Alex Grdovic Immigration

[Racing Girl]

I'm helping a friend look into his Croatian ancestry. 

His Gfather was Alex Grdovic (Americanization of name is Grudovich).  From census & WWI draft registration on Family Search we have his date and place of birth as 30 July 1890 in Samobor, Croatia. Due to the extent of the Austrian Empire at that time, his country of origin often comes up as either Austria or Austria/Hungary.  We have his WWI Draft Registration and the US Census info, along with his children and their spouses moving forward.  What I'd like to find is his immigration record, which was in 1910 according to the census.  The free records at Family Search don't contain him, neither does Ellis Island or Castle Garden records.  There are quite a number of people with this surname entering the US, most after 1900, but not an Alex, or a variant of Alex.  I also saw on Family Search that they have a digitized copy of the Croatian Church record 1516-1994, Samobor is only listed as a town in the Roman Catholic records and I can't find him in their either, I started at his birth date and worked forward a year, the surnames are very legible.  It's possible that he may be in the records somewhere, perhaps for another religion type but obviously it's all in Croatian!

What I'd really like to start with is his immigration record, to see if that sheds any further light on the matter.  I can always go to the library to look at the records on Ancestry, do they have a better collection of immigration records than other sites?  Or does anyone have any other ideas about researching this name, especially in Europe?

[shellyesq]

This gives a pretty thorough listing of what passenger lists are online:  http://www.germanroots.com/onlinelists.html  http://www.germanroots.com/international-passenger-lists.html  He may have come through any number of ports in the US or even through Canada.

Do you have anything that gives his parents' names?  That may lead to further information.

[Racing Girl]

Hello Shelley, thanks for the links.  I think I might spend an hour in the local library having a search as there are so many options!

Unfortunately we have nothing prior to his stated dob in 1890 in the town of Samobor.

[jorose]

Was his immigration date consistent through censuses? (e.g. 1920 and 1930 give same date).

Do census records list him as naturalised?  If so, possibly the best way forward would be to track down his naturalisation records then find his immigration from those.  Chances are that his name has been badly misspelt/mistranscribed.

[shellyesq]

As a direct descendant, your friend could order his death certificate, which is relatively inexpensive at $9.  http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/death_certificates/14122  This would likely include spots for his parents' names, but it depends if they were known by the informant.

For a $27 fee, his original Social Security application could be ordered.  http://genealogy.about.com/od/online_records/a/ss5_request.htm  This should include his place of birth and his parents' names (if known by him), including mother's maiden name.

The 1930 census says that Alex immigrated in 1907 and had filed his first papers for naturalization.  It may just be coincidence, but the New York passenger lists have entries for Albin, Pavao, and Tomo Grdovic arriving in 1907 and all were going to McKeesport, Pennsylvania.  I'm not sure if any of these are him, but they seem worth investigating as they may be relatives.

[Racing Girl]

Was his immigration date consistent through censuses? (e.g. 1920 and 1930 give same date).

Do census records list him as naturalised?  If so, possibly the best way forward would be to track down his naturalisation records then find his immigration from those.  Chances are that his name has been badly misspelt/mistranscribed.

So far I've only seen the transcript of the census, not the full page, so I do need to check at the library for that.  1920 & 1940 list 1910 as his immigration year, 1930 lists 1907.

[Racing Girl]

As a direct descendant, your friend could order his death certificate, which is relatively inexpensive at $9.  http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/death_certificates/14122  This would likely include spots for his parents' names, but it depends if they were known by the informant.

For a $27 fee, his original Social Security application could be ordered.  http://genealogy.about.com/od/online_records/a/ss5_request.htm  This should include his place of birth and his parents' names (if known by him), including mother's maiden name.

The 1930 census says that Alex immigrated in 1907 and had filed his first papers for naturalization.  It may just be coincidence, but the New York passenger lists have entries for Albin, Pavao, and Tomo Grdovic arriving in 1907 and all were going to McKeesport, Pennsylvania.  I'm not sure if any of these are him, but they seem worth investigating as they may be relatives.

Thanks for those links too, I'll pass them along.  I've found entire pages from manifests with ALL of the "aliens" coming from Croatia and heading for Pittsburgh area, obviously for work.  An awful lot of them listed McKeesport as a final destination, seemed to be a bit of a hotspot!  They must have had some network of fellow Croatians in the area who were helping with jobs and lodging until the new arrivals got on their feet.

I hear the library calling my name!  Thanks for the help.

[Racing Girl]

I found a Croatia specific forum on another site... and asked for advice there too, I was told that his place of birth is Javorek, a small village just to the East of Samobor (this was in the full 1920 census).  And this has just popped up, talk about a stroke of luck.

"The village of Javorek belongs to the parish of Noršić Selo.

Croatia, Church Books, 1516-1994
Roman Catholic (Rimokatolička crkva)
Noršić Selo
Births (Rođeni) 1878-1900... Deaths (Umrli) 1878-1920
Image 48, Line 32:

Sandor Grdović born 30 Jul 1890 in Javorek, baptized 31 Jul 189'0 in Noršić Selo. Parents: Stjepan Grdovič and Kata nee Vapnar, farmers. Residence: Javorek #4 (house number). Godparents: Juraj and Julika Grdanjski. Baptized: parish priest Aleksa Padarčić.

Sandor or Šandor is Hungarian version of Alexander."

I've just passed all of this info on to my friend, along with the links to the documents available in the US, he might want to fill in the gaps.  Just closing the loop here.