Letters from Slovenia

 

Grandson of Teja and Alphonz Princic, Luka Komic, and Mary Lou Egan

 

Letter from May 5th, 1948 

“Dearest Brother Andrew,

Thank God we received your letter – we were so happy.” Apparently the families lost touch during the war and my grandpa had trouble locating them. This seems to have been their first contact since before World War II.  

Grandpa's sister was named Alojiza, (Louise) and she was married to Anton Korsic. The family's home was burned by the Nazis and they moved to the nearby town of Steverjan, which had been awarded to Italy. Each day, they had to cross a checkpoint and show their visas to work in their own vineyards in Gornje Cerovo. Two of her sons were killed during World War II.
“Dreya, I’m telling you that we are now the last of this family. I had six boys and one girl, and now I have four boys and one girl. My health is not good because of the war.”  

Two subsequent letters included photos of the family and talks about each person. Alojiza promised to write and hoped that he would too. She hoped to get her children to write also. The last letter dates from 1957.

That's the end of the correspondence, but not the end of the story. 

With hard work, the independence of Slovenia, and the European Union, the family was able to open a tavern, osteria gostilna korsic, now famous for its food, wine and hospitality. On the "History" tab on their website, is the photo of
Alojiza's family, and the answer to many questions about grandpa's family.

 

Extended family at the osteria gostilna korsic

 

Another visit with family

On Sunday, July 21, we again traveled to the church of St. Nicholas in Gornje Cerovo to attend Mass. Afterward, we went to the home of Aristeja and Alphonz Princic, and they prepared a meal for us. The meal was exquisite, with homemade soup, fresh greens and fruit, roast pork and potatoes and two kinds of pastry dessert. Anja and Petra had gone to Croatia for their scheduled vacation, so our driver, Ziga, was pressed into service to translate. He was also commanded to "Sit. Eat."

Then, out came the wine and the photos. Julie, Teresa and I were taking pictures of the photos with our iPhones, Ziga was translating and we were scribbling furiously. I was delighted to see that they had many of the same photos that were kept in the piano bench in the home in Globeville. 

Photo that hangs on the wall in Teja and Fonze's home

 

Our copy of the same photo 

 Fonze and cousins discussing the people in the photos

A grandson of Teja and Fonze, Luka, arrived. Luka is about twenty years old and can speak, read and write in English, so I asked if he could translate the letters I had brought with me. He graciously obliged and read three letters that were written in Slovenian: from 1948, 1949 and 1957.  More. . .

Eastern European hospitality

Whenever we would visit my grandparents in Globeville, we would leave with cookies, home-made bread and leftovers. Mom said it was that Eastern European hospitality, and it was something we got to experience for ourselves in Gornje Cerovo. 

 

Cousin Petra Korsic, Teresa Dreiling, Davoren Korsic,
Mary Lou Egan, Russ Markowski and Julie Von Lintel
in front of St. Nicholas in Gornje Cerovo

After Mass on Sunday, July 14, and visiting with relatives and most of the village, we went to the home of Petra and Anja's parents, Davoren and Bozica where they were preparing to feed us.
There were glasses of their home-made red and white wines, a salad of tomatoes, spinach and basil - all from their garden. More wine, a fantastic soup, crusty home-made bread, fresh peaches, apricots and a pastry that featured cherries from their orchards. The fresh fruit and vegetables were such an intense sensation.
We walked around a bit to let the first layer of food settle and to hear a bit about the history of this beautiful area.

 

View from the deck of the Korsic home

 

Gornje Cerovo has a Mediterranean climate

Visiting Slovenia, July 2019

We began planning our trip in February and picked two weeks in the middle of July as the date all of us could go. We also met with my cousin, Ginny, a historian and museum curator, who had done a great deal of genealogy work on the Jakins and had names and birth dates of my grandfather’s brothers and sisters. Julie and Teresa contacted their cousins, Petra and Anja, who live in Ljubljana, hoping they could meet us there. Petra and Anja replied that they would delay their family vacation in Croatia to meet with us while we were in Ljubljana. Armed with genealogy information, we made our travel arrangements and hoped for the best.
We arrived in the capitol city late on Saturday evening, July 13 and received a text from Petra and Anja that they would be picking us up for Mass at 7:30 am the next morning! Introductions were made and we snuggled into a seven passenger Toyota for the trip to Gornje Cerovo, some 80 miles away. The cousins, Petra, Anja, Julie and Teresa recalled stories of their family: of an Aunt Lucille who visited Slovenia from Colorado in the 1980s, an Uncle Remigij who traveled to America during the 1970s, and of sixteen-year-old Petra’s vacation in Colorado in 1991. I listened to their memories while taking in the astounding countryside - green, dense forests, mountains, streams, hillsides dotted with villages and church spires. 

