detail from: KRK Art dizajn

TRACES OF MY ORIGIN

SIMO JELAČA

Where are our roots?

Based on the statements of historians, as Slavs, we moved to the Balkan Peninsula from the area between the Elbe and Vistula rivers, in the seventh century. Constantine Porphyrogenitus (905-959) writes that the Slavs moved here with the permission of Emperor Heraclius (610-641). Further origins indicate that we moved from Iran, from the part called ‘’White India’’.

From the data on the dynasties of the rulers of the Yugoslav peoples, we find that Stefan Dragutin, the Serbian king (1276-1282), son of King Stefan Uroš I, grandson of Stefan the First-Crowned and great-grandson of Stefan Nemanja, had to abdicate the throne in 1282, due to the misfortune that befell him when he fell from his horse near the town of Jelača, during which he crippled his leg. Also, that Despot Stefan Lazarević was married to the Byzantine princess of Jelača, and Vuk Branković with his wife Milica Jelača is also mentioned. In the same Dynasties of Rulers we further find that Strfan Tomašević, Despot of Serbia (1459-1461) and King of Bosnia (1461-1463), was married to the daughter of Despot Lazar Branković, Jelena Mara Jelača, on 1 April 1459. After the execution of Stefan, Mara lived until 1498. Jelena Mara Jelača's sister was Irina, called Prokleta Jerina, married to Jovan Kastriot, son of Skanderbeg.

Some surnames of medieval Serbia were modified, such as the Bunjevac Jelačić renamed Jelača. There is information that Jelača families originating from Herzegovina, as refugees from Kosovo, have been found. The settlement of Serbs in Bosnia began during the reign of Emperor Dušan, from 1305 to 1351, and continued for the next three hundred and fifty years. Dr. Jovan Erdeljanović, in his book “On the Origin of the Bunjevci” published by the Serbian Royal Academy in 1930, discusses in detail the origin of one of the largest Yugoslav tribes, the Bunjevci. He states that numerous Orthodox families were converted to Catholicism around 1700. This conversion was systematic and long-lasting. Hence, to this day, numerous families in Lika are of both Catholic and Orthodox faith. Dr. Erdeljanović lists in alphabetical order about 500 Bunjevac families, including the Jelačićs, who he claims date back to the 13th, 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, while there is also information for numerous families that they originate from the 17th and 18th centuries. For the Jelačićs, he lists 112 Bunjevac families, who converted to Catholicism and kept their surname. Dr. Erdeljanović states that there were about 400 thousand Bunjevacians, of whom 250 thousand lived in Dalmatia, about 50 thousand in Lika and about 100 thousand in the Danube region. On page 119 of his book, Dr. Erdeljanović cites the Orthodox families of the Jelačićs and Jelačas from Lika and Dalmatia, who he states lived in Đevrske, Kistanje and Varivode.

From Jovan Cvijić's publication ''Settlements and Origin of the Population'', published by the Serbian Royal Academy, 1925, on page 345 he states that the Jelača (12 houses) lived in the village of Zakopane, near Bjelajsko Polje, and on page 346 he cites 17 Jelača houses that celebrated St. George's Day. In the part of the book where he discusses the settlements of the Krupa district, Jovan Cvijić lists all the families in detail by the places where they lived. Among others, he mentions 5 Jelača houses that moved to Jasenica from Zaklopac (Lika) in 1865, who celebrate St. George's Day. These are our Jelača. He also cites the Majkići, from Majkić Japra, where my mother came from, who also celebrated St. George's Day.

When I visited Varivode and Kistanje in 2014, I found a house in Varivode, built of stone, even its roof is made of stone slabs. It was marked Jelača. The yard of that house was surrounded by two or three houses, also made of stone. And a little further from those houses, I met and got to know the then resident Milan Jelača, in a new house, who was staying there temporarily, on vacation, while he lived in Australia. Next to Milan's house and his first neighbors, there are also the parents of Dalibor Jelača, who lives in Rijeka, and in Varivode they have a vineyard, which they cultivate every year. Both of them told me the history of Varivode, as they knew it.

Where we came from

According to the information of Petar Jelača, our close relative and my sister Sava, a widow named Jela Jelača lived in Varivode, with five sons and two daughters. It is estimated that Jela was born around 1730. We have no information about Jela's children's names, except for the second son in order of birth, who was named Ilija, and for whom we have come across information that he was very strong. He was married to a very beautiful woman in Varivode. During one summer's grain harvest, it happened that a Turkish Beg came by, with an entourage that protected him. Seeing that handsome young woman, he raped her, in front of all the harvesters present. Injured, her husband vowed to kill that assailant, the Beg, and not long after, he fulfilled his oath. He killed Beg, and to avoid the revenge of the Turks, the whole family fled to Lika. Information shows that they fled to the area of today's Gospić and Gračac. Jela's son Ilija was born somewhere between 1755 and 1757. He soon moved to Bosnia, and according to information he stayed for a short time near Bosanski Novi, and then settled in the village of Benakovac. Other information indicates that their son Gajo was born there. There is no information about Gajo when he was young, where he lived until he grew up and became an adult, when he moved to Jasenica, a neighboring village to Benakovac, where Ilija settled.

Milan Berić told me several times that his grandmother, married to Jelača, told him that the Jelačes were from Varivode.

