2013 photo of my 2nd great grandparents headstone, Jošef and Franciska Kočijancic.
I just returned from a 12 day visit to Slovenia, my second in four years. In 2013 my daughter and I made the journey as a combination vacation and genealogy quest with success finding the cemetery headstone of my 2nd great grandparents and meeting some very distant relatives as well. Honestly, after the initial trip I had a less-than-optimistic outlook that I would ever see Slovenia again. Fast forward to January 2017 when my daughter receives a Fulbright Scholarship and relocates to...........Ljubljana, Slovenia for the next 9 months!
2017 photo showing a new headstone.
Being in Slovenia again gave me another opportunity to visit the Nadškofija Ljubljana Arhiv, one of three Catholic archives in Slovenia. Equipped with 2 other helpers (husband and daughter) we made quick time of the Status Animarum records (parish family books) for the year 1854 and found a number of promising records I am currently evaluating.
We also made a visit again to St. Cantius Church cemetery in Škocjan near Turjak to visit the graves of my 2nd great grandparents (if you missed my post on Jošef you can read it here). and we found something quite surprising, a new headstone since 2013. Translating the inscription it appears that Jošef's son Anton (1881-1957) as well as his daughter Vida (1921-1999) and her husband Franc Žužek are buried here also, which was probably the case in 2013 and why a new headstone was installed. Due to limited land in Slovenia, cemetery plots only exist while a member of the family continues to pay the monthly rent and maintain the space. After that, they are evicted (I didn't ask anymore questions and don't want to know!
Altogether, this visit was more remarkable than the first considering I had my daughter for a tour guide! Hmmm, I wonder if I will ever return?