Slavonia Family Surname Research
Researched, compiled & contributed by Joseph Esterreicher.
Sources: Primarily files available at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, UT.
Updated: February 11, 2009. Former files at home.earthlink.net/~jesterreicher, published by Carol Esterreicher.
Who am I?
Who are my Ancestors?
Where did my
ancestors
come from?
Those are questions
that all of us ask
sometime
in our lifetime.
I became interested in my family ancestry after receiving a family tree of the Sekura Family of Sokolovac, Croatia, my birthplace. I remember finding someone with our last name in this family tree. I asked my father if we were related and his answer was no. An unusual last name in a small village not being related seemed odd to me. I set out to find the answer in 2004 when I started looking at microfilms of church books where births, marriages, and deaths were recorded. These microfilms can be found at the LDS Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA. I started out recording information for my family but soon switched to recording all information found for the village of Sokolovac, Croatia. Later I added research on about 20 villages in this area of Croatia. The people that one can find family history on in this web site are primarily ethnic Germans. They came to this area of Croatia, starting about 1860. Most of these people came to Croatia from Hungary or from an area in Europe that is now in the Czech Republic. The Hungarian ethnic Germans can be traced back to the mid 1700 in various church books. No filmed church records have been found for the Czech Republic. Joseph Esterreicher, 2006
These gratifying comments have been summarized from numerous emails expressing appreciation. Knowing that my work is appreciated inspires me to continue with this important and rewarding pursuit. I greatly appreciate hearing from those whose lives are being touched. ~ Joseph Esterreicher
The members of ..these… families are going to be floored when I send them a family tree update that spans back to 1810!
…you must have touched so many families in similar ways. It must be satisfying to know how much this hard work and research mean to others.
You have no idea how excited and surprised I was when you …provided me with the family tree. I spent years researching and have nothing like this to show for it!
Recommended sources will direct you to other sites:
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints – www.familysearch.org
Family History Library
35 North West Temple
Salt Lake City, Utah
801-240-2331
Memorials at www3.telus.net/public/kgorse/memory/rostereicher.html NO LONGER ACTIVE LINK. But here is the archived version Memorials.
Computer Maps – http://www.jewishgen.org/ShtetlSeeker/
Austrian Military Maps – http://lazarus.elte.hu/hun/digkonyv/topo/3felmeres.htm
Last updated: 08/26/2026