These are the Gavranovićs at the edges of the documented family, names we have, lives we don’t. If you recognize one, or descend from them, you may hold the missing piece. Each profile lists what is known and the single record that would close the gap.
What we know
Nothing yet. Ivan was born around 1875 near Prijedor and Frantiska around 1871, but the names of their fathers and mothers, the first Gavranović generation in Bosnia, are entirely undocumented. Frantiska’s maiden name, Sojak, hints at a Czech background.
What would solve it
Ivan’s 1918 Declaration of Intention (Austin County, Texas) should name his parents and birth village. Failing that, Catholic baptismal registers from the Prijedor parish, held by the Diocese of Banja Luka, would record his 1875 baptism and name his parents and godparents.
Do you know this generation? →What we know
Franz was the eldest child of Ivan and Frantiska, born in Bosnia around 1893. He appears on the 1907 SS Hannover manifest, age 14, emigrating with the family, then disappears from the record entirely. He was not previously known to family research.
The question
Did he marry? Did he have children? A Frank Gavranović is recorded as having died in 1919 and being buried at Frydek, which would make him 26, and the 1918–20 influenza pandemic a possible cause. Separately, a Frank Gavranović married Christina Lezak in 1926. Are these the same man, or two different people?
Do you descend from Franz? →What we know
Charles “Chas.” Gavranović appears among the mourners from Hungerford, Texas at Ivan’s 1934 funeral, a name that had never surfaced in the family’s papers before. He is almost certainly a close relative, most likely a brother who emigrated separately, or possibly a nephew.
What would solve it
His own records, census (1920, 1930, 1940, 1950), a draft card, a death certificate, an obituary, would establish his birth year, birthplace, and parents, and confirm exactly how he connects to Ivan. Hungerford is in Wharton County, so he should appear in Wharton County records.
Are you from the Hungerford line? →What we know
Mihal (Michael) Gavranović is named on the 1907 manifest as Ivan’s nearest relative in the country left behind, his brother, who stayed in Prijedor when the family sailed for Texas. The Gavranović name still lives in Prijedor today.
The question
Did Mihal have children? What became of his line through two world wars, the Yugoslav era, and the 1990s? An Ivo Gavranović born 1892 in Surkovac, near Prijedor, may be his son. If you are a Gavranović in or from the Prijedor area, we would love to know if we are cousins.
Are you from the Prijedor Gavranovićs? →Even a fragment, a town, a date, a family story, can reconnect a branch that’s been separated for over a century.
Add what you know →