Slovenian Roots: Nikolaus Dolinšek

Background:

Explore the church book records available from Matricula in regards to Nicholas Dolinshek and his immediate family members. Try to find records that confirm or deny names, birth dates, locations, and parent-child or sibling relationships via these records.

The Plan:

The most consistent information given in re: to Nicholas’ was his birth year and location– 1885 in Kamnik, Slovenia. Since the records from Matricula are held by the Archdiocese of Llubjiana, I needed to find the church parish Nicholas and his family lived in. I decided to simply search the baptismal records of the parishes in and around the town of Kamnik (using an old map of the region), hoping to locate the correct parish via Nicholas’ baptismal record. Eventually, I found:

Nikolaus Dolinšek, born 9 Dec 1885, to a Franz Dolinšek and Josefa Čevka, in Bistričica House 8, Stranje Parish.

http://https://data.matricula-online.eu/sl/slovenia/ljubljana/stranje/04202/?pg=82/

This looked like the right parish!

I also had reasonably reliable information regarding the birth years of his presumed siblings, so I continued to look up the baptismal records for of all of the presumed siblins to verify that Stranje was the correct parish and I had found the correct family group.

I located all of the siblings except one, John, who was supposedly born in 1898, and only came to America once in the 1970’s. Unfortunately, the currently available baptismal records for Strange Parish span from 01 Jan 1846 to 31 Dec 1897, but this does explain the lack of his baptismal record being present.

The parents listed for all identified siblings was identical: Franz Dolinšek and Josefa Čevka.

This solidified the family group, as follows:

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Baptismal Record of Nickolaus Dolinšek

Examining Nikolaus’ baptismal record, we can see that a portion of the document was written using a pen, with the exception of one which was penciled in. This is the section naming the father and his profession or status. However, in this text, written on 13 Feb 1889, Franz Dolinšek declared paternity of Nikolaus and claimed that he married the child’s mother.

It appears Nikolaus was deemed illegitimate by the church at the time of his birth, but Franz claimed paternity before the Catholic Church.

This is supported by the fact that “unehelich” (illegitimate, in German) is marked in the record. Also, while there was no indexed entry present for Nikolaus listed in the “D” for Dolinšek section, there was an entry one page in over in the “Č” section for a Nickolas Čevka, born 9 Dec 1885 in House 8, Bistričica. This indexed entry implies that the index was made before the claim of paternity, or that the index was not updated to reflect the claim.

I wanted to verify his parent’s marriage date to see if it would shed more light on the situation.

Marriage Record of Franz Dolinšek & Josefa Čevka

Lo and behold, Franz Dolinšek and Josefa Čevka were married on same day that Franz claimed paternity of Nikolaus: 13 February 1889.
https://data.matricula-online.eu/en/slovenia/ljubljana/stranje/02429/?pg=68

• Franz Dolinšek from Okroglo House 2, aged 23 years, never married, Roman Catholic; parents: Josef Dolinšek and Maria Slevec
• Josefa Čevka from Bistričica House 8, aged 28 years, never married, Roman Catholic; parents: Franz Čevka and Maria Prelesnik

This brings the research back one generation further! However, as this research also includes genetic genealogy, one must pose the question: was Nickolaus legitimate or not? Unfortunately, we can never know for certain unless another descendant of this particular line shows up as a DNA match.

Matricula is a goldmine for genealogists. It is a free online resource providing to access to old church books from Slovenia, as well as a host of other places. There are a few caveats to this resource; mainly, that the records are written in Slovenian, with headings in Fraktur (an Old German font). Google Translate is invaluable, not only for translating phrases, but also for translating entire web pages (via a browser extension) when looking through the available records listed. Digitized images of the books are available to view through Matricula Online, but cannot be downloaded, and are held by Nadškofijski arhiv Ljubljana (the Archdiocese Archives of Ljubljana) which limits how much of image can shown or replicated.

Records reviewed:

• “Passenger Manifest”. Ellis Island Foundation, Passenger ID: 102302060026, Year: 1906, database with digital images; citing Passenger and Crew Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, New York, 1897-1957, NARA Microfilm Publication T715, roll 0771, p. 47, line 9; National Archives, Washington, D.C.
• “Minnesota, Marriages from the Minnesota Official Marriage System, 1850-2019”, Certificate Number T35-027; retrieved from Minnesota Official Marriage System (https://moms.mn.gov/ : 12 Oct 2023) for Nick Dolinsheck and Mari Hibich, dated 18 Jan 1909. 
• “Declaration of Intention”, Naturalization Records, Hibbing District Court, St Louis County, Minnesota, No. 2065, filed on 16 March 1922 for Nikolas Dolinshek, printed copy of microfilmed book entry; citing SAM 15, reel 9, v. 5, p. 201, Minnesota Historical Society, St Paul, Minnesota,
• “Petition for Naturalization”. Naturalization Records, Hibbing District Court, St Louis County, Minnesota, Petition for Naturalization No. 1201, filed on 18 Sep 1924, printed copy of microfilmed book entry; citing Hibbing County, reel 9, code 315, vol 5, p. 201, Minnesota Historical Society, St Paul, Minnesota.
• “U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918”; Registration State: Minnesota; Registration County: St Louis; Roll: 1675890; Draft Board: 5; citing registration for Nicholas Dolinsek, dated 12 Sep 1918.
• “U.S., World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942”, The National Archives at St. Louis; St. Louis, Missouri; World War II Draft Cards (4th Registration) for the State of Michigan; State Headquarters: Michigan; citing registration for Nicholas Dolinshek.
• “Michigan Death Certificates, 1921-1952”, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KF7Y-X3B : Thu Jan 04 18:55:52 UTC 2024), Entry for Nick Dolinshek, 18 Apr 1951.
• “Dolinshek-Herlich Family History”, Stanley Dolinshek, Michigan; handwritten correspondence from Stanley Dolinshek to Mary Brandenburg, dated 8 Oct 1995.
• “Krstni, poročni in mrliški index”| 02425 (1846-1897), Stranje Parish, Archdiocese Archives of Ljubljana (Ljubljana, Slovenia); digital images, Matricula-Online <data.matricula-online.eu>.
• “Krstna knjiga”| 04202 (1846-1897), Stranje Parish, Archdiocese Archives of Ljubljana (Ljubljana, Slovenia); digital images, Matricula-Online <data.matricula-online.eu>.
• “Poročna knjiga” | 02429, Stranje Parish, Archdiocese Archives of Ljubljana (Ljubljana, Slovenia); digital images, Matricula-Online <data.matricula-online.eu>.