 

Lush countryside near Gornje Cerovo

I brought a folder with me, with the 1902 postcards from the Korsic family in Gornje (Upper) Cerovo to Johan Korsic and Andrej Jakin in Globeville, Kolorado. I included letters to Andrej from his sister Aloiza, dated 1948, and 1951, that were in Slovenian. I also had receipts of the money that Andrej sent to his family in “the old country,” the last one from 1920. And photos of Andrej Jakin. 
We arrived in Gornje Cerovo at 9:30 am and the small St. Nicholas Church was full. I was thrilled to hear Mass in my grandpa’s church and to walk in his village. The Mass was an annual memorial Mass for a cousin, Neva, who was killed in a car accident in 1995, so many family members were in attendance. Petra and Anja introduced all of us and I showed my photos and postcards - Ah! family. Introductions, smiles and hugs all around. An older couple, Aristeja and Alfonz Princic, lived next to the church and motioned us to come over - they were very interested in the stuff in my folder. They didn’t speak English, but asked us to return next Sunday where they would prepare a meal and bring out their photos. Although many of the younger family members speak English, most of the older people did not, but welcomed us into their homes....

 St. Nicholas Church in Gornje Cerovo
photo courtesy of Dejan Valentincic

Inside St. Nicholas Church in Gornje Cerovo

 

Side Altar in St. Nicholas Church

Aristeja and Alphonz (Fonze) Princic in Gornje (Upper) Cerovo

 

Finding Andrej Jakin

Everyone in Globeville called my grandpa “Andy Jackson.” He and my grandma lived in a small house on Sherman Street in the shadow of I-70, with its constant traffic, noise, vibration, and dirt. Nearby meatpacking plants provided both jobs and a stench that would keep residents indoors, even during the summer. 
But their tiny back yard was a bulwark against its gritty, industrial surroundings. There were cherry, pear and peach trees, and grape vines that wound along a fence. Raspberry bushes and strawberry plants were arranged in tidy sections, and beans, peas, cucumbers, and tomatoes climbed a hand-made trellis. There were phlox, dahlias, roses, daisies, pansies, violets, geraniums and the exotic oleander that grandpa carefully coaxed in Colorado’s arid climate. Chickens aggressively ate the feed grandma scattered from her apron and dutifully provided handsome brown eggs. Grandpa said it was just like his home in “the old country,” a magical place with vineyards, orchards and olive groves. I loved listening to his stories, but was too young to ask him more meaningful questions about his growing up or his family. When he died in 1961, it was the end of that world. My grandma died in 1967 and all the stories evaporated.
But there were photos in the piano bench, some labeled, some mislabeled and many with no identification. There were postcards from family in Goriza, Cerovo and St. Florian from 1902 to 1906 to Johan Korsic and Andrej Jakin, who shared the same address on Watervliet Street in Globeville. Copies of receipts show that money was sent to family back home, and there were a few surviving letters from relatives in Slovenia.

Andrej and Ida Jakin are best man and maid of honor
in the 1906 wedding of Leopold and Teresa Korsic.

 

1906 postcard to Johan Korsic and Andrejo Jakin in Globeville 

 Money sent to relatives in Cerovo, Slovenia 1902

My husband Russ and I attend Holy Rosary Church and that is where we met sisters Julie and Teresa, whose maiden name is Korsic. This led to many discussions about our families. Leopold Korsic and Andrej Jakin were close friends who arrived the same year (1902) from the same town (Gornje Cerovo) in what was then Austria Hungary. Both settled and worked in Globeville, raised their families in the neighborhood and attended Holy Rosary Church. Korsics were able to maintain contact with their family in “the old country,” whereas the Jakin family lost touch after the Germans burned their home during World War II. 
For several years we joked about going to Slovenia and finding out more about our background. The more we talked, the more real the idea seemed. Julie and Teresa renewed their contacts with the Korsics in Slovenia and plans were made to visit in July 2019. More to come...