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I am looking for information or relatives of the family of Tomo Dragić, born November 8, 1892 (October 25/26, 1892, possibly, due to calendar differences) in Vodenica (Vodjenica in English?), Petrovac, Bosnia. His parents were Nikola and Maria (Dukovac?) Dragić. Family stories indicate Tomo had several brothers and sisters. No one in the family has any records of the names of his siblings.
Tomo (shortened to Tom in the U.S.) came to the U.S. for the first time in 1913, that I have found, but returned home and served in the Serbian army during World War I. The ship’s passenger record for this trip to the U.S. stated he had a wife in Bosnia named Stoja. I don’t know if Tomo and Stoja had any children.
He returned to the U.S. in July, 1920. His passenger record for this trip states he served in the Serbian army and that his trip to the U.S. was paid for by the Serbian government. The record shows his intended destination in the U.S. was to the home of his uncle, Mike Sekulić in Paris, Illinois. I have been unable to find this uncle in the U.S. census for 1920 in this location. The next record I have found for him is a marriage record in the U.S. in 1921.
Family stories indicate Tomo went back again, at some point, to search for family members in his home village but was told all of his family members had been killed, either by invading military forces or being sent to concentration camps. I don’t know which situation is correct. I have not heard of concentration camps being in existence prior to World War II. Tomo filed U.S. naturalization papers in 1940. I have no records of any return trips to his homeland at any time. I also have no record of any application or issuance of a passport for him.
Hi,
I just reacted to your other post. The calendar differences may come from the old Orthodox calender that is still being used in the region. Its wise to record both of them because they are used in records. Do you have any records or documents from the army?
Regards,
Sergej
Hello!
I do not have any records or documents from the army. There was a reference to his service in a passengers' record for one of his trips to the U.S. This record was from July 1920. He married in the U.S. the following year, 1921. A very kind person answered a query I posted to a message board on Ancestry and posted a response that included a document in Serbian (Cyrillic) and translated his information for me as I do not know that language.
I appreciate any help in my search for Tomo and his family. I have heard family stories that he returned to his home in Bosnia at some point, possibly after World War II, and found his family had been sent to concentration camps and none of his family could be found. I have not found any record of him returning to Bosnia after the 1920 trip to the U.S. so am thinking he may have received this information from someone he knew or was related to his family that traveled to Bosnia. I have no information about any of his family except for his parents so am unable to identify any sources of information to check on these stories.
Thank you very much for responding to my posts.
I just replied in the SGS Section. It would be best if we continue there.
Regards,
Sergej