Krajina family Vučković (The Patron Saint St Nicholas) 1/2

One of the notable Krajina families in the 19th century was family Vučković from the village Dabar in Podgrmeč region. As with other Krajina families, their fate was marked by migrations, rebellions and sufferings. When a plague broke out in Bosnia and Herzegovina at the end of the 18th century, Todor and Milica Vučković from the village of Dabar with their children found temporary shelter in Skradin, Dalmatia. One of the sons, Špiro, later monastic Sylvester, then stayed in Dalmatia to "learn the book", served as a priest in Skradin, and at one time was the administrator of the Dalmatian Orthodox diocese. The names of the other sons we find in writings of Gavro Vučković Krajišnik: "My uncle was the deceased Silvester Vučković, the deceased priest Kosta Vučković and the deceased Mihailo, the father of priest Damian Vučković in Dabar." To this list of brothers could be added  Gavro's father, merchant Filip Vučković, who in the first half of the 19th century moved from Dabar to Petrovac, as its first Orthodox resident. Gavro's cousin was Todor Vučković later monastic Dionysius, hegumen of the Gomionica monastery and father of one of the wealthiest Serbs of Dalmatia, the Split merchant and banker Konstantin Kosta Vučković. Matica Srpska in Dubrovnik was established from the legacy of Kosta Vučković. We find the aforementioned priest Damian Vučković, son of Mihailo, as a Dabar village priest in the 1882 schematism of the Orthodox Metropolitanate of Dabar-Bosna. In this way, by comparing data from various sources, we have learned the genealogy of this influential and diverse Serbian family from Dabar.

Vučković family, with the Patron Saint St Nicholas, live in a  several villages of Podgrmeč-Bjelaj region, but their connection with the Vučković family from Dabar is not entirely clear. Gavro Vučković, commenting on the family relationship with Simeta Vučković  from the village Bravsko, writes: "Simeta and Stana to be called a clan like myself, but he is not my uncle ... And there is Simeta in Bravsko ..." This Vučković statement could be understood as a confirmation of the connection between the Vučković family from the Dabar and Bjelaj.

Based on tradition, Vučković family settled in Bjelajsko polje, Bravsko (Kapljuv), in the second half of the 18th century, from the Dalmatian villages Ervenik and Oton. Vučković family with the Patron Saint St Nicholas still lives in Ervenik, so it seems that tradition is correct. From the village of Bravsko, one branch of Vučković family moved to the villages of the parish of Krnjeusa, where they were also numerous. In Založje village near Bihac, for the Karakaš family, it is stated that they came "from Bjelajsko Polje where they called Vučković", and for Vučković family in Lipa near Bihać it is stated that they came "before the occupation from Sana".

Since the villages of Oton and Ervenik were inhabited by the population from Bjelajsko Polje region at the end of the 17th century, migration of Vučković family into Bjelajsko polje in the 18th century could have been a return migration. In addition to Ervenik, Vučković family with the Patron Saint of St Nicholas were quite numerous in Dalmatian village Polača near Knin. Fr. Nakićenović states for the Vučković family in Polača that they are the immigrants from Bosnia. The census from 1701 actually lists two Vucko's sons in Polaca, and it is unclear whether the surname originated at that time, or the Turkish "son of Vučko" can be understood as the last name Vučković. A few years later, in the census of 1709, five Vučković households were recorded in Ervenik, and among them is also mentioned the personal name Vučko. There remains an open question about the relationship between the Vučković families in Ervenik and Polača. ( to be continued)