Zdravo Miroslav,
I will keep it in English because we have a large diaspora that wants this information as well and most of them don’t speak Serbian. But if you have questions Serbian is fine for me as well.
I did encounter the surnames Jovanić and Jakšić in the books of Ervenik. Most likely their data is recorded in the books of Sveti Nikola in Ervenik. Now from what I know from the area is that families did move around a bit, some families from Slovenia moved there are as well. The problem is that during the last war, warring parties managed to blow up most of the data during fighting so the books that I am consulting now are not complete. There are big gaps. I dont know if you live in Serbia, but if you live in Croatia the LDS church has a Family History Library center where you can request a copy or extract from these microfilms.
As to origins, the books list the following information:
* Date and time of birth with new and old calendar date,
* Place of birth,
* Priest/Docter present,
* Name of child,
* Name of the parents,
* If the child was born in wedlock,
* If not born in wedlock reason why; lot of cases one of the two was too young to get married,
* Name of witnesses,
* Name + date of christening and church name,
I must say that the info I encountered so far was pretty complete and in a good state. The recorded info is clear and there is no “discrimination” when it came to children being born in wedlock or not. You should know some countries in those day’s also recorded that info but simply stated “Bastard” or “child of a whore”. I am happy that the Genealogical Society of Utah microfilmed in Croatia. I only hope they will in Serbia as well in the future because it will preserve our heritage.
As for Oton, I will see if I encounter people born there. Most likely though everything that is in the vicinity of Ervenik is mentioned as Ervenik Donj. in the books. An interesting thing as well is to note that some Serbs in absence of a Orthodox Church recorded their info in Catholic books and churches. So if you plan to do research there I would advice consulting all sources, mainly because of the volatile history and that a lot of documents have been lost.
