The origins of the Raskovich clan

Leave it to Facebook to suggest friends for you who are actually 4th generation old-country relatives who don't speak English.

Facebook is sending waves of names to my Inbox that I've never heard of before, people from the other side of the planet. For once, I decide not to ignore the friend request and do a little searching to find out who these people are and why they might be befriending me. Long story short, I trade a few emails via Facebook with Biljana Zmajevic from Niksic, Montenegro and low and behold...her mother is a real Raskovich. Not an old-school Rasky, an old-country Rasky.

This news sends me a quest to find out what town in Montenegro my great grandfather, Milutin Raskovich, immigrated from. On a hunch, I think it's Kuta, a village outside Niksic...

Now I knew that my father had traveled this quest alone before, but I was young then...and quite frankly not all that interested in finding out about my old country roots. Suffice it to say, getting to ship manifest from a US chosen name is not as easy as you would think - especially considering the proliferation of the Internet and all the digital archiving that has grown since my father did his research at Ironworld USA via microfiche.

As of this morning I had been getting nowhere with my search for Milutin Raskovich. Shortly before lunch time my father walks into my office with a grin and a fist full of legal size papers. This can only mean he's dug through the old Raskovich chest at my parents house and he's arrived to deliver the goods. What he hands me is a copy of the certificate of arrival from the bureau of naturalization - the most important record. This record contains his given name at the time he immigrated to, of all places, Nashwauk Minnesota!

Milutin Raskovich as I know him was actually given as Milantin Rachkovitch at Ellis Island - hence my inability to get ANYWHERE in my online seaches.

Within minutes of my father arriving with the given name of my great grandfather I pegged the ship manifest on the website:


The passenger record lists Junpa, Montenegro, but his Petition for Naturalization clearly lists his hometown as Niskich, Montengro. Heck, his Petition even states his Hibbing address as 104 5th Avenue, Brooklyn (Hibbing), MN. As if this can't get any better, I now find out that was "Old Hibbing". Jeez....

Now I'm on a mission to trace the ancestry even further back in time, but this time I'm dealing within a country that was only formally recognized in 2006.

Wouldn't you know it...Facebook shows up again to help.

to be continued...

-Zach

Going insane

Two things I hate, most recently at least....

Sub zero temperatures following massive snowfalls

and

People playing poker on Facebook.

*sigh*

Fishing on Upper Red Lake

Randy and Joyce at sunset on beautiful Upper Red Lake - a cool, but crisp evening indeed.

I'm not Jim Brandenburg, but I try sometimes.


Randy and Joyce having a good time in the ice house.


Boy, what really needs to be said here...Scuba Steve trying to hold onto this Red Laker long enough for me to snap the photo. What a day. 20 Walleyes and countless high-fives. We ended the day, as I predicted, with a double (with one being our last keeper for an even 6 fish limit). Yee haw!

Opening Morning - Buck Down..

Dad shows up after hearing 3 shots in the woods.

He's cold.

I'm out of ammo :)

As much as I was tired of viewing this video from countless family get together audiences I can honestly say, after using a hair dryer to dry out the SD card that spent some quality time in the Raskovich washing machine (at least twice) since this was shot, taken from the camera, and transported to my house after a helping of Chokecherry wine (thank you, Charlene!), that I am SO HAPPY that this video survived. I had no idea how such a simple shot can capture a range of emotions.

My dad has been hunting this one particular deer stand for who knows how many years. The night before the opening morning of 2009 rifle season he tells me, "Son, I want to hunt tomorrow morning in my Beaver Pond stand". To which I reply with, "Whatever Old Man....your choice".

That might have been a decision better left for the 6AM morning commute to the hunting grounds....

Here's the video of the buck - Opening morning, 9AM:




...and here's the video of the doe (actually shot at 8AM), but the video was shot after we found the buck:

Three favorite photos Fall 2008

I love fall. With all this snow now I'm really having fall-withdrawls. Something about dead plants that turn colors and all the stuff that comes with that just convinces me that there is more to this time of year than any other.

So, I figured it was time to visit the Random Suff from Zach site and share a few photos, in the theme of a photo contest to better help tell the tale.


Late August Photo Winner:

"Cuffe catches Walleye - Crowd goes wild"
Submitted by YoursTruly
*Note - Fall Walleye fishing was friggin fantastic. Crappies were flowing all summer long, but with fall comes the mighty eyes. I can't count how many times I watched a slip float slowly go under the water and then hear someone yell, "Jam!". Hearing the drag whiz out of your real is perhaps my favorite sound on the water. But I digress...

Mid September Photo Winner:

"My dog is totally gonna kick the shit out of that Ruffed Grouse"
Submitted by YoursTruly
*Note - This photo was taken the day before small game opener. As far as I can know, allowing your dog to find it's own chicken dinner is perfectly legal...


And last, but certainly not least is my October winner:

"Yes dad, there really are 3 bucks in this picture and no you can't shoot any of them"
Submitted by YoursTruly

Use your advanced zoom features to see if you can spot all 3 bucks in this photo. I snapped this one near "Perryland" just outside of Chisholm on my way back from, ironically, making some upgrades to the deerstands before the season opened. We pulled down the road and noticed three deer crossing the road. Then they went into a nearby stand of popels and pine and just stood there waiting for us to come and check out their hardware. There are a pair of 4 pointers and one 6 pointer in the photo. My camera on my phone blows, but I shit you not...there were 3 bucks within pissing distance from my truck. As my boss likes to say, "What a country!".

Don't worry about the November winner because my dad has that one covered. He shot a few videos of my double kill on the deer opener (possible posting at a later date, but the video is graphic). I shot a doe at 8am and a buck at 9am. Just like I intended, it was a cold MillerLite and a well-earned noon nap for the opener. Cheers!

Class of '98 still parties like it's '99

Photos from our recent class reunion.