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I would like to locate the birthplace of my (now deceased) grandmother. I was told the name of the town was something like Galena or Glina. She was born in 1911 in what I believe was called the Kingdom of Serbia (She always said she was born in Serbia) which then became Yugoslavia. I don't know in what country it is now and would like to know.
If any of this information is helpful...Her maiden name was Karapandza, and her family were Eastern Orthodox. She came to the US in 1921.
Posted : 09/10/2015 1:36 am
Have you considered Glina, Croatia?
Posted : 10/10/2015 11:08 pm
Topic starter
Thank you for your reply. This is my first attempt to find any place that sounded like Galena or Glina. I'm surprised to find it in Croatia as Grandma always said she was from Serbia. But I do see that Serbs lived there...I'll do a little more digging.
Posted : 11/10/2015 1:12 am
Topic starter
I suspect my grandmother was born in Glina, Croatia. She was a Serb, Eastern Orthodox, born in March 1911, named Draga or Dragica Karapandza. Does anyone have access to this kind of record who could tell me that this was her place of birth?
Posted : 11/10/2015 1:15 am
According to New York, Passenger Lists, 1820-1957 she was listed as Croatian (Dragiga Karapandza). Have you seen that list? She is featured on 2 passenger lists, one for inquiry with little information and the actual passenger list with a bit more info.
Go look for the passenger list of SS Aquitania, sailing from Cherbourg (left on 4 June 1921).
Her last residence was Dragatine (I couldn't find it on a quick search, might be misspelled) and her uncle still lived there apparently (Davoria Nikola). They might have moved there at some point.
The difficulty with old place names is that in that geographical region place names have been changing over the last 150 years and villages might have completely vanished.
I am not researching in Croatia, so I won't be of much help unfortunately.
Good luck finding your roots 
Posted : 11/10/2015 10:54 am
Topic starter
Thank you for directing me here. I had done some ancestry.com research long ago and I didn't notice that it said Croatian as my grandmother's nationality. I know they were Serbs. The 1930 census says her father speaks Serbian. The birthplace I have for her father is Dragstina, Yugoslavia. (Very similar to the Dragatine listed on her passenger list entry) I couldn't find that town on Google Mpas either, but it did pop up in an old draft card listing for her father.
Is there a common reason a Serbian would claim to be a Croatian or Ellis Island to make this mistake?
Posted : 11/10/2015 4:07 pm
yours grandma have 2 brothers Milan(born cca 1919 y) and Jovo(born cca 1903y) Karapandza, mother is Slava Karapandza, uncle is Davoric Nikola from croatia
Posted : 07/02/2016 12:04 pm