Joseph Jordan and Frančiška Baznik

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This is a page for everything about the large Jordan family originally from Šentjernej, Slovenia. See Slovenian Home Land for a little more about the area.

We have a lot to follow given there were twelve offspring of this couple around the turn of the 20th century. Some never made it through the world wars; a few stayed in Slovenia or Croatia. Eventually, most migrated to America. Many of us know Cleveland, Ohio as a hot spot because the five sisters eventually called that home for their new families. Unknown to many of those, California is nearly as prolific with Jordan clan members who first came to Ohio but then went to Southern California. The next generation has spread far and wide across the continent. Places like Texas, Florida, Louisiana, Maryland/Virginia and North Carolina are now home to many as they moved out of the immigrant family neighborhoods they grew up in. Missouri is an "ancestral" home due to the sister of Joseph Jordan that first emigrated there before any of Joseph's kids.

Grandsons Vladimir Rus and Bob Kastelic are reported by other grandchildren to have done the most researching of family history. We worked to gather their results to publish here, as possible. Two known examples of their work are publications in the Ameriska Domovina: Vladimir's "Jordan Family of St.Jernej" from 10 April 2008 and Bob's "An Early History of Slovenski Narodni Dom in Maple Heights from 17 March 1989. Karel was the most knowledgeable about the family history and we are working with his daughter Lila and Bob Kastelic to recover interviews done with him in the 1980's and documents from his archives. Branka and now Ivan have been other prolific providers of information. Otherwise, talking to all the family members and with Maria visiting the archives in Slovenia helped Randy greatly in this write-up.

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Siblings

Of the twelve siblings and their spouses, none are left surviving. Elizabeth Dorothy, the youngest sibling, passed in 2006 a bit after her 93rd birthday. Her brother Karel passed six years before at the age of 102. We are working to capture the histories of each of the siblings. So if you have some input, please pass on your notes, photos and the like to Randy so we can include them into a write-up here. Our hope is to develop a separate family page for each of the siblings and their families.

The 12 siblings are (in order of birth as best known):

1. Ignac Jordan (killed in WWII; wife and kids were the only left in Slovenia by 1960)
2. Marija "Mara" Rus (Fiume/Rijeka; imprisoned for 7+ years in Slovenia, family and her emigrated to Cleveland in the 1950's)
3. Infant Frančiška (buried in the family section in Šentjernej with the mother)
4. Frančiška "Franca" Legan (the first to emigrate to Cleveland in 1912, albeit unwillingly at age 15)
5. Karel Jordan (Staza, escaped to Trieste in 1947, then Argentina in 1948; then to California via Cleveland in 1960-1961)
6. Franc Jordan (died in 1932 of TB in Croatia; kids escaped to Germany, then Ohio then California in the late 1950's to early 1960's)
7. Antonija "Tonka" Kastelic (second to emigrate to Cleveland in 1918)
8. Justa Ruzic (Zagreb; daughter in Belgrade)
9. Josefina "Pepca" Jordan (brought Betty to Cleveland in 1923; died shortly after of TB)
10. Martin Jordan (Zagreb; killed in WWII; son in Zagreb)
11. Jože Jordan (Slovenia, killed in WWII; never married)
12. Elizabeta "Betty" Kosak (emigrated to Cleveland in 1923; see Kosak Jordan )

Note that there is some family lore of Joseph having some children outside of this marriage. A Max is one name that has come up with others. None of this has been vetted although the Status Animarum in Šentjernej does list only a Max. These would be half-siblings to the above children.

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Grandchildren Status

Of the 34 grandchildren (first cousins), some are still with us. Those bolded are in contact via an email list or similar. The underlined have passed on. We need to hear from more of you to fill out the Genealogy Database going forward in time as well as to get your stories passed down on your branch of the family.

