My great grandmother Mildred Margin is one of those figures who I should know more about, but don’t. She married Marko Mihalovich and had 2 children before they left Yugoslavia (often listed as Austria or Serbia on records of the time) for America (one of the children died sometime prior to arriving, rumor has it at sea). They had 9 more children after settling in Wall, Pennsylvania. Considering she had 10 children who lived to be adults and most of them had children, the amount of information about her between the grandchildren (that I could get, at least) has been pretty sparse.

Even the basics are unclear…starting with her name. There is no dispute about her first name being Mildred, though on her husband’s naturalization declaration of intention it’s written as Milka – Mildred being the Americanized version. Her last name, however, is another story. My mom has always insisted that her maiden name was Margin and I believe this is probably true. However, on the death certificate of her oldest child, Mildred Mihalovich Stojakovich, her son-in-law Rade wrote the name of parent as “Mildred Zorich.” On the death certificate of daughter Esther, her other son-in-law George McLister lists it as “Mildred Zorick.” Zorich/Zorick is another family name (Mildred and Marko’s daughter Anna married a Zorich), and I’m assuming Rade and George were probably just mixing them up. Her daughter Anna’s delayed birth certificate lists her full name as “Mildred Merdzan,” close to Margin, but no cigar. Yet what gives me pause is that I have never come across even 1 DNA match result with the last name Margin anywhere in their tree…and that is odd.
Next, her birthday. The census records for 1920 and 1930 estimate her birth year to be 1876 or 1875, respectively. Her daughter Anna’s delayed birth certificate estimates Mildred’s birth year to be 1876. However, her obituary lists her birth date as October 22, 1889! This is clearly an error. If this were true, she would have been 9 years old at the time of her oldest child’s birth in March of 1899. This may have been a typo for 1879…or this date may have just been pulled out of a hat. October 22 is the same birthdate as one of Mildred’s grandchildren who was very close to her, yet this grandchild had never heard of she and her grandmother sharing a birthdate. My mom thinks that Mildred didn’t even know her own birthdate and perhaps picked this date herself because of the grandchild.
Her place of birth is also unclear, though most records point to “Karlovac, Yugoslavia” or “Poljana, Yugoslavia”, which in itself is confusing. The family insists that they are Serbian and there is no way we are from or have DNA that is Croatian. However, this information seems to be leading to Poljana, Karlovac which is in Croatia. With the wars and the borders changing so often back then, though, it’s quite difficult to determine what was what. I am trusting my entire Margin/Mihalovich family that WE ARE SERBIAN, but questions still remain…
When I polled my mom and her cousins, no one could tell me anything about the families of Mildred or Marko. No names of parents, no siblings names, or even if they had siblings at all. My mom remembers hearing about “an aunt in Monaca” that my grandmother kept up a correspondence with. After some digging, I came upon this:
Mildred Mihalovich of Trafford, PA is my great-grandmother. I’m fairly positive of this. Widowed Mildred was living in the tiny town of Trafford with my grandma, her daughter Ruth, at the time of Stella’s death. So that means that Mildred had at least one sibling, a sister Stella. Looking up Stella, it appears she was born March 6, 1882 in Yugoslavia, married Michael Pavkovich about 1902, and immigrated to Pennsylvania in 1908. They had one child in 1907, a daughter Catherine, who married George Milan. They had one child together, George Michael in 1934, but sadly he would die in 1935. Tragically, Catherine would also die young, in a car accident in 1943 at the age of 36. She and her mother were driving to a cousin (Abe Macusic’s) wedding, apparently took a curve too fast on wet roads, lost control of the car, and crashed. Stella survived, but Catherine did not. Curiously, on Catherine’s death certificate, her mother Stella’s full name is listed as “Stella Zoric”, much like Mildred’s was. On Stella’s own death certificate her parents are listed as Milich Margin and Stella Zarick. Her obituary mentions no other siblings so I can either conclude that there are probably either no others or they have already passed away.
