Nine requests that cannot be made from a screen

Errands

Everything this archive now needs is in a building. Each of these is written up so it can be sent as it stands.

This archive has read what can be read online. What is left is held in reading rooms, registry offices and one Australian state registry, and it needs a person to ask. Each errand below gives the exact reference, what to ask for, what it would settle, and a draft in the language the office works in. Nothing here is speculative: every reference has been checked to exist.

Verify each institution's current address and request form on its own website before sending. This page carries references, not addresses — an address copied from memory is exactly the kind of thing that goes wrong.

The requests

01 Send first

Pićan parish registers — baptisms and deaths, 1880s–1910s

Državni arhiv u Pazinu (DAPA)

Reference: MKR / MKU Pićan (Pedena), diocese of Poreč-Pula
What it settles: To settle Antonio's return and to find Marta. The Eleven page has Antonio going back to Istria and a Marta whose parentage this archive cannot close. Pićan is the parish; the registers are not on any film this archive can reach.
What to ask for: A certified copy or a scan of the entries for the surname De Franceschi / Defranceschi in the baptismal and death registers of Pićan, with the years given, plus the register's shelf reference.

Draft

Poštovani, molim Vas kopiju upisa za prezime De Franceschi / Defranceschi u matičnim knjigama rođenih i umrlih župe Pićan za razdoblje ____–____. Molim i signaturu knjige. Unaprijed hvala.

02 Send first

Death certificate — Zdravko Defranceski

Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages Victoria

Reference: Victoria, Australia · Zdravko Defranceski, b. 1921
What it settles: He is the brother whose resettlement file carries the Partisan seizure that the family remembers as his father's. The certificate would give his death date, his last address, his parents as stated at death, and the informant — which is often the sibling who is otherwise invisible.
What to ask for: A historical death certificate. Victoria's index is searchable online and orders are placed through the registry's own site.

Draft

(An online order form — no letter needed. Search the historical index first for the exact registration number.)

03 Send first

Marriage dispensations for Vodnjan, 1815–1884

Biskupijski arhiv Poreč-Pula / Ordinariate of Pola

Reference: Cited in the register itself: «Dispensa … dell'Ordinariato di Pola», with numbers — e.g. 18 Feb 1830 № 97
What it settles: The Vodnjan marriage register cites its own paperwork by number. Each dispensation file names the degree of kinship and the couple's common ancestor — which is the single fastest way to join the two Vodnjan lines to each other, if they join at all.
What to ask for: Whether the dispensation files of the Ordinariate of Pola for 1815–1884 survive, and if so how they are arranged and whether they can be consulted or copied by number.

Draft

Egregi, sto ricercando la famiglia De Franceschi di Dignano (Vodnjan). Il registro dei matrimoni della parrocchia cita dispense dell'Ordinariato di Pola con numero di protocollo (per esempio n. 97 del 18 febbraio 1830). Vi sarei grato di sapere se questi fascicoli si conservano e come si possono consultare.

04 Send first

HR-DARI-254, and HR-DARI-382 kut. 1

Državni arhiv u Rijeci

Reference: HR-DARI-254 · HR-DARI-382, box 1
What it settles: The Kvarner households — Rijeka, Bakar, Ledenice — are documented and unattached to any line. These are the fonds most likely to attach them.
What to ask for: Access conditions and a finding aid for both fonds, and whether reproduction can be ordered remotely.

Draft

Poštovani, zanimaju me fondovi HR-DARI-254 i HR-DARI-382, kut. 1, u vezi s prezimenom De Franceschi / Defranceschi u Rijeci i Bakru. Molim obavijest o uvjetima korištenja i mogućnosti naručivanja preslika.

05 Worth sending

Austro-Hungarian Veritas register — the ship «Aquilone»

Biblioteca / Archivio di Stato, Trieste

Reference: Registro Veritas austro-ungarico; also the Lloyd Austriaco lists
What it settles: To fix the port of registry of the Aquilone, which the At Sea page can name but not place. A ship's registry decides which country's crew lists you then go looking for.
What to ask for: The entry for the Aquilone in the Austro-Hungarian Veritas register: tonnage, build, owner and port of registry, with the year of the volume consulted.

Draft

Gentili Signori, cerco la nave «Aquilone» nel Registro Veritas austro-ungarico. Mi occorrono stazza, anno e luogo di costruzione, armatore e porto di immatricolazione, con l'indicazione dell'annata consultata.

06 Worth sending

«Famiglia Franceschi», Il Rammentatore zaratino, 1859, p. 30

Biblioteca civica / Archivio, Zadar

Reference: Il Rammentatore zaratino, 1859, p. 30
What it settles: This is the footnote behind the Zadar palace — the Ferro-Grisogono-Franceschi house on Široka ulica. This archive cites the reference but has never read the page.
What to ask for: A scan of page 30 of the 1859 volume, and of the title page for the citation.

Draft

Gentili Signori, vi chiedo cortesemente la riproduzione di p. 30 del «Rammentatore zaratino», annata 1859, contenente la voce «Famiglia Franceschi», insieme al frontespizio del volume.

