In May a miracle happened at the Nadškofijski Arhiv of Ljubljana! Never did I ever imagine this institution, holder of the most important church records in the Republic of Slovenia, would release their vast collection of parish records to the public via Matricula Online. While I completely enjoyed my two trips to the Arhiv to browse through the books of the old parish records in person, having the availability of the records at my fingertips is a game changer.
Genealogy has been my long time interest, 44 years now, and not until last month did I locate the family of my second great-grandmother, Frančiška Novak. I knew Frančiška died in Mali Osolnik in Škocjan parish on 1 December 1888 from the inscription on her gravestone.(Note: It’s very rare to see a 1800’s gravestone in Slovenia as most gravesites are repurposed with the newest family member’s name on the stone.) While visiting Slovenia in 2013, however, a record search at the Arhiv for Škocjan parish was unsuccessful. Then in 2017 I searched the neighboring parish of Rob as suggested by the Arhiv staff and still nothing. My biggest obstacle was frame of reference; not knowing the location and number of parishes near Mali Osolnik. Presuming that Frančiška couldn’t have traveled far to meet her husband Jožef Kocijančič who lived his whole life in Mali Osolnik, I was stumped where to look next.
Fast forward to June 202, the map feature on Matricula Online allowed me to highlight the parishes in relation to the towns with direct links to the parish records!! Clearly I now knew the next parishes to search were Velike Lašče and Dobrepolje and indeed Frančiška’s birth record was found in Velike Lašče.
Edited screenshot from Matricula Online showing Mali Osolnik (circled) and the surrounding parishes in red-Škocjan is northeast, Rob is west and Velike Lašče southeast.
Frančiška Novak birth record 29 June 1848 taken from Matricula Online showing her parents Janez Novak and Maria Sluga as well as godparents Jožef Hocevar and Maria Zencic (if I am deciphering the handwriting correctly).
In the genealogy world adding a new generation with a birth record isn’t just the addition of two new names it’s a lead to the next set of names as well. For example, as I continued to search the same birth record set I was able to find one sibling for Frančiška, Johanna born in 1850, then moving on to the marriage records another sibling, Jožef. Figuring I overlooked Jožef during the initial birth record search, a repeat also came up empty though. Maybe he was born in a different parish? Continuing to follow the records by using the address of Frančiška’s birth, Prhajevo 3 as a hint, Janez Novak’s birth record from 11 December 1817 was located as well as his parents’ names: Franc Novak and Maria Subokovic!
Jožef Novak birth record on line 2 shared from Matricula Online.
Considering the above added genealogical information to my family tree, it’s clear these records are invaluable not only to myself but many others of Slovenian ancestry. So now with a to-do list in hand my search continues with theses records. The process is slow, looking page by page, as most record sets are not indexed It seems as the names and records are found, then crossed off the list, even more are added.
Thank you to all the employees at Nadškofijski Arhiv of Ljubljana for digitization efforts!!! If interested you can look here for records in all regions of Slovenia.