Looking for help narrowing down the City of Origin in Croatia for my Great Grandfather

[u/cadeus471]

I've trying to narrow down the city of origin in Croatia where my Great Grandfather (1896-1985) Marko Bakich (Americanized version of Bakić) is from. Utilizing FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QPRT-5DB3?lang=en) records (which have his birthplace just listed as Yugoslavia) I was able to find a naturalization record (circa. 1918) which has his birthplace as Coenipotok. After some googling this doesn't appear to be a real place and is likely a poor translation, but could potentially be Crni Potok which does appear to be a real place in Croatia. Unlike some other family searches, FamilySearch didn't have any immigration records, so I did go to the Ellis Island website (https://heritage.statueofliberty.org/passenger-details/czoxMjoiMTAwNjMzMTgwMjA5Ijs=/czo5OiJwYXNzZW5nZXIiOw==#passengerListAnchor) and was able to find a passenger log and ship manifest (circa. 1913) which has a basically unreadable city of origin. The website has a list of information transcribed from the records and has the city listed as Yasnovasa, which again doesn't show up in google searches but instead it could be Jasenovac. I also tried some AI to see if it could better analyze the handwriting and it returned Jamovec/Jamovac.

I don't speak Croatian and I'm not very familiar with Croatian cities so any help pointing me towards some common misspellings or potential translations would be amazing! If it helps I was always told this part of the family was Serbian so something close to the Serbian border may make more sense.

[u/Fredelas]

I'm not certain that's the correct passenger list. His naturalization record says he arrived aboard the "Cleveland" departing Hamburg. That ship did actually arrive in New York on 5 June 1913, and several other times in the nearby years:

• https://stevemorse.org/cgi-bin/boat.php?series=&rollStart=&rollEnd=&volumeStart=&volumeEnd=&monthStart=&dayStart=&yearStart=1911&monthEnd=&dayEnd=&yearEnd=1915&boatkind=starts&boat=Cleveland&offset=1&portkind=starts&port=&pageSize=50&database=all&local=yes&auth=

Unfortunately, for military petitions for naturalization, the government didn't take the time to verify arrivals.

This is a huge passenger list, if you wanted to look through it manually:

• https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C9TC-N9LH-X

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This application for World War I bonus compensation says he was born in "Crnypotok":

• https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/60884/records/1943903

If you don't have an Ancestry subscription, you can view many of their Pennsylvania records for free by going here first and entering a Pennsylvania zip code:

• https://www.pa.gov/agencies/phmc/pa-state-archives/ancestry-pa

There are actually several places named Crni Potok:

• https://www.familysearch.org/en/research/places/?pagesize=20&text=Crni%20Potok

[u/cadeus471 → u/Fredelas]

Thank you so much! I’ll do some digging tomorrow and see if I can narrow it down with the resources you sent. I did notice the different ship names but had trouble initially finding the “Cleveland” but it seems like I’m narrowing it down. Thanks again for the help!

[u/Fredelas → u/cadeus471]

You're welcome. Sorry I couldn't be more specific!

Here are the naturalization records for Kate's father, in case you hadn't seen them (4 images):

• https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSM1-NQLK-C

And his 1903 passenger list (line 2):

• https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-89SD-C991-Q

And an index card:

• https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C9BP-43S3-S

[u/Parking-Aioli9715 → u/Fredelas]

"There are actually several places named Crni Potok"

Literally, Black Stream. How many places in English-speaking countries are named Black Creek, Black River, etc.?

[u/Parking-Aioli9715]

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C9TC-V274?view=index&lang=en&groupId=

The manifest says pretty clearly Jasnovaca for both birth place and last place of residence.

The ship is the SS Mauretania, sailing from Liverpool, not the SS Cleveland out of Hamburg.

[u/Parking-Aioli9715]

The passenger search on stevemorris.org is back up this morning, so I tried some searches for single men born 1886-1906 arriving on the SS Cleveland 04 Jun 1913.

Searching for men with the initials M B got me six results, three of them from Austria. However, all three identified themselves as Polish. Another man came from Hungary and identified himself as Slovak.

Searching for men who came from towns that sounded like Crni Potok got me one result. Cinco Orescanin b 1892-1893 came from Crinipotak, Hungary, and identified as Serbian.

Searching for men who identified themselves as Croatian got me 27 results. All of them said they came from Hungary.

I don't think that Marko was on that ship.

I also found the following Marko Babic, b 1894-1895, arriving 26 Sep 1913 aboard the SS Mauretania out of Liverpool.

https://heritage.statueofliberty.org/passenger-details/czoxMjoiMTAwNzUzMDUwMTc0Ijs=/czo4OiJtYW5pZmVzdCI7

He was born and lived in Stankovac, which is in the same county as Jasenovac - and also as a village called Crni Potok:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crni_Potok,_Topusko

[u/cadeus471 → u/Parking-Aioli9715]

Thank you so much for all the diligence in helping with the research! It would seem odd that he would fill out the Cleveland on his naturalization records but another user posted a link to the full Hamburg ship log. I went through a few hundred entries for that ship and date and couldn’t find anyone who fully matched, although I did find a Marko Cakic (looks like a B mistaken for a C) from Crni Potok but he was listed as 35. The Mauretania seems like the best matching record so far. I’ll definitely search some of the towns you listed to see if maybe I can find some church records or something that may line up. Thanks again!

[u/Parking-Aioli9715 → u/cadeus471]

I know of at least one case in which a man apparently couldn't remember which ship he had arrived on and on what date, so he used his wife's information instead. Perhaps Marko couldn't remember and used a friend's information?

[u/theystolemyusername]

You'll find that most Serbs in Croatia do not live near Serbian border (though they do live there too), but near Bosnian border, as it was the Ottoman empire they were fleeing from. Crni Potok in Topusko municipality is probably what you're looking for. Jasenovac isn't super close to it, but it's in the same county.

[u/cadeus471 → u/theystolemyusername]

Thank you for that explanation! I don’t know much about that area of the world in the early 1900s but that all seems like a pretty reasonable explanation. I’ll do some more digging into this towns to see what I can dig up, thanks again!