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I posted this information in the General forum before but felt this forum might be a better place for it. Thank you for your patience with a new member here.
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, 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 dont know if you read my other post with regard to the differences in dates. They are being caused because the Serbian Orthodox Church still uses the Julian Calendar, but the State uses the new Gregorian calendar.
As for the camps. There were internment camps in Europe prior to World War II. Petrovac has been hit heavily during the last civil war: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Petrovac,+Bosnia+and+Herzegovina/ @44.1884181,16.8493857,8z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x47608c9728827be3:0xaf5919fa055b5138
Did you request already documents from Ellis Islands? If so did you get the data above from those documents?
Regards,
Sergej
Hello Sergej,
Yes, I have passenger records from the National Archives for the two known trips to the United States. Those records gave me the information about Tomo's father's name, Nikola, which one of his daughters' provided to me through her bible records. His wife was named as Mary or Maria Dukowatts (Anglicanized, I believe) or Dukovac. I only speak English so cannot read the records given to me by a very kind person who found records of Tomo's baptism and his military service during World War I.
Thank you for helping me.