Surnames Grgin and Tucić

Don Riko Finka, on page 372 of his Chronicle of the Brbinj Parish, in which he recorded research on family trees of the Brbinj families, writes about the Oblak, Grgin and Baran families. For Grgin family, he notes that the "real Grgin" is mentioned around 1730, and that is according to him Stipan Grgin detto Tucić. He also records the baptism of Clara by Tomas Grgić and Lucija Stipanov in 1737, then the birth of Manda by Matija Španolić and Manda Grgin in 1742 and the birth of Andrija Grgin son Stipana detto Tucića and Franice Petrova of 1752. It would follow from this that Don Rico thought that the Grgins moved to the Tucić estate, so he distinguishes between "real Grgin" family and Tucić family.

However, the Glagolitic church registers of the parish of Brbinj reveal that the Grgin family were actually Tucić family, and that they were probably called Grgin after their ancestor Grgur Tucić. The register of deaths states that Grgur Tucić died in 1720 at the age of 35, but from the List of souls (Status Animarum) of the parish of Brbinj beginning in 1658, it can be seen that even before that another Grgur Tucić was entered in the Lists of souls from 1658.

The List of souls of the parish of Brbinj begin in 1658 and end in 1808, but the lists of names and surnames of Brbinj people in each year exist from 1658 to 1678, then until 1696 only the number of persons living in Brbinj is listed. From 1696 to 1724, we again have lists of names and surnames of people living in Brbinj, and then after 1724 to 1808 only the number of people living in Brbinj. From 1658 to 1678, Grgur Tucić is mentioned in the List of people living in Brbinj in each year, and when the list of names reappears in 1696, we no longer find Grgur Tucić. From this we can conclude that the "first" Grgur Tucić, whose personal name I assume is the source and basis of the surname Grgin, died in the period from 1678 to 1696. There is no record of his death in the registry of deaths of the parish of Brbinj, but it is also possible that he did not die in Brbinj. Grgur Tucić was again entered in the List of souls in 1701, but it is now the younger Grgur Tucić, who died in 1720. That before this younger Grgur Tucić, who died at the age of 35 in 1720, this older Grgur Tucić also existed, we can see from the entry in the register of marriages of the parish of Brbinj from 1672, where the marriage of Petar Španol and Manda, daughter, is recorded. Gargur TucićIn addition, the Book of Confirmation lists the children of the elder Grgur Tucić and his wife Lucija.

That the Grgin family are in fact Tucić family (the two surnames represents the same family) is best seen in the origin of Stipan Grgin detto Tucić, whom don Rico calls the "real Grgin". Namely, in the Glagolitic register of births in the parish of Brbinj in 1729, we have an entry of the birth of Stipan from Tomas Tucić and Lucija. So, Stipan, who was later enrolled under the surname Grgin, was born to father Tomas Tucic and mother Lucija.

In the register of marriages of the parish of Brbinj in 1752, a marriage was recorded "among Stipan son of Toma Grgin and Franica, daughter of Ivan Fižul from Dragove, so Stipan is not the first Grgin, but his father Tomas is also called Tucić and Grgin. Thomas was the grandson of the elder Grgur Tucić.

In the register of births of the parish of Brbinj from 1742, we have an entry of the birth of Manda by Matija Španolić and Matia Grginand in the register of marriages we find the entry of the marriage from 1739 “between Matij, the son of Petar Španol and Matija daughter of Grgur TucićTherefore, Matija, the daughter of Grgur Tucić, is sometimes referred to by the surname Tucić and sometimes by the surname Grgin.

In several places in the Glagolitic registers, the surname Grgin is associated with the surname Tucić (Grgin detto Tucić, Grgin called Tucić). Don Rico records Stipan Grgin detto Tucić and Andrija Grgin son of Stipan detto Tucić. In 1753, in the register of marriages, we have an entry of the marriage of Anton, son of Šimun Dragić, detto Litinić from Savar and Mara, daughter of “Tomas Grgin deto Tucić from Brbinjthen in the register of births in 1758, the entry of the birth of Andrea and Toma from Stipan Grgin deto Tucić and Franica Petrova

That the Tucić or Grgin are the old Brbinj family can also be seen from the census from 1608, when the head of the family Gregorio Tucich was listed in Brbinj. However, there are also older entries of the Grgin surname in the excerpt from the registry of marriages of the parish of Brbinj from 1601, when one of the godparents at the wedding of Mikula Odvećević and Jelena daughter of Marko Zagorči from island Olib was Garga Tucic, along with Mikula Ranac and Šimun Pesić ".

