I WAS BORN JUNE 1, 1893 IN A JUGOSLAVIAN VILLAGE OF SVINICA. MY FATHER WAS NAMED JACOB AND MY MOTHER WAS CALLED MILIA. I WAS THE FIRST BORN FOR THEM. THEY HAD FOUR SONS AND ONE DAUHTER. OUR ADMININSTRATIVE COUNTYWAS CALLED KRSTINA, WHERE THERE WAS A POST OFFICE, POLICE STATION AND A TAX COLLECTOR. THERE WAS ONE DOCTOR TO SERVE THE COMMUNITY AND OTHER OFFICIALS. AN ORTHODOX CHURCH AND SCHOOL WERE ESTABLISHED.

I DO NOT REMEMBER ANYTHINS BEFORE MY SIXTH BIRTHDAY OR MY SEVENTH BIRTHDAY MY MOTHER TOOK ME TO CHURCH AND SCHOOL WHICH WAS NEARBY. I STARTED IN SCHOOL 1900, FOR FOUR YEARS, THEN HISH SCHOOL FOR TWO YEARS. MY MOTHER DIED IN 1904 WHEN I AS ELEVEN YEARS OLD. I FINISHED ALL SOHOOLING AT HOME UNTIL 1906.

I CAME FROM A WEALTHY FAMILY

MY PARENTS WERE WEALTHY FARMERS. MY MOTHER HAD A MAID AND MY FATHER HAD TWO YOUNG MEN WORKING FOR HIM. HE RAISED CATTLE, SHEEP, AND PIGS FOR MARKET. THE IN THE FALL HE MADE WHISKEY PLUM BRANDY UP TO 3000 L1TRE. IN THE WINTER TIME RE WORKED IN HIS SHOP MAKING WHISKEY BARRELS AND ALL KIND OF FURNITURE WHEN HARVEST TIME CAME HE HIRED ME AND WOMEN TO STORE ALL THE FOOD.

I START SCHOOL WITH A GOOD RECORD

I AS TOLD THAT OUR FARM HAD 200 ACRES WITH A BIG HOUSE, AND A LARGE BARN AND MANY OTHER LITTLE BUILDINGS. THERE WAS A BLACKSMITH SHOP. IN 1907, WREN I WAS 14 YEARS OLD I APPLIED AND WAS ACCEPTED FOR STUDY IN ZAGREB. THERE I STUDIED WORLD HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY AND LAW. MY TEACHERS THOUGHT I MADE GOOD PROGRESS. MY FATHER AND UNCLE WERE WELL PLEASED WITH MY GOOD RECORD.

BUT GET IN TROUBLE FOR THROWING EGGS AT THE GOVERNOR

AT ABOUT AGE 16, A REVOLUTION BROKE OUT IN CROATIA AND SLOVENIA, OUR SLAV COUNTRY AGAINST THE NEW HUNGARIAN GOVERNOR GROF, APPOINTED BY FRANZ JOSEPH, KING OF AUSTRIA. OLD AND YOUNG REBELLED. STUDENTS FROM MY SCHOOL ORGANIZED AND THREW EGGS ON THE NEW GOVERNOR AND HE RETURNED TO HUNGARY NEVER TO RETURN. POLICE ROUNDED UP MANY OF THE STUDENTS AND WE WERE SENT HOME. MY FATHER WAS VERY ANGRY, BUT MY UNCLE CAME TO OUR HOME AND TOLD MY FATHER TO SEND ME TO AMERICA UNTIL THE UNREST WAS SETTLED. THAT WAS THE END OF MY DAYS ON THE OLD HOMESTEAD.

NOVEMBER 21, 1909:
A TWO-WEEK PASSAGE TO AMERICA, and FIRST JOBS

NOW THE BIG JOB WAS TO GET A PASSPORT. IT WAS DECIDED WHO COULD GO TO AMERICA. WE WERE A GROUP OF THREE BOYS AND AN OLDER MAN WHO HAD BEEN IN THE UNITED STATES PREVIOUSLY. THAT WAS A GOOD BREAK FOR US. EVERY THING WAS READY FOR OUR LEAVE AND IT WAS NOVEMBER 21, 1909. MY FATHER WENT WITH US TO KARLOVAC AND HE TOLD ME TO RETURN HOME AFTER THREE YEARS WHEN THE POLITICS WAS MORE SETTLED. BUT THE FIRST WORLD WAR SPOILED OUR PLAN. FROM KARLOVAC WE WENT BY TRAIN TO ZAGREB AND THEN ON TO HAMBURG, GERMANY, WHERE I BOARDED THE OLIMPIA FOR AMERICA.

*Notes: Zora Thompson, the eldest daughter of Mike Popovich,  typed this original document using all capital letters. I have left all of her original formatting, spelling and organization. However, Zora typed this document as one long piece, with no subheads. I have added subheads at the beginning of key paragraphs or sections as an aid to the reader. These are in bold type.

Scanned & Converted to Microsoft Word Using Optical Character Recognition Technology by Mike Brozda, the grandson of Mike Popovich.