As I grow older, I am more interested in the history of my family.
Who were they? What historical events made us what we are? How did
they come to Vojvodina and then to America? My children should know
the answers to these questions. During my search I have been aided
by many gifts from my family and kindnesses from strangers who have
become part of my new extended family. This is a journey of respect
and love for my ancestors and hope for the future of my children.
This is a story of hard work, patience and acts of God.
Oral History
When I was a young boy, my grandparents often looked after me during
the summers while my parents worked. I have memories of being taken
to parties and listening to many older people speak in a language
that no one else understood. My pradido Djura Hromiš brought
the family from Šid, to Dayton Ohio just as the first world war
was starting. He died in 1973 when I was very young. I have very clear
memories of my baba Emma Hromiš-Powers, sitting me down at the
kitchen table and showing old pictures and post cards from Šid.
She was sad, because there was no one to talk to in the “old language”.
The only other times she had a chance to speak in what I later knew
to be “Rusinski”, was on rare visits to families such as the Provči’s,
Buila’s, Bucko’s and Paroska’s in Ohio. My baba used to speak of a
cousin “Melana” used to write from Šid. But all contact with
family in Yugoslavia had been lost. Once, about 1980, she visited
the Yugoslav consulate to ask for help. However, she was treated strangely
as she did not speak Serbian. She spoke what she called “Slavish”.
I have since learned that this is a very old American term, used to
describe Ruthenian language in America during the 1920’s and 1930’s.
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Hromis family, Dayton, Ohio (About 1920). Left to Right:
My baba Emma Hromis, Djura Hromis (my great-grandfather),
Olga Hromis (Girl in front), Anna Mudri-Hromis (my great-grandmother)
and Nikola Hromis
Шедза Дюра Хромиш и Ана Хромиш нар.
Мудри (Полово прадїдо и прабаба) а стоя їх дзеци, з лїва:
Ема Хромиш (Полова баба), Олґа Хромиш и Никола Хромиш. Сликоване
у варошу Дейтон, Огайо, коло 1920. року
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Memorabilia
Years after her death, I inherited a box of photographs and post cards
from my baba. Twice, I tried to have some of them translated, but
no one understood the language. I gave up finding anything about my
family. So much information had been lost. We would watch the news
of the war, and would comment that we had family left in Šid,
but no longer had any addresses or names. My dido came from
a very poor generation, and could not read or write. My prababa Anna
Mudri-Hromiš, had died in 1949. She was the “glue” that bound
the family together across the ocean.
New Technology
On a whim 2002, I typed in the family name Hromiš in a search
engine on the internet. To my great surprise, one of the items was
a list of email addresses with very familiar looking names. I sent
a few brief emails out to people on the list, and one or two people
pointed me in the correction direction. In the next week, I started
trading emails with Darko Provči from Šid. I asked Darko
if he knew the Hromis family. Within two weeks, Darko emailed me a
photo of my father taken in 1948 from Dayton. My cousins in Šid
had saved this all this time. What a shock, and what a surprise. I
have since also been able to help Darko contact his family in Ohio.
Family Sources
Over the last two years my distant cousin Miluska Krivokuća has
helped me a great deal. She helped me create a family tree of the
Hromiš family from Šid. Miluska’s mother Olga Koroš
and baba Paulina Hromis have been wonderful sources of information.
This is the first place any one should start. I now know that I have
many cousins in Kucura, Novi Sad, Kikinda, Vukovar and Gunja. Now
with the help of Miron Zsiros and Slavomir Olejar, I have been trading
emails with another cousin Dr. Stevan Konstantinovic. He has provided
me with some additional information about the family. I know now that
the Hromiš family was originally from Kucura.
Good luck
I have had great success in making contact with the Hromiš family,
but I have very little luck with the families Mudri and Mitrov. My
cousin Miluška has given me some information about the Mudri
family in Sid. I have many cards and photos of Bači Vasa Mudri
from Šid, but he died in 1967. I have not been able find any
living family on this side. I am just beginning to have a few contacts
with the Mitrov family. After several tries, I have just received
a letter from the daughter of Mirko Mitrov who now lives in Zagreb.
I found her simply by using the Zagreb telephone book posted on the
internet. An old postcard was marked “Vrapče-Zagreb”, in the
telephone was an address for a real-estate company “Mitrov” at the
same area. So I sent a letter with an old photo asking if anyone remembered
the Mitrov family. To my great luck, the daughter of the man I was
look for answered my letter. Now here is the hard part, by translating
several very old letters, I know this person is a distant cousin.
However, I do not know the exact relationship.
Modern records
One of the best and easiest ways to gather information is visit your
church or the graveyard. Record the names, and dates and also the
names of who is buried nearby. Families are usually buried very close
to each other. Simple items like baptismal records also contain a
great deal of information, as people commonly choose aunts and uncles
as godparents.
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Men from Srem living in Ohio: The first man is my pradjido
(great-grandfather) Djura Hromis. Other men in the photos
are the Hromis from Sid (Lived in Dayton), Bucko's from Miklosevci
(Lived in Barberton and Cleveland), Paroskaj from Novi Sad
(Lived in Cleveland), Gajdos from Sid (Lived in Dayton), Rozic
from Sid (Lived in Cleveland), Buila from Miklosevci (Lived
in Detroit)
Хлопи зоз Сриму хтори жили у Огаю.