In the book of Confirmation, it is written in 1651 that Lucija Tucić was "santula" or godmother at the confirmation of Mara Meštrović (hence Masnova), while in 1674 Luca Gargin was entered as the godmother at the confirmation of Luca Miklanić. In the same year, Šime Bahaev's godfather at the confirmation was Gargur Tucić, etc. Thus, the first entry of the surname Grgin was not in 1730, as don Rico wrote, but in 1674, when Luca Gargina was enrolled as the godmother at the confirmation.

According to the Glagolitic registers, the Tucić and Grgin were a relatively numerous family. According to the Book of Confirmation, the elder Grgur Tucić and his wife Lucija had daughters Kata, Ursa and Manda and a son Ivan Tucić. Ivan Tucić and his wife Manda, who was from Mikljanjev family, had daughters Tomica born in 1693, Franica born in 1698, son Tomas born in 1695, son Šimun born in 1700, and Grgur Tucić who died at the age of 35. was supposed to have been born in 1685 is also their son, as we learn from the Book of Confirmation, when in 1698 the confirmation "Gargur son of Ivan Tucić and his real wife Manda" is written. We learn from the Book of Confirmation that Ivan Tucić and his wife Manda had another daughter, Katarina.

The younger Grgur Tucić had three daughters, Manda born in 1712, Matija born in 1716 and Kata born in 1718.

The male line of the Tucić and Grgin family was extended through Tomas Tucić and his wife Lucija Stipanova from Soline. They had a daughter Mara who in 1753 married Šimun Dragić, son Stipan Grgin detto Tucić, who was born in 1729 and whom don Rico Fink calls "the real Grgin", son Ivo (Jiva) born in 1726, son Filip born in 1731, twins Šimo and Tome born in 1735 and daughter Klara born in 1737. The lineage is further extended through Stipan Grgin and his wife Franica Petrova (who is the daughter of Ivan Fižuljev who came from Dragove to his wife estate in family Petrov from Brbinj) who had daughters Matija, Ivanica, Mara and Klara and a son Andrea Tom. Stipan Grgin died in 1764, and that year 18 people died in Brbinj, including four memebers of Masnov family in less than a month, which indicates that it was probably a contagious disease. After all, in the same year, 70-year-old Lucija Grgin, Stipan's mother, a native of Soline, died in house of the Grgin family. From other sources[1] we know that plague epidemics ravaged Dalmatia in 1763 and 1764, on the basis of which I concluded that plague probably raged in Brbinj in 1764. In the same year, 1764, Franica Petrova, whose father was Ivan Fižuljev, the widow of Stipan Grgin, married Ivo Pešušić from Solin, who came to wife s estate (in Grgin family house) and took the surname Grgin. So, the widow Franica Petrova married Pešušić from Solin, and from Soline was also her late mother-in-law, mother of the late Stipan Grgin, Lucija Stipanov from Soline.

Ivo Pešušić from Soline and Franica Petrova had a son Tomas who was baptized in 1765, and in 1769 were baptized also their children Bartul and Matij. Franica died in 1775 and was registered as Franica Grgina at the age of 50. The data from the register of the dead agree with the data from the register of the baptized, because in the register of the baptized in 1726 we have the entry of the baptism of Franica, the daughter of "Jivana Petrov and Klara". So, Ive Pešušić from Soline, who came to the Grgin estate, by marrying the widow of Stipan Grgin, now becomes a widower himself. We learn from the birth register that Ive Pešušić is remarrying for Jivanica Meštrova, but I did not find the entry of their marriage in the marriage register of the Brbinj parish. Ive Pešušić and his second wife, Jivanica Meštrova, have several children: Kata, Tomica, Matija, Matija, Bartula, Dunat Osip and Šimun. In 1786, at the baptism of his son Bartul, Ive Pešušić from Soline began to be called by the surname Grgin. Descendants of Ivo Pešušuć said Grgin and Jivanica Meštrova are today called Grgin and the older members of this genus have a vivid memory of the true origin of these Grgins from Brbinj[2]Today in Brbinj there is another family with the surname Grgin, and they are the descendants of Jadre Grgin and his wife Elena or Jelena Sulupov from Sestrunj. Jadre Grgin is the son of Stipan Grgin and Franica Petrova, born in 1757. There is no information about his marriage to Elena Sulupov from Sestrunje in the registry of marriages of the parish of Brbinj, which corresponds to the custom that the marriage takes place in the parish of the bride. In 1781, the baptism of Franica, daughter of Jadre Grgin and Elena Sulupov, was entered in the register of births in the parish of Brbinj. They later had daughters Filipa, Margarita, sons Šime, Grgur, Antun, daughter Ursa, son Filip, Ivan Filip and Matija. In the registry of baptisms, this Jadrij is always registered under the surname Grgin, except when registering the baptism of his son Antun, in 1791, when he is registered as Jadrij Tucić, which, in my research, is the last entry of the surname Tucić. Today in Brbinj, even members of the Grgin family do not know that the surname Tucić existed in Brbinj.