• Ignac was executed during World War II. Lina died many years later in 1975. Their children are in Slovenia. Granddaughter Nataša is on Facebook with us. Marica, Drago, Stanko. Mirko, Silvo, Ciril, Antone, Vladimir and Ivan have passed on. Status of the only other daughter Darinko (second youngest) is unknown. Ciril, Antone and Ivan died in the last 10 years.
• Marija's daughters Tillie (Seattle, WA) and Neda (Rijeka, Croatia) are not with us anymore. Vladimir (Vlado) Rus was in Cleveland, OH area until he contracted Covid19 and passed. He was a great source of information on the family.
• Franc's Branka and Vladimir had been in the San Fernando valley north of Los Angeles, California since the early 60's. Having spent only one winter in Cleveland after emigrating from Croatia. Both passed within the past ten years.
• Tonka's children: Bob, Joe, Bernie and Lou Kastelic were/are in Minerva, Akron and Cleveland, OH; respectively while Lou is in Silver Spring, MD.
• Karel's kids were spread around: Lil (El Segundo, CA) just passed in 2024, her brother Daro (San Antonio, Texas) in 2009 and Eddo (Palm Beach, Florida) in 1993 before that.
• The Franca Legan clan is Stanley, Ann, Herb, Larry, Joe and Tom. Joe is in Indianapolis, Indiana; while Tom is in Solon, Ohio.
• Martin's only child Vasilija was in Zagreb and Hvar on the Adriatic coast; both are in Croatia. See Vasilije Gift story. Their daughter Jelena is on Facebook while son Martin we are not in touch with.
• Justa's Nadica is in assisted living in Belgrade. Her son Marko lives in Denmark now and is on Facebook.
• Of Betty's kids, we only have Dan in (Cleveland) Ohio. See the Betty Jordan Story. Dave, Betty Ann, and Marge all passed on. They were from the New Orleans, LA, Greensboro, NC and Potomac, MD area; respectively. Betty Ann and Marge passed recently (not due to Covid19).
• Jože, Josefina (Pepca) and the infant Frančiška Jordan never had any children. Jože appears to have died in the Jasenovac Ustaše camp in 1944, Pepca was lost to TB in 1924 within a year of ferrying her young sister Betty over, and the infant Frančiška Jordan died shortly after birth.

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Great-Grandchildren and beyond

The 34 first cousins generated 95 second cousins. Those who have died are underlined. Most have not met each other but we point out who we know so others can get in touch and contribute to this family legacy site. Can you believe many of these great-grandchildren (Second Cousins) are already grand parents (italic below)!

Here is who we know about:
Ignac and Lina had 20 grandchildren. The status of most is not known.

• Marica had Janez, Poloca, and Matjaž
• Drago had Drago, Draga and Boža
• Stanko and Mirko did not have any kids (that we know of)
• Silvo had Sandi and Erika
• Ciril did not have any kids (that we know of)
• Antone had Antone, Ivanka, Peter, Sonja, and Mateja
• Vladimir had Vladimir and Mitja
• Darinka (living?) has Andrej and Iztok
• Ivan had Boris, Sandi, and Nataša

Marija Rus's three children provided 7 grandchildren:

• Neda had Jasna and Branka (all remained in Slovenia)
• Vladimir had Vladimir and Elizabeth
• Tillie had Marija, Petercek, and Marko

Frances Legan's six children provided 18 grandchildren into the count:

• Stanley had Judith, Michael and Stanley
• Anne had Robert, Kathleen, and Suzanne
• Herb had Lynn, Karen, Mark, and Brian
• Larry had Laura, Christopher, and Mark
• Joe has Joe and John
• Tom has Jeffrey, Marian, and Lisa

Karel Jordan's three children gave 3 grandchildren:

• Eddo gave us Gizelle
• Lila had son Roland
• Darko had son Martin

Franc Jordan's children have given him 5 grandchildren:

• Branka had Lillian and Carmen
• Vladimir (Val) had Harry, Robert and Roman

The four Antonija Kastelic children provided 19 grandchildren to their parents:

• Bob has Robert, Paul, Lisa, Tom and Steve
• Joe has Katherine, Joe, ... and 5 more
• Bernie has Joseph, Mitchell, Greg and Bernadette
• Louis adopted Tony, Ann, and Ellie

Justa Ruzic adopted:

• Nadica who has one son Marko.

