What They Did
The family tree records a trade for sixteen people out of twelve hundred. The registers record one for almost everybody, in a column this archive had been reading past.
Both the Latin and the Croatian parish forms carry a conditio or stalež column, and the priest filled it in — for the parents, for the godparents, and for the witnesses. It is the only place in these documents where a person is described by something other than their name and their kin.
This archive had been reading past it. Where an occupation surfaced it went into prose on one person's page and nowhere else, which meant it could not be counted or compared. The comparison is the point.
Two families, two worlds, twenty miles apart
The Žubrinići hold offices
- Confiniarius — a man of the Military Frontier, Šumećica N° 24, 1834
- Confiniarius ex Pago Dubrava N° 29 — and so is Marcus Orešković, whose daughter married into this line. Both sides of that marriage are Frontier households.
- Vigiliarum Magister pensionatus — master of the watch, pensioned
- Silvarum Custos — forest warden, Šumećica
- Custos Carcerum — keeper of the prison, Otočac, 1845
- Forest Ranger — Otočac, the 1837 generation
- kontrolor gradske daće — municipal excise controller, Senj, 1910
Six salaried posts, four of them in a single parish register, three of them in one entry. These are people the state paid.
The Blaževići carry things
- nadničar — day labourer. Toma Blažević, Senj, at his death in 1907
- seljaci — peasants. Toma and Tereza at Smokvica 114, 1884
- selj. — the same, Jurko and Tereza, 1895
- težak — labourer. Josip Papić, Senj, 1891
- trhonoša, bremenar, gostioničar — porter, burden-carrier, innkeeper
No office, no pension, no rank. The Papići carry sacks in the port; the Blaževići work by the day.
These families are twenty miles apart and they married each other. Hedviga descends from both — from a household that held the keys to the Otočac gaol and from a household whose head was entered, at his death, as a man who worked by the day. The Frontier →
Read off the registers
Each row cites the entry it came from. Nothing here is inferred, and where a word is ambiguous it is given as written rather than translated away.
| Who | As written | In English | Where | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Toma Blažević | nadničar | day labourer | Senj · 1907 | Senj deaths p.225 no.60 |
| Michaël Žubrinić (Xubrinich) | Confiniarius | man of the Military Frontier | Šumećica N°24 · 1834 | Otočac baptisms, 24 Jan 1834 |
| Petrus f. Francisci Xubrinich | Vigiliarum Magister pensionatus | master of the watch, pensioned | Otočac · 1834 | Otočac baptisms, 24 Jan 1834 — godfather |
| Joannes Xubrinich | Silvarum Custos | forest warden | Šumećica · 1834 | Otočac baptisms, 24 Jan 1834 — godmother's husband |
| Žubrinić household (Maria, wife) | Custos Carcerum | keeper of the prison | Otočac · 1845 | Otočac baptisms no.18, 16 Mar 1845 — godmother |
| Vitus Kranjčević | murarius | mason | Otočac · 1845 | Otočac baptisms no.18, 16 Mar 1845 — godfather |
| Joannes Žubrinić | Forest Ranger | forest ranger | Otočac · 1837 | family tree (one of the 16) |
| Nikola Žubrinić | kontrolor gradske daće | municipal excise controller | Senj · 1910 | Senj marriages, 3 Jul 1910 |
| Olga Štimac | radnica u tvornici duhana | worker in the tobacco factory | Senj · 1910 | Senj marriages, 3 Jul 1910 |
| Šime Štimac | cestar | road-mender | Senj · 1910 | Senj marriages — the bride's father |
| Josip Papić | težak | labourer | Senj · 1891 | Senj baptisms str.194 no.92 |
| Romano Srdoč | veslar | oarsman | Senj · 1891 | Senj baptisms str.194 no.92 — godfather |