According to the information in the book by Jovan Cvijić from 1925, it appears that Gajo moved to Jasenica around 1795. Upon arriving in Jasenica, Gajo found the empty house of the Crnobrnja family and temporarily stayed in. He spent the night there, and then soon set off on foot to Bihać, to the dervish Biščević, to ask him for permission to move into that house, which he found empty. At that time, the dervish was having a wedding, so Gajo had to wait three days and hide in the nearby forests. And when he was spotted, he received permission from the dervish Biščević to move into the Crnobrnja house, with the order that he would have to pay the Turks a third of all income, and he was given land as far as he could throw a stone. There are stories about Gajo, our ancestor, who went on foot to Oplenac for the wedding of King Petar Karađorđević, when he married the daughter of Prince Nikola Petrović. Another story refers to his journey on foot to Constantinople, to pay homage to the Nadbeg. It is mentioned that the journey took him 60 days.

When Gajo stabilized, he soon married a girl from the Steković family from Japra. Since Gajo was literate and the first to move to Jasenica, we consider him the ancestor of the Jelača family. Gajo had sons Trivun and Spaso and daughters Deva and Trivuna. The second son, Spaso, married Ruža, with whom he had a son, Jovo (this is our grandfather). Jovo and his wife Marija had three sons: Đuro, Lazo and Dušan and a daughter, Sava. Lazo is our father. Đuro and Lazo resided in America, and Đuro became an American citizen and served in the army in America. I have mostly noted the years of their births and deaths from tombstones. We, the children of Laza and Milka, née Majkić, are: Marija, Sava, Jovo and Simo. I will leave out the other relatives, I will only mention the names of our daughters and their children, our heirs. My daughters are Anastazia and Maja, and my grandchildren are Aleksandar and Daniel, sons of Anastazia, and Sofija and Marko, children of Maja. I have mentioned them all on other occasions.

My Father's Experiences in America

Our grandfather Jovo and grandmother Marija sent their eldest son Đuro to America, to avoid serving in the army for Austria, and also to earn the money needed to build a house. They never even mentioned sending their middle son Lazo (our father) to live with his brother. Lazo had been herding sheep since he was young and was content with it.

Arriving home with the sheep one evening, Father Jovo greeted him and said to him quite quietly: "Go home, take a bath, tomorrow you're going to America." "What?" Lazo asked in surprise. "Yes, yes, it's true, you got a letter and a ship card from Đuro". And to make a long story short, it is also written in detail in the novel "My Father's Life Story", Lazo traveled with several friends, first to Zagreb for a medical examination, where the doctor examined them and said to Lazo: "You are still a minor, 15 years old, I'm not sure if the Americans will accept you to work, it's up to you to decide, good luck to you". When they arrived in Rijeka, they really didn't accept him on the ship, and a friend from the neighborhood suggested to him: "Go to Trieste, convince them on the ship that you are going to your parents, they don't know anything about your parents". Lazo went to Trieste alone, somehow managed to get a train to Trieste and found a ship for New York in the port. He really did lie to the captain that he was going to his parents, and since he had a ship's ticket, the captain let him go. After two days they arrived in the Greek port of Piraeus, then on to Sicily, then through the Mediterranean and Gibraltar to Casablanca, where they stayed longer because the ship was full. And then came the windy and dark nights across the turbulent Atlantic. Exhausted and hungry, Lazo arrived in America, where he was welcomed by Đuro. Đuro bought him new clothes, and burned his own, because of the lice on the ship. They visited New York, and then took the train to Mayville, where worked.

In Mayville, Đuro soon found employment for Lazo with a German, who used a horse-drawn cart to deliver ice to houses, since there were no refrigerators at that time. At the same time, he enrolled him in night school, where he learned English. While delivering ice from house to house, Lazo got to know almost all the inhabitants of Mayville, and they met him. The women got to know him better, because they were at home while their husbands worked. Some women respected him, and some even loved him. He did not remain indebted to them either. He worked for that German for about four years, and then spent a year working as a logger at the source of the Mississippi River. It was very cold there, but he earned more money. While he was working in the forests, Đuro served in the army, as an American volunteer. This earned Đuro the right to obtain American citizenship. During those years, Lazo was dating a girl from our region, Anđa Stipanović. The two of them truly fell in love and were planning to get married, when Đuro, after serving his military service, forced Lazo to move to Detroit and get a job at Ford.

At Ford both had higher salaries and worked there for about four years. And when Đuro saw that they had enough money from their salaries to build houses in Bosnia, he began to convince Lazo to return home. Lazo's girlfriend Anđa also moved to Detroit to be with Lazo and they often saw each other on weekends, and Đuro was married in Bosnia, and it was logical that he insisted on returning home. Lazo resisted this all the time, but Đuro finally forced him. Returning by ship across the Atlantic, Lazo often prayed to God that their ship would sink, so that he would not return to Bosnia, while Anđa remained lonely in Detroit. And so, many years would pass, Lazo did not manage to return to America, over time his connections with Anđa became less frequent, and then disappeared. In the meantime, he got married, built a house and they gave birth to children. The war came, everything fell apart, while Lazo spent many nights crying for Anđa and America. And it would happen in 1956 that Anđa, unannounced, would come to visit him in Bosnia. Then he was the happiest man on the planet for a week, and when Anđa returned, his eyes were constantly full of tears. We, the children, knew why.

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