Martin Jordan's only child Vasilije gave 2 grandchildren:

• Vasilije has Martin and Jelena

Betty Kosak's four kids gave her 20 grandchildren.:

• Dave's five daughters are Katherine, Antoinette (Tony), Rebecca, Frances, and Janice
• Betty Ann's four are Mark, Jamie, Randolph (Randy) and Elizabeth (Beth)
• Marge's seven are Diane, Kenneth (Ken), Elaine, Karen, Steve, Denise, and Greg
• Dan's four are Douglas (Doug), Jennifer, Joyce and Daniel (Dan)

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Family Story

(work in progress; sketchy but getting filled out and corrected as we go along. Many partial stories and pieces of information spread among the many relatives to piece together.)

War torn. Words so easily rolled off the lips. So often used in nightly news reports to describe areas with strife, genocide, famine and more. Yet it is not very often we get to truly peer into the real effects on life it causes over generations in one family. But there is no better phrase to summarize the story of the Jordan / Baznik clan through the early 1900's in Slovenia and Croatia through to the 1950's.

There were two key times in the family history that caused factions and splits that, in some cases, never healed before death. The first driven by the death of the Jordan siblings' parents around the first World War. The second by the actions of World War II and the alignment with parties, leaders and societies before, during and after. Many escaped to the USA for a new life and to try and leave that all behind them. It is only now that we attempt to resurrect it all to reflect on our past and provide lessons for the future generations; at least in our family.

Vlad's Ameriška Domovina story "Jordan Family of St.Jernej" at first uncovers some of the scattering caused by the death of Joseph and Franciska. What he glosses over is that the scattering actually started with the death of father Joseph in 1912 as he left Francis with eleven kids and no money. There is some report that he squandered the farm, house and business on drinking, gambling, and philandering. Another report is it was lost by an Uncle left to care for the property while Josef served his mandatory 2 years in the military at age 18. Whatever is true, there was not much left once Josef dies in 1912. The mayor of Šentjernej at the time and a cousin to Frančiška, Mr. Khrin¹, oversaw the disposition of the children. Siblings Martin, Justa, and Frank were sent to Zagreb, Croatia to live with xxxx there. The new "Croatian" siblings stayed tight nit and birthed the beginnings of the second wave of emigration. Ignac was married by this point and settled in more central Slovenia after Karel bought him a farm there. Two sisters (Franca and Tonka) were sent to their mother Frančiška's brother (Uncle Ignac Baznik) in Cleveland, Ohio to help in his boarding house, around 1913 and 1917; respectively. Karel and Marija had been sent to Frančiška's sister Marija Baznik Rus in Ljubljana. Josephina, Josip and Elizabeta, the youngest, went with their mother to grandmother Anna Baznik's farm nearby (as did Tonka before shipping off to Cleveland).
(SUP()}1{SUP}We had always heard it was an Uncle with surname Turk. In reality it was likely the setup grandfather. Josef's mother remarried a Turk after her first husband, a Jordan, died young. So not sure if him or Khrin. We are looking for more verification of this possible explanation.

Mother Frančiška died in 1919. Now leaving the younger children orphans. An alcoholic Uncle was also in the house and began to prey on the young girls. As the grandmother's health started failing, Josephina and Elizabeth were sent to the sisters in Cleveland while Josip stayed behind.

