The St. Louis Genealogical Society
recently had the pleasure of helping Branko Stivic locate his ancestors in the
St. Louis area and in Chicago. It was a rewarding experience for us and for
Branko, who was fulfilling a request from his mother, Barbara Stivic née
Blumenschein, to find out what happened to her sister, Marika. What we found
was thrilling for his mother and for Branko.
Spurred by his mother’s request,
Branko emailed the St. Louis Genealogical Society from Croatia at the end of
March of this year. He said he worked as a park ranger in the Park Maksimir in
Zagreb, the capital city of Croatia. He was going to attend the 8th
International Ranger Federation World Ranger Congress in Colorado, in May, and
was planning to come to St. Louis the first week of June for a couple of days.
Branko requested our help in finding information about the Blumenschein family
that were at one time in St. Louis.
He
told us that his mother’s grandfather Karlo Blumenschein met and married his
wife Barbara (Hummel) in St. Louis. They had eight children, including a
daughter named Marika, who was born here. Karlo’s brother, Peter, had a shoe
repair store at 4383 Natural Bridge Avenue in St. Louis. Karlo and his wife
Barbara returned to Croatia, where they are buried. Marika Blumenschein came
back to the U.S. and married a man named Glazer. Then the family lost track of
her.
A
team of volunteers at StLGS began to assist Branko even before he arrived at
our office. Using online sources first, Viki Fagyal found a death certificate,
passenger manifest, censuses, and street directories for Peter within a few
hours. Viki also found notices of Karlo and Barbara’s marriage and Peter’s
death in newspapers.
When
Branko arrived at the office, we printed out several documents for him and then
Ed Dolata, Kathy Franke, and I took him to the Missouri History Museum Library
and Research Center. Ed had contacted Molly Kodner, an archivist there, who
assisted us with finding maps to show where Peter Blumenschein had his shoe
repair shop on Natural Bridge. We also found information in the street
directories for both Peter and Karl Blumenschein.
The next day, Bob Goode and I took
Branko to the History and Genealogy Department at St. Louis County Library
Headquarters, where we found the marriage certificate for his
great-grandparents, Karl Blumenschein and Barbara Hummel. We then visited the
Croatian Catholic Church in Soulard and toured some of the streets that we had
identified in the street directories.
After Branko went back to Croatia,
out of curiosity about his family history, I found the immigration record for
Marika Blumenschein, who came back to America in 1928. She listed her uncle,
Peter Blumenschein, as her destination. I also found census records for her and
her husband, who were living in Chicago in 1940.
On
a whim, I decided to check out the public family trees posted on Ancestry.com,
and this is where I found Judith Blochowitz, the daughter of Frank, the oldest
son of Peter and Marika/Maria/Mary Glazer. I contacted Judith, and now she and
Branko are communicating, sending family pictures to each other, and eager to
learn about their family in America and in Croatia. Judith was very excited to
hear of her Croatian family. She had recently completed a DNA study on Ancestry
hoping to find her Croatian ancestors!
Karen Goode
Branko speaks and writes some
English, which made helping him a bit easier. Although we are not in the habit
of doing genealogy for our members, we do pitch in when visitors arrive from
Europe and are not familiar with our records and repositories. Branko was
delighted with the success he had and it was wonderful to meet him and to
reunite him with his American relatives.
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