: a mistake. It happens, but I actually had the incorrect baptismal record for today's subject, Barbara "Bara" Celinšćak. Once more, while looking for Bara and Petar's marriage record, I found something else: a different set of parents for Bara. 

A baptismal record for a Bara Celinšćak had been previously found with parents Mikule Baltorinic and Bare Stanecék. The wedding of Petar and Bara, however, listed Georgu Celinšćak and Hellena Kupina as her parents. Did I have the wrong baptism record?2

Detail of Petar and Barbara's marriage record.
 

It turns out, yes. Based on Bara's age at her marriage of 20 in 1867, I search for a baptism record starting around 1847. There on 11 April 1846 was another Barbara Celinšćak born to Georgu and Hellena Celinšćak.3


 

Bara was born in Celine and Peter in Srednjak. The church where they were baptized and married is in Gorica Svetojanska.

Second: A fun fact. I learned was the meaning of the word, "agricola," which I noticed below the names of Peter, Bara and both sets of their parents in the couple's marriage record. As might be obvious to some, this Latin word means "farmer." So now we know their occupations.4

Petar and Bara married on 20 February 1867, and went on to have nine children, including our great grandmother Vjekoslava Baltornic Kozlina. 

Bara lived to be 72 years old, and passed away on 18 November 1918. She died of "starost," or "old age," and was buried on 20 November 1918.5

The details of Bara's death were clearly noted in this church record. Bara was "r. Celinšćak" or "born Celinšćak," and "udova" or a "widow." The cross next to Petar's name shows he had died. Bara's birthplace is shown as Celine and her residence Srednjak 1. "Rim kat" translates to "Roman Catholic." She was 72 "god" or "years."

BONUS: More on the surname Celinsćak

  • Celinšćak families are Croats and they are mostly from Jastrebarsko. In the past century, the surname was mostly found in Zagreb and Jastrebarsko.
  • Today, about 80 people with family name Celinšćak live in Croatia, in 40 households.6


NOTES

1 Roman Catholic (Rimokatolička crkva) Gorica Svetojanska, Marriages (Vjenčani) 1878-1906, p. 45, marriage of Petar Baltornic and Barbara Celinšćak, 20 February 1867; "Croatia, Church Books, 1516-1994," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-899X-69LP : accessed 2 February 2022); citing FHL film  5493816, image 132; Arhiva Hrvatske u Zagrebu (Croatia State Archives), Zagreb. 

2 Ibid.

3 Roman Catholic (Rimokatolička crkva) Gorica Svetojanska, Births (Rođeni) 1789-1857, p. 234, baptism of Barbara Celinšćak, 11 April 1856; "Croatia, Church Books, 1516-1994," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-899C-T99Z-S : accessed 2 February 2022); citing FHL film 5484836, image 402; Arhiva Hrvatske u Zagrebu (Croatia State Archives), Zagreb. 

4 Robert Jerin. Searching for Your Croatian Roots: A Handbook. (Self Published : Shaker Heights, 2018), p. 37.

5 Roman Catholic (Rimokatolička crkva) Gorica Svetojanska, Deaths (Umrli) 1900-1920, p. 276, Bara Bartorinic 18 November 1918; database with images, "Croatia, Church Books, 1516-1994," FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G99X-DG7D : accessed 2 February 2022); citing FHL film 5493817, image 554; Arhiva Hrvatske u Zagrebu (Croatia State Archives), Zagreb. 

6 ActoCroatica, (https://actacroatica.com/en/surname/Celin%C5%A1%C4%87ak/ : accessed 2 February 2022), "Surname Celinšćak."


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