June 19 - Sopcic Vrh, Ertic and Lipnik

Last night was Croatia’s second game (started at midnight) and today was a holiday in Croatia, so we didn’t want to head out too early today.  But we also felt like being a holiday might help us catch people at home that might otherwise be at work.  So we headed back out to Sopcic Vrh mid-morning.  At one time, this was where all the Sopcics lived.  But now there are not any people with the surname Sopcic in the village.  The economy for these rural villages has been tough for a number of decades, so many of the people have moved closer to the bigger cities, looking for work, etc.  That means a lot of the homes we were seeing were abandoned.  

This stork or crane was chasing something in the field as we approached Sopcic Vrh.

When we arrived in Sopcic Vrh, we saw some people outside of a house and decided to stop and try to speak with them.  Talk about missionary flashbacks!  The older man turned out to be the father of a man that Jen met via a Ribnik Facebook group that she found.  What a coincidence!  The very first person we talk to ends up being someone we already know something about.  That definitely made it easy to start up a conversation. They tracked down a neighbor who spoke English (Marina) and invited us into their home to chat (surprise #1).  The older man, Josip Brinc was just the coolest guy.  He pointed out a diploma on his wall that indicated he was a motorcross driver.   He showed us some pictures on his phone (surprise #2 -  he had a cell phone, which we weren't expecting in such a rural area) that showed him getting some air on a motorcycle, as well as some pictures from maybe 30 years ago where it looked like he was being crowned the winner of some motorcross events.  He told us that he had broken his right arm recently while riding motorcross (surprise #3 – yep, still riding motorcross).  Looks pretty painful and not sure that the cast that they put on him is enough.  Looks like it just barely stabilizes the area.

Josip’s son was also there.  He was pretty quiet, but one of the first  things he asked was if Jen had any single sisters.  Smart dude, right?  So we showed him a picture of Nellie :).

For the next hour or so we sat in Josip’s kitchen and asked as many questions as we could think of.  Marina did such an amazing job at trying to translate for all of us.  Her English was very good, and I can appreciate how difficult it is to translate and speak a non-native language, especially when there is no one to regularly practice with.  She studied English in school and the university where she attended, but learning from books is always easier than speaking live and trying to remember everything you have learned and put it together.   I felt the same way in Chile.  Speaking was totally different than the Spanish I learned before I got there.  

Josip Sr, Jr and Marina

Josip's motorcross diploma from the 70s I believe.

Josip offered us some cherry juice, which we accepted, so they disappeared and came back with a homemade bottle of canned cherries.  This immediately made me think of Jen’s dad Lee, who grew up in Kansas on a farm, and tells stories of taking bottles of cherries in his lunch for school.  Hope I remembered that story right, but we do know that he now hates cherries because he ate them so much as a kid.  The juice was delicious, and Marina was the one who had canned it.  It was a great first experience in the area.  Highly successful.  We exchanged email and facebook info and Marina said she’d speak with her mother and grandmother to see if they remember anything about the Sopcic’s we were looking for.  As we left, Jen shed tears of joy.  I also noticed Josip wiping his eyes.  It was very heart-warming to see this strong old man get emotional about what we were trying to do.  More special feelings that I could only inadequately try to explain.

Cherry Compote

We left Sopcic Vrh and headed for the area church in Ribnik, where we were hoping to meet with the priest and see the church records.  He wasn’t there, so we walked through the cemetery looking for Sopcic headstones.  Found a number of them, but most were from the early 1900’s or sooner.  Since Jen’s great great grandfather emigrated in 1889, any of the names we were seeing could be cousins or nieces and nephews.  But without enough information about the brothers and/or sisters of Janko Sopcic, we weren’t sure what we were looking for.

We find out later in the day when we visit Ertic about a Ljubica, Marica, Dragica who were sisters that lived in the same house as Ana.  Perhaps they are the same ones listed here...

Mihelic is the surname of Janko's mother, Jela.

Gracie, Braden and Tanner should recognize the title of the headstone - Obitelj Sopcic.  Obitelj (o- bee-tell-yea) means family.

So we headed for Ertic, which is the village where Jen’s great great grandfather Janko was born and where her great great grandmother, Ana (or Jana) was listed as living when she married Janko.  We think she was born there as well, but still need to find that record to verify.  Marina had told us to ask for Irena, a friend in the village who knew English.  She was at home when we stopped by and her and her mother offered to walk us into the village to look for the houses where Janko and Ana were living when they married (house 20 and 12).  They walked us to where house 12 was/is.  We learned that during WWII, there was a fire that burned all of the homes down.  So the homes we were seeing were built after the fires.  Irena’s mother and an older neighbor were able to give us names of people who grew up in the same house (House 12) but now live in Canada.  That might be a good lead for Jen if she can track those folks down – they may have a history of the families that lived in the house.  Or even better, they may be related to Ana.

This is the oven.  The fireplace was on the other side of the wall, heating that room.  I assume the oven would heat this room.  Ingenious.

The entrance to house #12.

Jen and Irena, the neighbors, and Irena's mother.

You'll have to click on the pic to see the whole thing.  House #12 on the left, with the barns to the right (behind the house).

This evening, we were able to contact the priest and meet him at his house.  There he produced a number of old record books and we began to search for more records.  We think we found records and information that confirm Janko ‘s parents (Josip and Jela) and grandparents Joannis Sopcic and Barbara Klemencic.  

We have also found Janko’s siblings:  Bara, Ivan, Dora, Rosa and Jana. 

In addition, we found Anna’s parents – Stanko or Stanislaus and Meta (Margaretta) Bahor.  We knew the names from Janko and Anna’s marriage records, but the names were hard to decipher.  So what we found in the parish records helped to confirm the names and dates.

Priest Mario and Jen, at his kitchen table with the record books that go back to the mid 1800s.  Pretty cool that we got to hold them and turn the pages.

After looking through the records, the priest walked us over to the Parish and let us in to see inside.  It is a beautiful church.  Perhaps it is because of the meaning the building has (it's 300 years old, and was the place where everyone got married), but I felt like it was more beautiful than the lavish cathedrals we've seen in other cities on our trip.

Mario explaining that the cathedral was built in 1780 and painted in 1914.

Did you notice that the main painting changed from the picture above?  Mario dropped this down in front of the painting of Christ and explained that it is the prophet Elijah, who is the patron saint of the church.  Mario spoke Croatian, German, and a little English, so I hope that I understood him correctly.

You can see that the building could use some repair, but is still so beautiful.  Marina later explained to us that because people were buried under the church, the officials in Zagreb will not allow the church to be restored/repaired.  A tough spot to be in for the local community - sad to think that they might lose the building someday.

Beautiful flooring

Parish, with Mario's house in the background and the entrance to the cemetery in the foreground.

After the parish, we decided to head back to Ertic and nearby Velika Paka (two villages separated by a field).  On Mother's Day this year, the villages dedicated a memorial for the village men/boys who were killed during World War II.  If Ertic only had 17 homes and Velika Paka appears to be a similar size, this list seems pretty long.  A few Sopcics on the list.  A very nice memorial.

On our way back to the hotel, we dropped by Marina's house to thank her for all her help earlier in the day.  She invited us in again, and we got to visit with Marina, her mother and her grandmother (who's 89).  We learned more about Marina and her family.  Marina also invited us back on Saturday the 21st to have lunch.  She is going to fix us a traditional meal.  We are looking forward to that.  Jen adds that even though Marina, Josip Sr, Josip Jr, Mario Brinc, and Irena might not be related, she feels connected to them like family.

Long post to reflect a long day filled with so many memories we want to remember and share with family back home.