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Anica (Zezelj) Alavanja (d. 1991) and Nicola Alavanja (d. 1942-45?) had two children Ljubo and Darinka. Darinka is my mother. Ljubo lives in Zagreb and I'll be going there in a few months and will pick his brain. My mother has a general history but can't remember names and I have no knowledge of my grandfathers history and family. I know Nicola Alavanja had at least 2 brothers and have discovered that the name is spread throughout the Zadar region. No one seems to have internet access/knowledge and without names and phone numbers I'm at a loss. Hope that helps somewhat. Lily
Posted : 19/02/2006 7:34 am
Alavanja and Zezelj are indeed from the Benkovac region in Dalmatia.
Some more info I found:
ALAVANJA-MIRANJE GORNJE I DONJE-SV.JOVAN
ALAVANJA-KASIC
ALAVANJA-KULA ATLAGIC
ALAVANJA- Perusic
Alavanja was also recorded in Ugljanu 1611 as Halavanja.
The highest density of people with this name is in the Benkovac region, some of them moved inside Croatia and Serbia. The name is most likely derived from a Turkish word.
What does EllisIsland tell you?
Regards,
Sergej
Posted : 20/02/2006 7:39 am
Topic starter
I'm Canadian and my parents came here via the St. Lawrence, via Bournemouth, UK and a Yugoslav shipping company. He was hired in the biggest gold mine in Canada . Didn't come through Ellis Island - so that's no help. I just received a hit from a chat site dedicated to Benkovac from a once-removed Uncle, living in Greensboro, North Carolina. Upshot, Anica had three sisters - Dara, Vidosava (Dmitars mother), Sofija and a brother Srbo. He gave me the info on their current children and grand-children. I' want to go further back though I have to say that was tons of excitement for one night. Still searching out the Alavanja side and the archived Zezelj side. Will look up the Ugljanu 1611 records. Is there a listing for local churches anywhere? What a fascinating job you have.
Lil
Posted : 20/02/2006 7:13 pm
Topic starter
More - Grapevine is telling me both my grandfathers were Todor Zezelj and Todor Alavanja. Both from Benkovacko Selo or Benkovac. More to work with.
Posted : 20/02/2006 9:42 pm
You can check this: http://www.eparhija-dalmatinska.hr
In time if you want attach a Gedcom or PAF file to this topic so I can get a better view and help you out with spellings etc.
Regards,
Sergej
Posted : 21/02/2006 5:30 pm
Topic starter
What is a Gedcom or PAF file?
Posted : 22/02/2006 12:51 am
PAF is a free genealogy programm created by the LDS Church that allows you to register your genealogical data. It has 2 options when you install it, with/without LDS features. We advice to use this one because it allows Unicode.
Gedcom is a international system, you can find more info on it in the article section under genealogy.
Regards,
Sergej
Posted : 23/02/2006 8:33 pm
Maybe this information will help you.
Sergej is also listed the places where Alavanja existed/existing, but I will post more information
Benkovačko Selo, Karin, Miranje, Kula Atlagić, Kašić, Perušić, Lišane Tinjske, Islam Grčki - Patron Saint Sv. Jovan, Sv. Lazar
Furthermore, try to ask about surname Alavanja and about your ancestors on this forum:
http://p090.ezboard.com/fbenkovackoguvnofrm2?page=1
Maybe their parents or grandfathers have some useful information.
Bye,
Branimir
Posted : 01/03/2006 8:10 pm
Yes, I am working with the webmaster to update the system for our surname database. We have a couple of hundred of names in there and still need to add like 120.000 surnames with info (-D
Regards,
Sergej
Posted : 01/03/2006 9:49 pm