Croatian Heraldry

Adam S. Eterovich

ANTONOVICH-ANTUNOVICH

The root of Antonovich-Antunovich is Anton or Antun, son of Anthony. Antonoviches are found in the interior of Croatia and the Antunoviches are found in the interior and on the Dalmatian coast and islands. The name is the same.

Arms were granted in the 15th century and in 1751. The arms were from the island of Rab, Zagreb and Vojvodina.

Nikola Antonovich married an Irish girl at famed St. Mary's Cathedral in San Francisco in the 1850's; they had a large family. Nikola had a coffee saloon and was a member of the Slavonic-Illyric Benevolent Society, the oldest Croatian society in the Americas. Charles Antonovich was a liquor merchant in Mobile, Alabama in the 1850's his net worth, at that time a fortune, was 40,000. His wife was from Sardinia. Florio Antunovich from Konavlje was probably the most colorful and prosperous of all Antunoviches in America. He came to San Francisco on the clipper ship Flying Cloud in 1851 and was one of the organizers of the first Croatian societies in America. His first child was probably the first known to be born of Croatian parents in America. He was a pioneer goldminer in the Tuolumne, owned a saloon in Nevada, had a saloon all of his life in San Francisco and was listed as a capitalist.

Courtesy of the Croatian Genealogical and Heraldic Society, 2527 San Carlos Ave., San Carlos, California, 94070.Phone: 650-592-1190; E-Mail croatians@aol.com; Web www.croatians.com. Adam S. Eterovich.