CROATIAN HERALDRY

 

By Adam S. Eterovich

 

KOVACEVIC-KOVACEVICH-COVACEVICH

 

 

KOVACEVICH is found in all parts of Croatia. It is a very common name. In English it would be Smith, Smithson or Smithy. Other variations would be Kovac, Kovacich. In America some used Covacevich.

First Lieutenant Michael Kovacevich was granted coats-of-arms on June1,1821, during military service. A recording of arms was deposited in the State Archives of Croatia. Pvt. Jakob Kovacevich served in Cognevich’s  company, 4th Regiment, European Brigade, Louisiana Militia Volunteers, Confederate Army of 1861 and Cpl. Nikola Kovacevich served in the Slavonian  Rifles , Ist Company Cazadores Esp. Regiment, Louisiana Militia Volunteers, Confederate Army of 1861 in America.

Antonio Kovacevich from Starigrad on the Island of Hvar  voted in Philadelphia in 1849, was the vice-president of the Slavonic Illyric Society of San Francisco in 1860 (the oldest overseas Croatian Society,, org. 1857) and was the owner of the famed Presidio Road Saloon in San Francisco in 1867. Antonio also mined gold and made a strike. He died  in 1882 in San Francisco. Dominic Kovacevich voted in San Francisco in 1868 and was a barkeeper in Stockton, California, in 1873. John Kovacevich was a barkeeper in White Pine County, Nevada, in 1875 and Vincent Kovacevich, a fisherman, died in San Francisco in 1881, far from his beloved Dalmatia. Ivica-John Kovacevic from Australia, a used car manager, was selling good quality vehicles to his fellow Croatians in Australia.

Croatians have been a part of America for over 200 years.

 

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.