My grandfather Andrej Bole was born in Koce, Slovenia 6 October 1886. His parents were Jakob Bole & Joana Zagar. He immigrated to the U.S. in 1903 and settled in Cleveland, OH where he married Ana Obreza. They produced 2 children, Andrew and Anna. Andrew was my father.

I am looking for relatives in Slovenia either on the Bole or the Zagar side. Andrej had a sister Martha, married name Koss. She also immigrated to the U.S. I believe that he had a brother who died young in Slovenia. There are several Bole's and Zagar's in the Slovenian phonebook; but since I do not speak the language; I do not know how to contact them. I have the Bole genealogy going way back from the Priest in Koce.

>There are several Bole's and Zagar's in the Slovenian >phonebook; but since I do not speak the language; I do not >know how to contact them. I have the Bole genealogy going >way back from the Priest in Koce.

I'd suggest writing to the addresses from the Slovenian phonebook. Write in English, even if the old folks can't read it there will be younger family members who can. Include your genealogy (with house numbers or house names if known) starting with you back through the family from that area. Include aunts, uncles or cousins from the genealogy if you have them since they may not know your main line of ancestors but could recognize a related branch. This also tells them who you are in relation to their family even if they can't read the letter. I did this and one of the recipients was the gggranddaughter of my grandfather's godmother in 1892. She was intrigued to see her ancestor's name and the family house name in an unknown person's family tree and we made contact. She knew everyone else and we're invited for another visit next year. Don't be discouraged if you don't get a lot of replies. I sent out 26 letters and got 2 replies but both were right on target. I found out that many of the other letters went to close family members and they all talked together about these strange letters they'd received but didn't respond to me. They let the curious family member respond for all.
Ron

Thanks Ron.

I just reread an old letter from my Aunt; and it has the married name of my great-aunt; who married and had two children in Slovenia before coming to the U.S. She was my Grandfather's sister. He had a brother; who died young; but I don't know his name.

I am glad that you had positive response to your letters. That is funny about them talking about it, but not answering. Did you enclose return postage? It has been suggested that I do that.

Thanks for answering. I'm just getting interested in this again; after many years of neglecting it. When I did my research, the internet did not exist. I am having someone translate my Grandmother's baptism record; and am anxious to find out what it says, as I can't make heads of tails out of it! I usually am good with languages and Grandpa's is very easy to decipher.

Wendy, I didn't include return postage but I included my phone number, home address and email address. Both replies to my letters were via email. When I visited Slovenia last year I was very surprised at the number of homes with computers. One reply was in Slovenian and the other in English. I did have one other reply in person. I sent my letters in two groups six months apart. When I sent the second group I already had plans to stay at a pension in Slovenia and included that address and dates of residence as well as my home/email address and phone number. An old man came at breakfast the third morning and said he was the relative of my great uncle and had one of my letters. I had to get one of my younger 3rd cousins to translate but it turned out the old man was my closest living relative on that side of the family. He knew we were related because I'd also sent copies of old family photos of my grandfather and two of his brothers. The old man recognized the photo of my great uncle. He had never known the rest of the family since most died before he was born and my grandfather was in America when he was born. When I replied to you the first time I had forgotten I sent the pictures. My letter package consisted of two papers with one page having my introductory letter on the front and family pictures on the back. The other page had my family tree chart on the front with my grandfather's Slovenian birth document on the back.
Good luck,
Ron

Ron,

Thanks again. I had already thought of sending photos and copies of the Baptism/Birth records. I also thought of the e-mail address, just before I found your last message.

How did you make any sense out ot the Slovenian addresses in the phone book?

It has been almost 100 years since my grandfather left Slovenia; but maybe someone will be familiar with the family names.

I am looking forward to locating some family who is still left over there. My grandparents met and married here and were from 2 different villages. So, if I make a trip; I have to go to both places!

Wendy, Here is the address format. This address is from the Slovenian on-line telephone directory.

Adolf Bole
Koce 41
6258 Prestranek, Slovenia

alternate format (I've used both successfully)

Adolf Bole
Koce 41
SI-6258 PRESTRANEK
SLOVENIA, EUROPE

The second form is that used by my Slovenian relatives as their return address. I used the first form for my original inquires. Slovenia is a very small country, approximately 175 miles E/W and 75 miles N/S at the widest points. Even if both villages were at opposite points in the country it's conceivable to visit one in the morning and the other in late afternoon and spend several hours at each in one day. Give writing a try the worst they can do is ignore you.

Here's an alternative way to write. Go to:
http://www.najdi.si/emails/ Put in the surname you're looking for in the box and click the red button. You'll get email addresses for those surnames in Slovenia. There are numerous listings for surnames Bole/Obreza/Zagar. My experience is that most will not reply but those that do will be fluent in English and even if not related may be able to assist you in small ways just to be friendly.
Good luck,
Ron

Ron,

Thanks again! I printed out those addresses and phone numbers from the Slovenian phonebook; but I couldn't understand how to write them out on an envelope. Thanks also for the e-mail addresses. None of them seemed to match up with the people in the villages that I am looking at. I may try one of two e-mails just to see what happens. I'm sure the younger people there move to the cities for jobs also. I'm glad you found that for me; I would never be able to read it!

I am getting excited about contacting some distant relative. All of this was not possible before Slovenia became independent in 1991 and also before the internet. Most of my research was done before the internet; so now I am taking what I already now and trying to expound on it.

I went in to the Ellis Island site last night; and saw something I had not seen before. I have not brought up the larger version of the actual ship manifest before. It shows you where they were going once they got to the U.S. and had names and sometimes addresses. I saw that my grandmother was going to her uncle in WV. I knew that she first went to WV; and the uncle's last name was familiar although I would not have been able to spell it. She was also traveling with another young person with that last name; who must have been a cousin. So, more pieces to the puzzle are starting to fit together.

Wendy, depending on the manifest form used the large original manifest can also tell you where they last resided before coming to U.S. as well as the address of their closest relative and the place they were born. Often the manifests have two pages so check for that as well.
Ron

Ron,

That's what I found last night. I think that I had only looked at the text version previously; and that does not give as much information. I tried printing out the larger version; and I only got one section of the page. Maybe, I should print the small version and see if I can read it with a magnifier. I lose my place going across the line. It is interesting that they traveled in small groups of people from the same village. The one for my grandmother; I only saw the second half of th page. The page with her name on it did not appear. I know which line she is on. Should I go back to the previous page? Is it worth paying for a copy from Ellis Island Foundation?

I just drafted up a letter to send to Slovenia. Now, I have to make copies of photos and forms, etc. I'm glad I have a FAX/Copier. I can't send my original documents through there; but I can send a copy. The originals are in bad shape.

My husband's grandmother was Maria Bole from Koce. She married Anton Penko, originally from Slavina, Slovenia (the next village). Her Passenger List says Maria's father was Anton Bole. We visited Koce and Slavina last spring. We met some of the Penko cousins, but didn't find a link to any of the Boles (except someone pointed out where her house probably used to be).

I was really interested to read that you had Bole genealogy from a priest there. Does it appear that our "Maria Bole" is part of that same family? Any information would be greatly appreciated.