|
Examples |
home > genealogy > success stories > example 3 < you are here |
Example #3:
Finding the church by using the Croatian on-line phone book.
In this example we try to find the church(es) for the 3 villages found in Example #1. You must read that example first to make sense of this one. Also Example #2 is suggested reading.
In Example #1 we have these 3 villages (Ploc"ice, Poljice and Gruda) which we know are fairly close together. We found the churches for them in a book called Stanovnis"tvo Konavla #2 by Vekaric' and Kapetanic'. But that was too convenient. Most people will not have access to this book. So let's try to find the churches for these villages using the Croatian on-line phone directory which is located here:
http://www.tportal.hr/imenik/default.asp?lang=1.
We will now search for church addresses in these 3 villages.
For Gruda, fill out the page as shown below:
Click on "Search" and you will get the following:
which doesn't show the postal code. So click on the small box with a + sign in it and you will see:
which shows the postal code as HR-20215. If you click on the underlined GRUDA (2 images above) you will see a small map which tells you very little. But then you can click for a larger version of the map which tells you more. But you must still know some Croatian geography to know exactly where Gruda is.
The correct mailing address for this church is:
Katolic"ka Crkva [Catholic Church]
Gruda 83 [street address -- not necessary if there is only one church in town]
HR-20215, Gruda
Croatia, Europe
[Be sure to write AIRMAIL on the envelope and pay for airmail shipment otherwise it will take 6-8 weeks to get there. Airmail takes 7-10 days. Here's how to write the letter.]
Now if you use the same procedure for Ploc"ice by filling in "plocice" (without the quotes) in the window as shown in the top image on this page, you will get the correct results. But, for some reason, if you choose the Dubrovnik/Neretva area (instead of "The Entire Croatia") you will get no results. This search page is a bit quirky and you just have to play with it. It's new and the bugs may eventually be fixed.
For Poljice you get no results.
So that means there are churches in the villages of Gruda and Ploc"ice but none in Poljice.
If you read Example #1 you will see that there are Paljetaks in Gruda and Poljice. We now know that Gruda has a church and Poljice does not. We also know that Gruda and Poljice are within a few miles of each other. Does the Gruda church serve the village of Poljice? The only way to find out is to write the church in Gruda and ask. Don't worry -- they will know. In your letter, ask them to forward the letter to the proper church. Here's how to write the letter.
Now let's cheat a little and go to a map that shows the various villages in this part of Croatia and the churches. You can see that the village of Poljice is served by the church in Ploc"ice. The villages that have churches are boxed.