Don Rico in the Chronicle of the Parish of Brbinj[3] writtes that there are two lineages of Grgin familiy, but neither in the male nor in the female line they aren t cousins, although the boundaries of their old houses and land are parallel to each other. In the Register of parcels of the Franciscan cadastre buildings for the cadastral municipality of Brbinj from 1824, we also see two Grgin families with the heads of the family Mate Grgin, son of the late Ivan (Pešušić from Soline) and Andrija Grgin, who share the same court. If you look at the maps of the Franciscan cadastre, you can see that the houses of the Grgins and the common court of these two Grgin families are actually the old houses of the Grgin family near today's house of Zdenko Grgin in Brbinj.

So these two families, although they bear the same surname Grgin, are not related by either male or female line. Some are the true descendants of Grgur Tucić, ie the descendants of Jadrij (Andrija) Grgin and his wife Elena Sulupov from Sestrunj, and the other are the descendants of Ivo Pešušić from Soline, who came to Grgin estate by marrying Stipan Grgin's widow, Franica Petrova, who died. so Ive Pešušić called Grgin remarried to Ivanica (Jivanica) Meštrov from Brbinj. The descendants of this second Grgin family are today the descendants of Ive Pešušić from Soline and Ivanica Meštrova from Brbinj.

Ive Pešušić from Soline, who came to Grgin estate in Brbinj, is from the Pešušić family from Soline, who were called "Košćinovi" (second surname of that family from Soline), which is important to know because Pešušić were a large family in the Zadar area in the observed period. In 1799, the marriage was registered in the registry of marriages of the parish of Brbinj between Martin, son of Petar Ivančev, and Tomica, daughter of Ivan Košćina from Soline. In the systematization of Brbinj families from the 19th century, which was made by Don Šime Barani,then the parish priest of Brbinj, on the basis of data on births in Brbinj, he states the descendents of Andrija Košćinov, son of the late Šime called Grgin.

As Don Riko writes, today's Baran family in Brbinj should be called Grgin according to their male line. In the Register of marriages of Brbinj parish, in 1808, a wedding was recorded "between Anton son of Jadrij Grgin and me ??? Jadrijana daughter of the late Anton Baranov". Thus, Anton or Ante, son of Andrija or Jadrij Grgin, marries Andrijana or Jandrijana of the late Anton Baranov, who was the son of Ivan Božulić who came to Baran's estate from Brgulje. Don Riko writes that this Anton Grgin came to the Baran estate and took the surname Baran, and that he was later married to Filipa Mirkova, which means that Andrijana Baranova died, and thus the Baranov Božulić family died out both in the male and female lines, and today's Baranovs in Brbinj are actually by their male line of Grgin family origin.

During the 19th century,in one of the families of the Grgins in Brbinj came by marriage Bara Mavar, who left his surname, so today the surname Mavar exists in Brbinj, which we associate with the Grgins.

The Grgin families from Brbinj should not be linked to other Grgin families in the Zadar area, because according to the registers of Brbinj parish, there are no links between the Grgin families from Brbinj and other families with surname Grgin from the Zadar islands of Rava and Vrgada. We have Grgin on Vrgada, according to Tomislav Grgin[4], Grgins from Vrgada are descendants of Grga Mikuličić. The Grgins also lived on the Rava[5] they also have contact with Brbinj, but not with the Grgin faimilies of Brbinj, but in the Register of marriages of the parish of Brbinj in 1697, we learn that a marriage took place "between Matij Hrišić from Brbinj and Katarina Gargin from Rava, daughter of Šimun Gargin from Rava".

 

[1] Božić - Bužančić, Danica: "Two regulations from the era of plague epidemics in Dalmatia XVIII. century"

[2] U razgovoru sa Zdenkom Grginom, Ivanom i Srećkom Grginom sam saznao da znaju da po muškoj liniji nisu zapravo Grgin nego Pešušić iz Solina, a Zdenko Grgin zna i detalje sa ženske linije

[3] Don Leonard Riko Finka: Chronicle of Brbinj parish, unpublished manuscript, p. 372.

[4] Grgin, Tomislav: Podrijetlo žitelja otoka Vrgade, Geoadria, vol 5, 129 – 133, 2000.

[5] Za Grgine sa Rave vidi rad Ivne Anzulović – Prilog proučavanju povijesti društvenog života Ravljana: Stoše Grgin iz Rave i njezina dota iz 1686.

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