07 Worth sending

Shelf list for the Camillo De Franceschi bibliography

Nacionalna i sveučilišna knjižnica, Zagreb

Reference: Gentileo, «Bibliografia degli scritti di Camillo De Franceschi», AMSI; Camillo De Franceschi, «Storia documentata della Contea di Pisino»
What it settles: Camillo is the second historian of this family and this archive holds almost nothing of him — no portrait, and none of his own writing read at first hand. The bibliography is the map to the rest.
What to ask for: Holdings and shelfmarks for the two titles, and whether either is digitised.

Draft

Poštovani, molim podatke o primjercima i signaturama za: Gentileo, «Bibliografia degli scritti di Camillo De Franceschi» (AMSI), te Camillo De Franceschi, «Storia documentata della Contea di Pisino». Zanima me i je li išta od toga digitalizirano.

08 Worth sending

The Istrian bundle — four titles at once

Sveučilišna knjižnica u Puli (Naučna biblioteka)

Reference: Bertoša, «Pisma Carla De Franceschija Šimi Ljubiću», VHARP 13 (1968) · Jelinčić, Jadranski zbornik XI (1979–81), pp. 293–307 · Orbanić (ed.), «Visita Spirituale del 1788 in Istria» · Carlo De Franceschi, «Uspomene», Pula–Rijeka 1989
What it settles: Four references this archive cites and has not read. The Uspomene are Carlo's own memoirs — the one source that might say in his own words what the 1852 marriage entry only shows: that he was gravely ill and married in a hurry.
What to ask for: Availability and reproduction of the four items, in one request.

Draft

Poštovani, molim obavijest o dostupnosti i mogućnosti preslika za sljedeće naslove: [list]. Istražujem obitelj De Franceschi u Istri.

09 When convenient

Notarile antico, B. 2979

Archivio di Stato di Udine

Reference: ASUd, Notarile antico, busta 2979
What it settles: The Carnian end. The 1679 headmen's list puts a Zuane De Franceschi of Mione working in the county of Pazin; notarial acts are where a man of that kind leaves a second trace.
What to ask for: Whether the busta is consultable and whether a targeted search for the surname can be commissioned.

Draft

Gentili Signori, chiedo se la busta 2979 del fondo Notarile antico sia consultabile e se sia possibile una ricerca mirata sul cognome De Franceschi (area della Carnia, fine XVII secolo).

10 Send first

Senj birth register 1926 — Hedviga Blažević, and the Senj marriage register for 1948

Matični ured Senj (registry office) / Državni arhiv u Rijeci

Reference: Matična knjiga rođenih Senj 1926; matična knjiga vjenčanih Senj 1948
What it settles: Two things at once. Hedviga's date of birth exists in this archive as both 8 March 1926 and 3 August 1926 — the same digits in the wrong order, and one of them is a transposition. And the family remembers 1948 as the year she and Ivan Defranceski «went»; a marriage entry that year would explain the memory without contradicting their son's 1951 birth at Senj.
What to ask for: A certified copy of the birth entry for Blažević Hedviga, born 1926 at Senj, daughter of Ljubomir Blažević and Milka née Papić; and a search of the 1948 marriage register for Defranceski Ivan, born 25 June 1925 at Crikvenica, with Blažević Hedviga.

Draft

Poštovani, molim Vas ovjereni izvadak iz matične knjige rođenih za Senj, godina 1926, za Hedvigu Blažević, kćer Ljubomira Blaževića i Milke rođene Papić. Molim i pretragu matične knjige vjenčanih za Senj, godina 1948, za Ivana Defranceskog, rođenog 25. lipnja 1925. u Crikvenici, i Hedvigu Blažević. Istraživanje je obiteljsko i nekomercijalno. Unaprijed zahvaljujem.

11 Send first Sent 13 September 2026

Any trace of Ivan Defranceski and Hedviga Blažević leaving Yugoslavia, 1948–1951

Arolsen Archives (International Tracing Service), Bad Arolsen

Reference

ITS Digital Collections; the family is already in the Pfullingen list of foreigners and the AOK sickness-fund cards · Form: arolsen-archives.org/en/archive/inquiry/ → «Go to the inquiry form». Required: first name, last name, e-mail, subject «Archive and online archive», salutation, consent tick, reCAPTCHA.

What it settles

SENT by David on 13 September 2026. Awaiting reply.

Arolsen answer tracing enquiries in writing and are not quick — weeks is normal, longer is common. Nothing further is needed from this end until they reply, except one thing: `collections.arolsen-archives.org` has been timing out for four days while the main site answers normally. The free search of the online collections should still be run the moment it comes back, because it may answer the question without anyone at Bad Arolsen having to open a file.

---

Still down on 13 September 2026 — `collections.arolsen-archives.org` times out at 25 seconds while the main site answers in under four. Their outage, four days running, so the free search that should come first cannot be run yet.

This one cannot be sent from here, and the reason is not the one previously given. The enquiry form is protected by a reCAPTCHA — which this archive does not attempt to get around — and carries a declaration of consent, which is David's to give and not an agent's. The salutation field noted earlier is real but trivial beside those two. The draft below is ready to paste and the send is David's.

