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.