Slovenian Home Land

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Work in progress. Please pardon the dust and inaccuracy.

General Area

Elizabeta Jordan's line hails from Eastern Slovenia nestled between Zagreb (capital of Croatia) and Liblijuana (capital of Slovenia). Nearer Zagreb, which is down river, and the Croatian border to the south and west. The towns in Eastern Slovenia are only 10 km from the border with what is now Croatia and less than 100 km from Trieste and the Adriatic Sea. This was the known, starting point. But discoveries since then have widened the scope of interest.

Šentjernej is the home of the Jordan and Baznik families and sits between two capitals. After the death of the parents, the kids were scattered to the grandmothers farm outside Šentjernej and to other relatives in Zagreb and Ljubljana. Eventually, four of the six Jordan girls were sent to America over a 6 year period. Karel and Marija sent to an Aunt in Ljubljana after which they married and settled near Rijeka and Novo Mesto as their joint business grew.

We now know the Košak and Filipić lines came from Gabrovka and Velike Rebrce around Zagradec. So the remembrance of Žužemberk by my mother was not too far off. Rogelj and Udović are from the Trebnje area. Specifically Rožni Vrh and Repiće. The map shown can be right clicked to see the image full screen.

Most reading this will not have had the opportunity to visit the homeland; either on their own or with the relatives born there. So I will try to bring in photos, maps and the like from visits to the area by relatives and myself. Some, like Karel Jordan and his family, visited almost every year once they were allowed back in. Betty Jordan Kosak went about once a decade with various groups — sisters, her kids and the like. I was a grand kid with her on one of those trips.

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Šentjernej

We had always been told by Elizabeth "Betty Kosak" Jordan that they were from Šentjernej. The town is fairly definable and was visited in the 1980's on the two trips with her kids. It is here where the family graves of Franciska Baznik and her mother Anna Turk and sister xxxxx are; as well now her son Karel, his wife Mela, and his son Eddo. Although Antonia Jordan declares her home town as Brevica, this name appears associated with a few villages in the area, including one within a kilometer of Šentjernej. In the close-in topo map of Šentjernej and after consulting the record books for the 17 and 1800's, we now untangle the names. The Jordans had a house in Gorenja Brecovica for over 100 years. With the mother to Josef Jordan (Anna Kuhar) coming from Roje nearby. Franćiška was born in Vrh near Šentjernej. The house that Elizabeta and a few younger ones would live in for a while with the grandmother after Franciska died. Anna Baznik nee Krhin had gotten the house from her mothers line (Anna Zonta) as the Krhin's were from Gradifhegor. Baznik's came from Loke near Krško.

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Trebnje

For many years, we have heard of the large family house in Trebnje. Betty clearly remembered being there a year before she emigrated and took us there in 1985 to see. And the family photo from the 1940's of Karel and Maria's families clearly depicted it in the background as shown here. It is so large that it is clearly visible from the satellite photos as well as depicted in structure on the topological map of the area. Using the Geopedia.si site again, we show you the general topo map of the area depicting the edge of Trebnje the town and the house. We also then zoom in and show the satellite view with the various directions the photos below are shown.

But according to Vlad Rus, the "castle" in Trebnje is simply a historical and well known destination for tourists and was never the home of Karel nor Maria and their families. They had the house in the smaller town xxxx nearby but in fact both Karel and Maria's families spent most of their time near Trieste and the coast in Rijeka. Ends up. Lilian's mother is from Trebnje. She says the "castle" has always been an apartment building. And that her father Karel put his brother Ignac and his family up there for a few years. Betty had stayed with them for a few months before she left for America. Guess maybe it was while they were living there then. As Betty left when she was 11, and was shuffled from her grandmothers house to different places and basically an orphan, she could have easily been confused by this.

But the area is still of significance after all. As it is where the Rogelj family came from. The father traveled to Cleveland in the 1880's to early 1890's. Meeting others and arranging for marriages to his daughters. Then his final trip back to the states in 1899 sees him bringing his daughter Josephine, first to Cleveland to meet family, then on to Montana to be married and where he had a land claim waiting for him.

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Zagradec near Žužemberk

With no real clue to discover the village, we find the Košak line is from an area known as Zagradec near Žužemberk. And also discover the mother is bron with the surname Filipić and from the same area.

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Sevni Name History

Some have asked how I came up with the name Sevni for my business venture of the '00s. The answer lies in this page as well.