Here’s what I know:
My great-grandfather was John Petrovich (Ivan Petrović prior to migration). He was born in 1884 in or around Ljubuški. He departed from Trieste to come to the U.S. with siblings Jakov, Petar, and Jozo in 1907.
In the U.S., he settled in Jersey City, NJ and married Stanislawa Siemientowska (anglicized Loretta “Lottie” Simikousky). They had four kids: Theodore, Pauline, John Jr., and Joseph. My grandfather is Joseph.
He lived ~40 years in Jersey City, working for the Erie Railroad, before passing away in December 1953. His funeral was held at a Catholic Church, but it should be noted that there was no Serbian Orthodox Church in Jersey City at the time and his wife was likely Catholic, being Polish.
While a lot of these facts point toward his family being Catholic Croats, I was always told that they were Serbs. I would love to find any record of the family prior to their arrival in New York. I know I won’t be able to find a ton, but I would love to find something that tells me more about the family, their ethnicity, occupations, reason for emigrating, etc.