(Maria has updated me with who they actually stayed with; need to fix here yet.) Karel and Mara were in Ljublijana at their Aunt Rus's. Mara married the son (her first cousin Franc) there. Karel started a business building wooden shipping containers in Rijeka. Marija's husband Franc was brought in and they all domiciled in Rijeke / Fiume where the factory was. Karel then stayed mostly in Staza that was closer to Šentjernej and the forest lands used to get the lumber for their business. They became fairly successful in business during the 1920's and 30's. Karel was able to support and help his siblings to gain footings as a result, including the siblings in the Zagreb area. The region, especially Croatia, was still destitute after WWI and struggling to recover. Various factions and beliefs became popular and were leading to political power struggles in the area. Much for the same reasons as the rise of Hitler and Musolini, similar tensions and developments occurred in this melting pot of people below the southern Alps known as Krain or Slovenia.

The second split and major disruption climaxed during World War II and focused around the alignment with parties and ideologies. It is hard to say now whether some became declared Nationalists just to be at peace in their surroundings, were conscripted into the cause, or they truly believed in and supported this ideology. The Nationalists would eventually gain control and become Tito's regime that aligned with the communist ideals. The end of WWI saw the many Balkan states pulled into a country named Jugoslavia (meaning southern Slavs) that held together for 75 years.

Many of the family members sent to Zagreb became Nationalists. Due to these underground or stated loyalties, the struggle for control by fascists caused many to get executed or imprisoned at various times. Franc was one of the biggest supporters of the Nationalist movement as was Martin. Josip kept getting conscripted, being a younger lad, but would escape only to be conscripted by the other side. Ignac and Franc's wife Amiljia were executed during this time period by the opposing side. (Franc had died earlier of TB.)

Karel had become mayor of Šentjernej following in his Krhin family footsteps. Instead of rounding up Jewish people to be sent to camps (as requested by the occupying German army), he and his sister Mara secretly ferried many out to Trieste and often on to Argentina. They had to flee themselves toward the end when the German occupation fell. With Argentina being where Karel eventually ended up himself. His closest sibling, Mara, went back in after the area was taken over by Fascists. She was rounded up and imprisoned for close to 10 years. Karel and Mara's husband Franc, from Trieste, worked on her release but to no avail. Betty had even traveled to Trieste with cousin Louis Baznik and others with a Buick to try and bribe for her release in 1947. But to no avail. Karel eventually moved his family to Argentina and then to American in the late 1950's. Although they all first went to Cleveland and then Illinois, the son-in-law Hugh Aubert got a job in southern California that would draw them all out there shortly after arriving. Hugh was the first to arrive followed shortly by Vlado and Eddo Jordan — all to work in the new Van Nuys GM auto plant that opened there. They all had a very short stay in Cleveland with the other family but the climate too cold.

Tillie and Vlad had escaped and stayed out of Slovenia with their father Franc. Their sister Neda was imprisoned with their mother. Tillie and Vlado felt Karel left Mara and Neda behind and never forgave him for this misdeed. Justa, Fanca (Martin's wife), and others in Zagreb felt Karel had done everything possible for the family and others during the war. They all passed on without ever having broken the "faction" that arose within the family. To this day, their kids had not really interacted. Until our interest in genealogical research starting bringing some into contact with others.

Eventually Mara would get released and come to the Cleveland area in 1954 only to pass away in 1957. After release in xxxx, Neda stayed in Slovenia until her death. Vasilija stayed on in Zagreb with his mother Fanca. Franc's kids, Branka and Vlad left Croatia in the late 1950's by way of West Germany (West Berlin) for four years and, after arriving in Cleveland, ended up in the San Fernando Valley area north of Los Angeles, California. Branka's daughters were born in Croatia and Germany as a result.

As a result of his actions to ferry persecuted people out, Karel was never allowed to return to Slovenia until the communist party fell out of power in the 1991. After that time, he fought hard to regain his properties and the thousands of acres of forest land he had owned for his business. Years later the requests were suddenly granted by the government. Along with the lands and building, he received a huge tax bill. As his children were all too old to consider returning, he simply donated the acquired assets to the Catholic Church that had, and still was, such a big part of their lives. Although Vlado had asked for a sharing of the assets as the business was with both families, apparently Karel was not willing to involve Mara's kids at this late point. Karel passed on a few years after starting this process, at the age of 102, and is buried with his sons, wife, mother and grandmother in the Šentjernej cemetery. Lilian had carried on the fight to gain back any remainder of the properties; which are few and of little value.

