Hi -
The Paul Spodnjak mentioned is my grandfather and Wilhelm Spodnjak was his brother. Another brother, Heinrich, and their mother Susanna and three sisters, Magdalena (Lenka), Anna and Theresa emigrated as well. The eldest brother, Johann, remained in Mitrovica. His family lives in various parts of Europe now, one branch in Sweden, another in France, one in Germany and another in Croatia. I have traced this family back through my great-grandfather, Johann Spodnjak to his father Georg Spodnjak who seems to have emigrated to Mitrovica (in Srem, now part of Serbia) from Slovakia in the early 1800s. Spodnjak is a Germanized spelling of the Slovak Spodniak and was Anglicized on arriving in the US to Spodnyak (Wilhelm changed it to Spodyak). I know there were several Slovak settlements in Vojvodina. Bacsky Petrovec was one, I'm not sure if Ruski Krstur, Kucuru or Djurdjevo were among them. If any of this sounds familiar, e-mail me and I can send more information.
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