This is now the most valuable single request this project has open. The family's testimony is that Ivan and Hedviga left in 1948 to get out of the country; a Senj hospital birth on 17 December 1951 puts them back on the coast by about March 1951. A failed exit leaves nothing in a Croatian register. If anything survives it is here.

The route is not a guess. The family already had a household in Pfullingen, in the French occupation zone: Ivan worked at Reutlingen from 21 October 1941 at Brunnenstraße 7; his father Anton Rudolf is on the 1947 Pfullingen list of foreigners; his brother Anton's card is stamped «Emigré Australie le 8.3.49» and Zdravko resettled to Australia in 1949. Ivan and Hedviga were aiming at the same door a year later.

What to ask for

A search of the ITS holdings for 1948–1951 for DEFRANCESKI / DEFRANCESCHI, Ivan, born 25 June 1925 at Crikvenica, and BLAŽEVIĆ, Hedviga, born 1926 at Senj — in the French zone (Württemberg-Hohenzollern, Reutlingen and Pfullingen) and in any IRO registration, screening or rejection file. Separately: KOVAČINA, Uršula, born about 1890; and confirmation of which Anton Rudolf Defranceski appears on the 1947 Pfullingen list and the 1950 mayoral certificate, since the family records him as dying in 1943.

Draft

Dear Arolsen Archives, I am researching my own family and have already used your Pfullingen list of foreigners and the Allgemeine Ortskrankenkasse card for Ivan Defranceski (Brunnenstraße 7, Pfullingen, from 21 October 1941). I should be grateful for a search of the ITS holdings for the years 1948–1951 for DEFRANCESKI / DEFRANCESCHI, Ivan, born 25 June 1925 at Crikvenica, Croatia, and for BLAŽEVIĆ, Hedviga, born 1926 at Senj — including any IRO registration, screening or rejection file in the French zone (Reutlingen / Pfullingen). His brothers Zdravko and Anton resettled to Australia from there in 1949 (Anton's card is stamped «Emigré Australie le 8.3.49»). I am also looking for KOVAČINA, Uršula, born about 1890, and for clarification of the Anton Rudolf Defranceski named on the 1947 Pfullingen list and certified by the mayor in 1950. Non-commercial family research.

12 Worth sending

The death of Anton Rudolf Defranceski, said by the family to be 1943 — and the surname Car

Matični ured Crikvenica / Župni ured Crikvenica

Reference

Matična knjiga umrlih Crikvenica 1943; and register entries for the surname Car, 1930s–1950s

What it settles

This archive holds two facts that cannot both be true: Anton Rudolf Defranceski, born 20 January 1890 at Klenovica house 22, is recorded as having died in 1943 «per the family», and is also on the Pfullingen list of foreigners in 1947 and certified by that town's mayor in 1950. Everything the family remembers about his widow depends on which is right.

The same request covers Car — the surname the family remembers as «Carr», which on this coast is far more likely to be the Croatian Car.

What to ask for

A search of the Crikvenica death register for 1943 for Defranceski / Defranceschi, Anton Rudolf, born 20 January 1890; and any entry linking the surname Car with Kovačina, Uršula, born about 1890, in the 1940s.

Draft

Poštovani, molim Vas pretragu matične knjige umrlih za Crikvenicu, godina 1943., za Antona Rudolfa Defranceskog, rođenog 20. siječnja 1890. u Klenovici, kućni broj 22. Molim i svaki upis koji povezuje prezime Car s Uršulom Kovačina, rođenom oko 1890., tijekom 1940-ih. Riječ je o obiteljskom istraživanju.

13 Worth sending

Hedviga Blažević, a singer at the Hotel Therapia, Crikvenica, 1940s

Muzej Grada Crikvenice / Novi list archive, Rijeka

Reference: Hotel Therapia (1895 Nadvojvoda Josip; Therapia from c.1899; latterly Falkensteiner, now Kvarner Palace) — programmes, posters, season photographs
What it settles: The family names the venue: Hedviga sang at the Hotel Therapia. That is the building that made Crikvenica a health resort — opened 1895 as the Nadvojvoda Josip, renamed Therapia when a hydropathic institute was installed. She was a Senj woman and Ivan a Crikvenica man, and this is the first explanation this archive has ever had for how the two towns met. It would also give a woman recorded here only as a wife, a mother and a date of death a profession and a workplace.
What to ask for: Any programme, poster, photograph or press notice naming a singer Hedviga Blažević at the Hotel Therapia, Crikvenica, between about 1944 and 1952 — including the hotel's own season programmes for those years.

Draft

Poštovani, tražim bilo kakav program, plakat, fotografiju ili novinsku vijest u kojoj se spominje pjevačica Hedviga Blažević u hotelu Therapia u Crikvenici, otprilike između 1944. i 1952. godine — uključujući i sezonske programe samoga hotela za te godine. Riječ je o obiteljskom istraživanju, nekomercijalnom. Unaprijed zahvaljujem.

When one of these comes back, it goes on the page it belongs to and a row goes into the Search Register — including if it comes back empty, because a negative answer from a named archive is a finding and this archive keeps those too.

The Search Register → · Parish Books →