Croatian Heraldry
Adam S. Eterovich
NIKOLIC----NIKOLICH
The
name Nikolich or Nicholson is found in great numbers throughout Croatia.
The
first Nikolich Coat of Arms was granted in 1688 by King Leopold of Austria for
gallantry in war against the Turks. Other Arms were granted to
Nikolich-Raskovich in 1791 and to another family in1884 in Vienna.
The
American Nikolich's also were fighters. Some wrote their name Nicolich.
Stephen
Nikolich enlisted in the Confederate Army as a private at Pensacola, Florida,
on May 4, 1861. Another Nikolich fought for the Confederacy in 1862 in Captain
Ketchum's Company, Alabama Artillery. This same Nikolich was a bartender in
Mobile, Alabama in 1870. The American census said he was a Turk! He probably
came from Hercegovina.
Marco
Nikolich married a nice Irish girl named Moran in 1857 in Mississippi. George
Nikolich was mining gold in Amador County, California in 1865. Marco Nikolich
was a general merchant in Dry Valley, Nevada in 1872. John Nikolich was a
seaman in Washington State in 1880 and was a bartender in San Francisco in
1875.
The
Nikolich participation in the making of America was many and varied, from
Confederate rebels to goldminers and from dispensing of the spirits to chasing
Irish lasses - good Croatian boys of whom Mama in Old Country would have been
proud.
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.