| Becki: Re: Pavlik | So much has happened since I posted last in 2005. We hired a researcher in Slovakia in the summer of 2006 by the name of Vladimir Bohinc, who was fortunate to find 4 generations back of our ancestor's names, location and their children at the Bycta archive. Once we knew exactly where our grandfather, George Pavlik was born, which was the village of Marikova, Slovakia when he left in 1906 but in the 1950's was divided into Dolna Marikova (upper) and Horna Marikova(lower, we were able to trace the whereabouts of current family members, whom we got in contact with and started emailing back and forth, getting to know one another. This past June, 10 of our family members, including two of the three still living children of our grandfather, one being 90 years old, made a trip to visit the village of birth. From America, I had made arrangements to have a PAVLIK family reunion luncheon at the family run inn we were all going to be staying at, which we did the day after we arrived in this village. I had invited all the family we had communicated with (3 cousins) and they in turn invited other family members. We were thrilled that there were 25 of them that came, some even from the Czech Republic. They were as excited to meet us as we were them. We all took gifts for each one that we knew would be there and even some extras (thank heavens) and they surprised us with gifts for us as well. It was a WONDERFUL and emotional day for all of us.
One of the older cousins still owned the property where our grandfather was raised, even though he only uses it as a weekend getaway and now lives about an hour away. He offered to take us to show us the area. It was an hour's walk or more up a steep hill, often heavily wooded. Only a jeep could have gone even half way and we let our older family members ride in it. It was amazing to know that our grandfather had walked that path so many times, so many years ago as did his father before him. We certainly felt their presence with us...
Other cousins invited us to their homes, another to see his vineyard he is so proud of and he also took 5 of our men fishing one afternoon. We could have spent a month getting around to see everyone's homes but we only had two weeks and stil had the maternal side of the family (Duranty) to meet in Banova, whch we did the next week for another reunion.
I can't begin to tell you of all the examples of the Slovak Pavlik's warm and generous hospitality and we all know we are welcome to return anytime for more of the same.
Some of the information I had been given when I first started researching the Pavlik name I learned was totally incorrect. George Pavlik never changed the spelling of his name and neither he nor his family ever owned a nut producing farm. They were poor and barely educated. That is why he left to come to America. Hoping to find a way to get ahead as so many others did as well.
I need to share that I learned that SOME of our Pavlik female relatives spell their surnames differently than some males, even their own brothers and fathers. For instance, some females cousins spelled their surname 'Pavlikova', 'ova' meaning a female. The males spell it 'Pavlik', just like us. Even the younger generation that speaks english. I'm told this has always been a custom of choice. When speaking of a married couple, it would be 'Pavlik'. On our 'Duratny' side of the family, some females spell it 'Duratna', some males spell it Duratny or Duratni. No wonder research is so hard! Anyway, just wanted to give you a heads up on the surname spelling so you don't discount a potential relative.
Here is a photograph of our grandfather, George Bahak Pavlik about 1965 on his farm in Ohio. He died in 1969. |
 | Az üzenethez ez a kép is kapcsolódik.
Az eredeti méretben történõ megtekintéshez kattintson a képre! |
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