| Martin Kalanj and Marija Peričić | polj. (poljodjelci) | farmers | Novi Vinodolski · 1898 | Novi Vinodolski baptisms str.314 no.10 |
| Josephus Kalanj and Rosalia Perković | Brinjensis parochiae ruricolae | country people of Brinje parish | Klenovica N°22 · 1864 | Klenovica baptisms 1864 no.2 |
| Perpić household | Confiniar. | Frontier household | Krivi Put · 1859 | Krivi Put baptisms, Antonija's entry |
| Jandre and Marija Butorac | seljaci | peasants | Smokvica 114 · 1884 | Sv. Jakov Krmpote baptisms no.66 — godparents |
| Toma Blažević and Tereza Pećanić | seljaci | peasants | Smokvica 114 · 1884 | Sv. Jakov Krmpote baptisms no.66 |
| Jurko Blažević and Tereza Žubrinić | selj. (seljaci) | peasants | Smokvica 114 · 1895 | Sv. Jakov Krmpote baptisms |
| Marcus Orešković | Confiniarius ex Pago Dubrava N°29 | man of the Military Frontier, of Dubrava village, house 29 | Dubrava N°29 · 1835 | Otočac baptisms no.41, 8 Sep 1835 |
| Thomas Kreng… (godfather) | Sutor Magister | master shoemaker | Otočac · 1835 | Otočac baptisms no.43, same page |
And the 20 the tree carries
Sixteen people out of 1,245. Mostly twentieth-century, mostly from family memory rather than a document — and worth showing beside the register rows so the difference in kind is visible.
| Who | Occupation | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Toma Tomislav Blazevic | Nadničar | — |
| Mile Blažević | kocijas | — |
| Mile Blažević | kocijas = coachman | — |
| Mile Blažević | Farmer | Mrzli Dol br. 6 |
| Ljubomir "Ljubo" Blažević | Mornar / fisherman | — |
| Anka Blažević | Radnica u Tvornici duhana Senj | — |
| Karmela Karmen "Carmen" Blažević | Domacica i Šnajder | — |
| Ana Nezak "Anica" Boras | Maid | — |
| Joannes Ivan Boras | carinska sluzba | — |
| Zdenka Boras | medicinska sestra | — |
| Slava Boras | uredu | — |
| Josip Josephus Joso Kalanj Kalain Kallayn | Farmer | Klenovica, Croatia |
| Milka Lucia Papic | Supervisor of workers at cigarette factory. Now is a textile factory. Ul. Stjepana Radića 4, 53270, Senj, Croatia | Tvornica duhana, Senj, Croatia |
| Milka Lucia Papic | Kapovica | Tvornica duhana Senj |
| Josip Anton "Joso" Papić | Trhonosa,bremenar,gostionicar. | — |
| Josip Anton "Joso" Papić | Trhonosa,bremenar,gostionicar | Senj |
| Joannis "Ivan" Perpić | seljak / peasant | Krivi put 136 |
| Ana Prpić | Seljakina (peasant/farmer) | — |
| Joannes Juan Ivan Ive Žubrinić | Forest Ranger | — |
| Tereza Žubrinić Zubrinic | Domacica | — |
What this is not, yet
- It is not a survey. Thirty-eight records against 1,245 people. Every one had to be read off a scan by hand, and twenty-seven register pages this archive already holds have not been read for this column at all.
- It is the form of the register, not its language. This was assumed the other way round and checked on 13 September 2026. The ruled tabular books carry a conditio column — Otočac 1834, 1835 and 1845 give a trade or a rank to every parent and every godparent, which is why almost everything above comes from three pages. The prose books have no column at all: Karlobag 1754–1781 runs as continuous Latin sentences, and six of the eight Latin documents this archive holds are those. Reading them for occupations is wasted effort. Croatian tabular books sit in between — Novi Vinodolski names the parents' trade but usually not the godparents', and Sv. Jakov Krmpote mostly writes seljaci and stops.
- A woman is usually described by her husband. Mulier Custodis Carcerum — the prison keeper's wife — names an office and does not name her trade or, in that entry, even her husband. The column records women through men, and saying so is part of reading it.