Which brings me to Stephen Margin. I looked up Margins in the general area of Trafford and Wall, Pennsylvania and Stephen Margin popped up from my Trafford search. He was born on June 12, 1877 in Krnjak, Yugoslavia and also moved to Trafford, Pennsylvania. I assumed, considering the uncommon last name of Margin and the fact that Trafford is quite tiny, that he and Mildred were probably somehow related, but I wasn’t sure how. Stephen married Helen Dudukovich and they had 4 children: Peter in 1902, Helen Marie in 1909, Mike in 1913, and Nicholas in 1915. Helen Marie married Stephen Dobos. When I mentioned the name to my mom she lit up. She remembered a Helen Dobos who lived in Trafford and that she was family, but she didn’t know how they were related. That confirmed it. This family was related to my family…but I still didn’t know how. Stephen died in 1939 so it was possible that he was Mildred and Stella’s brother, but not mentioned in Stella’s obituary because he had died 20 years earlier. Or he could be a 1st cousin or more distant cousin to Mildred. Unfortunately, the jury is still out on this. Stephen’s death certificate lists his parents as Paul Margin and Stella Tomacic…which doesn’t confirm or deny in my mind that Mildred and Stella are his siblings, the parents names being close enough to the Milich Margin and Stella Zarick on Stella’s death certificate, but not the same, leaving plenty of room for speculation.
I have never seen a photo of Mildred in her youth. I don’t know if there were any. My mom describes her grandmother Mildred as very kind and loving with a delightful accent (my mom and her cousins both remember the cute way she would say my mom’s name). She clearly loved her family and they loved her. My grandmother inherited her mother’s photo collection and there are countless of signed photos to grandma from her many, many grandkids.
Her husband Marko is almost as mysterious as Mildred, but that is a story for another day…

Sounds like youโre on the right track. From what Iโve read, it seems there have almost always been some Serbs living in Croatia.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Yeah in the research Iโve done in those areas it looks like in some places there were even more Serbs than Croats around the time they left. With so many Karlovacs and Poljanas though and with so many places changing names and borders, Iโm not even sure if Iโve got the right one. Hard to wrap my head around it.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I can see why–many knots of names to untangle!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I really enjoyed reading this story! I have to admit, I’m curious. I want to know more. I want to find out how they are all related, what happened to them, and what is her actual correct maiden name?! Thank you for sharing. Visiting from Genealogy Blog Picnic
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks for reading, Jen! Hopefully I will have an update to post at some point. *fingers crossed*
LikeLiked by 2 people
Really enjoyed following along as you researched these mysteries and uncovered more potential family connections. Wishing you luck in nailing down the maiden name issue soon!
LikeLiked by 1 person
What an interesting mystery! I, too have Slavic roots on my dad’s side, but I was lucky to have my grandmother tell me exactly where the family was from. With the repeated mention of both Margin and Zorich/k as maiden names, I wonder if a parent might have died young and the other remarried, with one of those surnames being the name of a step-parent?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Could be! Good thought-I’d never even considered that! At this point, any explanation is worth examining.
LikeLike
My family roots are croation serbs from the karlovac and Lika regions. Many serbs were recruited to live in Croatia (1500s) by the austrian empire to help resist the powerful Ottoman empire . At one time the serbian population of Croatia was about 25%. Most ethnic serbs in western Pa came from Croatia.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks for this info, Melvin! Thatโs really interesting and could definitely explain a lot.
LikeLike
I met Aunt Anna when I was about 8. I remember Aunt Ruth too but not sure of when. I was 7-10 years old and in Cambridge, Oh at the time. Their brother Nickolas was my grandfather and Mildred Mihalovich is my great-grandmother.
You know a great deal more than I. I’m so glad for your post. Jackpot!
I only started a couple years ago and kept hitting the same Marko/Mildred wall you describe. Took a long break but with winter and rain I have lots of spare time.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Uncle Sam Mihalovich obituary. Lists Mrs Ruth Dibangno of Trafford. I thought you would like to see this.
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/14868199/sam_mihalovich_obit/
I’m still overwhelmed by the pictures of the girls. I didn’t thank you for this post. Thank You!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you Johnny!! It’s nice to e-meet you! It looks like you and I are 2nd cousins. My grandma Ruth inherited Mildred’s trunk of photos and now my mom has it (she sends some of the photos my way, which is how I got this one). Are you on Ancestry.com? I have lots more photos posted there, including some of your grandfather.
Here’s the link:
https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/109479123/person/170076617947/facts
-Zoe
LikeLike