CROATIAN HERALDRY

Adam S. Eterovich

VUKOVICH--VUKOVIC

Vuk means wolf in English. Vukovich or Wolfson is a very large clan in Croatia and a popular name.

Vukovich has at least five Coats of Arms and probably more. The earliest grant of Arms was made in 1595 and is recorded at the University Library In Zagreb. The Coat of Arms does show a wolf.

Antonio Vukovich was fishing in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana in 1850 and was listed by the American Census as an Italian! Natale and Mateo Vukovich had fruit stands at famed Claiborne Market in New Orleans in 1858-1860. Andrew and Luka Vukovich were digging gold in the Tuolumne region of California in the 1860’s and Joseph was tending bar at a Croatian Saloon in Virginia City, Nevada in 1873.

Nikola already had a fruit business in San Francisco in 1860 and was also a barman at the Croatian San Francisco Chop House in Virginia City, Nevada. A true ''Wild West Pioneer'' was Edward Vukovich with his Adriatic Saloon on “C” Street, Virginia City in the 1860's and his Virginia Saloon at Benson, Arizona in 1883. Instead of a wolf in the Coat of Arms, the American Vukovich's should have had booze and gold.

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.