Siniša Penava
19.7.2018 at 5:47 PM
Hi John,
I saw your question on Geni regarding Fra Bazilije Pandžić’s ancestors, who according to your reference presumably were village leaders.
Unfortunately I do not have any hard evidence about this statement, but I remember one sense my mother told me about her grandfather, Stipan Pandzic. My mother was a kid when he died in 1955. She told me she remember Stipan as a very charismatic man. He’s got an attitude of a natural born leader, with his big moustache, traditionally dressed and always riding on a white horse.
I found this description interesting (probably that’s why I remember it), because this observation is been taken in the early communistic time in Yugoslavia, which is generally known as a very poor. In my opinion, if somebody traditionally dressed is riding on a white horse in early 50’s in Yugoslavia – he probably wants to make some statement. Anyhow, there is no doubt that ancestors of Stipan Pandžić’s were one of the wealthiest families in the village.
Stipan Pandzic is the oldest son of Filip Pandzic and Ruza Majic and uncle of fra Bazilije. Maybe he was one of the “village leaders” you are looking for, but most likely is his father Filip (fra Bazilije’s grandfather) one of the “village leaders” in the period 1895 – 1918 (period between his father’s Stipan death and end of Austrian occupation). another possible “village leader” could only be Filip’s father Stipan Pandzic, in the period 1878 – 1895 (from Austrian occupation until his death). Prior 1878 (Ottoman period), as far as I know there were no “village leaders” (at least not in the sense as during Austrian period).
I hope this will help a bit.
Kind regards from the Netherlands,
Sinisa Penava
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