Workbook · PDF · Genealogy

Finding Your Croatian Ancestors

Before you can apply for citizenship, you have to prove who you're descended from. This workbook walks you through tracing your Croatian family line, starting with the free resources I used to find mine.

$24 Get the workbook

Who it's for

You know the family is Croatian. You don't yet know the village, the dates, or the names as they were spelled back then.

Most people start with a surname and a story. This workbook gets you from there to a documented line, the ancestor's full name, birthplace and dates, which is exactly what the citizenship application needs. It includes my own family's story, starting from a photo taken around 1913.

What's inside

  • — Eight steps in order: start at home, find the village, find the parish, where the records are, search online, request the record, read the record, domovnica and zavičajnost
  • — Which records in the US, Canada, Argentina and Australia name the exact place your ancestor came from
  • — Free online searches first: FamilySearch's Croatian church books and the State Archives catalogue
  • — Two ready-to-send Croatian letters, one for a parish office and one for an archive, with English translations
  • — Reading old registers: Latin and Croatian key words, month names, and the spelling traps
  • — Worksheets: an Ancestor Profile per person, a village-and-parish finder, a research log and a records request tracker

When you hit the wall

Some records can only be found in person. That's what Boots on the Ground is for.

Once you've done what can be done remotely, I can go to the registry office or archive in Croatia and look for the record myself. From $129.

How Boots on the Ground works

Next step

Found your ancestor? The Complete Guide takes it from here.

Eligibility, apostilles, translations, submission and the wait, with addendums for Canada, Australia, Argentina, New Zealand and Chile.

See the guide, $19