Перши чловек то мой прадїдо Дюра Хромиш. Други особи на фотоґрафиї
то Хромиш зоз Шиду ( жил у Дейтону), Бучково зоз Миклошевцох
(жили у Барбертону и Кливленду), Парошкай зоз Нового Саду
(жил у Кливленду), Ґайдош зоз Шиду (жил у Дайтону) Рожич зоз
Шиду (жил у Кливленду), Буила зоз Миклошевцох (жил у Детроиту)
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Archival Records
I have begun trying to research the family history back further in
time. In the USA , Canada and Europe, there is a religious group who
call them selves the “Church of Later day Saints”. We simply call
them the “Mormon’s”. As part of there religion, they research and
preserve genealogy records. They then make these records available
to anyone who wants to do research on microfilm, regardless of individual’s
faith. The entire collection of church books from the archives in
Croatia are available. In addition, Church records from the Hungarian
archives, and many records from Austrian-Hungarian Empire can be easily
accessed. Another source of information is the census records from
the Hungarian state.
Unfortunately, the archives in Serbia have not yet been copied. The
result is that most of the Roman Rite Catholic records are easy to
find, but I have not found many Greek Rite and Orthodox records. I
suspect that many of these missing records are in the Archives of
Serbia I hope that one day these also we be copied and made available
to the public.
Where are other “Lost” Rusnaci?
At the same time I have also started to look for “lost” cousins here
in America. I began this by talking to my father, and other elders
to ask for a list of names of Rusyn families that they remember. Using
this information, along with information from Pan Miron Zsiros, I
have begun to look through census and immigration records for Sharon,
Barberton and Cleveland. Many sources of data are available here.
But there are many are also many difficulties. After so many years,
memories have faded, people moved many times and even names have change.
Very few Rusnaci-Americans can be clearly identified from the records.
The quality of the records depends both person providing the information,
and on the work of the person writing the information down. My pradido
Djura Hromiš came though Ellis Island three times. I have only
found two of these in the records. Only one time is he correctly identified
as “Ruthenian”.
Difficult Data
The cousins of Miron Zsiros in Detroit are a good example of this.
Over 30 years in the records is spelling of the name changes several
times. (Zsiros, Ziros, Zarros, Zaros). This was often done to adapt,
or to succeed in an America that was not friendly to people from the
Balkans or Eastern Europe. My own uncle Nick Hromiš changed his
name to Donald Harnish for similar reasons. Most of the Zarros family
died too young to be found through common government records such
as old age pensions. (In the USA, this is called Social Security).
However, I have had luck finding his family by searching property
records. Governments are not always good at tracking, but they are
very good at tracking taxes and property. These can be good alternative
records.
My own family history has mysteries that I have not solved. My father
remembers “Aunts” in both Sharon Pennsylvania, and Barberton Ohio.
I photos of many people who I can not identify. One of these is of
a woman, an on the back my baba has written “Aunt in Sharon”. I have
also found several postcards from Sharon with no return address (1947).
Slavomir Olejar has helped translate these. In Rusinski, are written
a few simple sentences to my prababa; “Dear Aunt, I have been released
from the hospital, but father will be there a few more days, thank
you for your help”. I have searched the newspapers and discovered
that there was a Tornado a few days before the postcard was written.
Now I know I have family that lived in Sharon, but I do not know their
names.
Later on, when I help Miroslav Paroska find his cousins in Ohio, I
noticed many of the same people in his photographs. So I can only
guess that I have missing cousins in the USA, who are Mitrov’s, Bucko’s
or Mudri’s, and a most likely from Miklosevci.
Finding Living Family
Today many people here are trying to discover their lost family history.
Several electronic billboards exist where people can connect. Ancestry.com
is one of the most popular in the USA. Another billboard is radixforum.com.
This billboard is specific to the old Hungarian state, and has listings
for towns such as Ruski Kerestur, Kucura, Sid and others.
Once in a while, I will see people post messages such as “My grandfather
lived in Barberton, was Catholic, and I have old letters from Djurdjevo”.
This is an email I received from Theresa “Hardi” Ratcliff. Today she
is still trying to find the family of Maria Ivan, who use to write
from Djurdjevo. Just this week, I received another email from Australia,
from a Mudri looking for family in the USA and Canada.
Understanding
This is a never ending task and a great puzzle that begs to be solved
for each family. But most of all remember that it is more than dates
and data. It is each family’s history. Sometimes small things can
important. In my family, I never understood why wine making was so
important and a family event. Just knowing fact that my family worked
in the Vineyards in Srem has helped my understanding of the habits
of my family in Ohio.
Conclusion
I wish to thank the many people who have helped me in the search.
There are just too many people to name. Many people helped me with
translations, or just told me their own family stories. From each
I have discovered a little bit about my family and myself.
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Church, Sid. Old Post card from the Mitrov
family in Sid
Церква у Шидзе. Стара
поштова розгляднїца хтору фамелия Митров зоз Шиду послала родзином
у Америки, а Полово предки ю зачували
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