Croatian Heraldry

By Adam S. Eterovich

JANKOVICH

Jankovich is found in all parts of Croatia and is a very common name. The root could mean lamb or having to do with lambs.

This clan had six different coats of arms awarded to them for battle against the Turks with the earliest grant made on August 5, 1686 in Vienna. Their arms were recorded in Budapest, Vienna and Zagreb.

Pietro Jancovich from Dalmatia was an oysterman in PIaquemines Parish, Louisiana in 1860. Pietro was married to a French-Louisiana girl and had children named Pierre, Antonette, Angel, Mark and Rose, a good Croatian French combination.

While Michael Jankovich was fishing the Bayous of Louisiana in 1870, Joseph Jankovich was a fisherman at the Front Street Wharf in San Francisco, California. Luka Jankovich, declaring a value of $8,000 at Virginia City, Nevada in 1870 also had a coffee saloon in San Francisco in 1874 on Davis Street. George Jankovich had a coffee saloon and oyster saloon at 523 Davis Street in San Francisco while Nikola Jankovich, an American citizen, was mining gold in Amador, California in 1866.

The Jankovich’s were into gold, oysters, saloons, coffee saloons and had a preference for French girls.

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.