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Parents of Josef Jordan and Frančiška Baznik

There had been much speculation of the parents and grandparents by the remaining American cousins. Especially the maiden names of the mothers who were so important in the lives of their kids. But piecing together stories from many of the cousins and surving siblings of the time helped develop a more comprehensive history. Then Marias search in the archives of Slovenia as well as bouncing around towns looking for gravesites and surnames.

For the most part, the Jordan grandmother was in the final, remaining Jordan property with the kids until Joseph died. After that, the younger kids moved with Frančiška to the Jordan grandmother's house (Frančiška' mother in law) and some remained there even after Frančiška died. We know Frančiška's mother is Anna Baznik (married name) and she is buried with Frančiška in the Šentjernej church cemetery. We believe she took the youngest in when her daighter died; possibly before she died. Who are the Uncles and Aunts the kids were sent to in Ljubljana and Zagreb though? We know Anna's sister married a Rus in Ljubljana who was eventually Mara's mother-in-law.

Maria has uncovered records the parents and grandparents of both Josef and Frančiška, and even as far back as Frančiška's great-grandparents. It is interesting to note that Frančiška's great-grandmother (the maternal line) was born with the surname Perko. A doctor Perko would play such a big role in the lives of the Jordan's in the Cleveland area for many generations. It is not known if there is any actual relation. None was known while in Cleveland.

Questions yet to answer:
(1) Who was the "uncle" or "grandfather" (then mayor of Šentjernej?) who sent kids to a relative in Zagreb?
(2) Who was the relative in Zagreb some kids were sent too — Martin and Frank for sure; any others (Justa?)?

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Jordan name history in Slovenia

The following is what all believed until Maria's discoveries. It is mostly from Karel through second sources. We are working to recover and transcribe interviews Karel gave in the 1980's to get more verifiable details.

Slovenia was under Austrian rule for hundreds of years. In the 1797 to 1809 time period, Napoleon made a few sweeps through the area. In one of those, he left behind a French Colonel with surname Jordan to manage the area. By 1815, the area was back under Austrian control. This has since been disproven by the church and land records that Maria uncovered in her research there. The Jordan name and family were landowners in the Šentjernej area before Napoleon's pass through.

Austrians used German as the language of government. The Jordans worked as ministers and translators between the Austrian rulers and Slovenian people of the greater Šentjernej area. Joseph Jordan was the last such person working this trade although Karel and others were subsequently mayor. (We have since learned that Joseph Jordan may have been the "sheriff" and not mayor.)

Oddly, the Jordan name is somewhat more common in Slovenia than you would expect. And its use today ist mostly centered around the Šentjernej area. Likely all originating from this same line dating back to at least the 1700's. But this spelling is not the French form as would be expected if a Napoleon officer; but mainly the English/Irish form with some use also in Germany and Poland. The French use the surname Jourdain and the Italians Giordano. Was the original French name simply "germa-fied" due to the local language? Or is it really more ancient and, like others around the world, developed from the name of the River Jordan that John the Baptist performed his baptisms (as history tells us). See the UCL PublicProfiler for more information.

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Baznik name history in Slovenia

The surname is very rare inside Slovenia and more so anywhere else in the world. The second most common place for the name is Cleveland, Ohio and the surrounding area.

Bozniak is a known title given to some people in Slovenia by the Germans and meaning "of Bosnian descent". This is the believed source of the surname by scholars. Just as Hrovat / Horvat is for Croatian people, Rus for Carpathian Russian, Kosak / Kozak for Cossak, and so on.