In Brbinj today, we call the Odvitović family Bahajevi, but we also call today's Meštrov family in Brbinj Bahajevi, which brings some confusion about the origin of these families in Brbinj. The former Meštrov and Mirkov families were branches of the old Hrišić family from Brbinj, as I mentioned before in the chapter about the Meštrov family. The houses of the old Meštrov and Mirkov families were not in the place of today's Meštrov houses, i.e. right next to the houses of Odvitović, but were located south of the Church.

Because of this situation with the Bahajev family, I researched the information about the Bahajev familiy from the 19th century, that is, the Latin register books of the parish of Brbinj.

In figuring out the true origin of these families, I was greatly helped by the research of don Riko Finka, who dealt with the arrivals of man in the Meštrov and Odvitović families, that is Bahajev, in the 19th century. However, don Rico draws some wrong conclusions, especially with the Meštrov family.

We can clearly see that the Odvitović family is the same as Bahajev family in several places. In the Glagolitic register of births of the Brbinj parish in 1787, the fact of the birth of Jadrij, son of Mate Rančić and Manda, was recorded Bahaja "deto" (called) Odvitović. So, we have an explicit entry in the Glagolitic registry book about the connection between the surnames Bahajev and Odvitović.

This Manda Bahaja deto Odvitović is marked in the birth register when her children were born in 1789 as Manda Bahajev, and in 1775, 1778, 1781 and 1792 as Manda Odvitović.

The situation is the same with Kata Bahajev or Odvitović. She marries Ivan Kaleb and in the register of births, when registering the births of their children, she is marked once as Kata Bahajev, and on four occasions as Kata Odvitović.[1]

In the Latin registers of the parish of Brbinj, members of the Odvitović family are also sometimes marked with the surname Bahajev, and sometimes Odvitović.

That the Bahajev family are Odvitović family can be guessed from the entries in the passages of the oldest Glagolitic registers of Brbinj parish. In 1601, the marriage was registered in the register of married persons, i.e. "marriage of Mikula Odvećević and Jelena, daughter of Marko Zagorča from Olib, in accordance with the law of the Holy Mother Church, witnessed by Mikula Ranac, Šimun Pesić and Garga Tucić". It is interesting that later in the passages of the register of births of Brbinj Parish in 1602 Jelena, the wife of Mikula Bahaja, in 1606 Elena Bahajka and in 1609 Elna Bahajić are entered as godmother. This Jelena Bahajeva, the wife of Mikula Bahajev, is, I believe, Jelena the daughter of Marko Zagorčić from Olib, who married Marko Odvećević in 1601.

The Odvitović family were not a numerous family at the end of the 17th century. From the records of deaths and births, we see that Mara Odvićević, the wife of Šimun Odvićević, died in 1669, Šime Odvićević died in 1695 at the age of 46, and in 1713 his probably second wife Jlena Bahajva died at the age of 64. Namely, in the registry of marriages, there is a marriage entry from 1673 between Šimun Odvićević and Jela Bijakanjev, that is, four years after the death of Mara, probably Šimun Odvićević's first wife. The death register records the deaths of Matij Bahaja in 1708 at the age of 25 and Šime Odvićević at the age of 15. It can be assumed that they were the children of Šimun Odvićević and that the family of Odvićević survived only by two daughters of Šimun Odvićević, one of whom was married in 1700 in Soline to Petar from Marko Carić from Solin (the name of the bride is not given, only indicates as the daughter of Šimun Odvićević)[2] while the second Manda, daughter of Šimun Odvitović, married Ivan, son of the late Ivan Miklanić from Brbinj, in 1714.

This Ivan Miklanić (Mikljanjev) comes to the estate of the Bahajev family because the male line of Odvitović has probably died out and he takes the surname Odvitović, i.e. Bahaja, so in the register of births in 1715, 1721, 1723, 1725 and 1730 we have birth entries of his children , who were registered as children of Ivan Bahaja and Manda.

In the registry of marriages in 1741, the marriage was entered "between Matij Odvitović son of Ivan Miklanić and Luca daughter of Petar Bolona", so Ivan Miklanić's son is surnamed Odvitović.

There is another interesting fact related to the family of Odvitović that I found in an article by Zdenko Dundović from 2017.[3] when he writes about the vineyards on the estates of the Glagolitic seminary from Zadar (the largest number of vineyards were located in Brbinj and Savar). It is written that the must from Dugi otok was transported to the port of Zadar in koslats (a type of vessel) of different capacities, and that the name of don Šime Odvitović, known as Baccaglia, is often mentioned in connection with this business, in whose "leut" (type of ship) the must was transported to the seminary, and in 1803 don Marko Uglešić from Božava is also mentioned about this work.

Don Šime Odvitović was the parish priest in Savar, and in the Glagolitic registry books of the Brbinj parish he is mentioned on several occasions as godfather.[4]. According to the register of births of the parish of Brbinj, Šimun was born in 1730 to Ivan Bahaja and Made, so Šimun Odvitović was actually son of the father Ivan from the Mikljanjev family from Brbinj, who came to the estate in the Bahajev family, that is, the Odvitović family. My assumption is that this is don Šimun or Šime Odvitović. I could not figure out why don Šimun Odvitović is called Šimun Odvitović aka Baccaglia in the records of the income and expenses of the Zmajević Glagolitic Seminary from Zadar? I did not find any mention or connection with the surname Bacalja, neither in the family of Mikljanjev nor Odvitović or Bahajev, nor in any Brbinj family in the observed period. I think it is possible that in the original of the document I mentioned before, or during the transcription of that document, the surname Bahaja was replaced by the surname Bacalja.

The male line of Odvitović is extinguished again after Ivan Odvitović, who is actually Mikljanjev and Manda Odvitović. Their son, Šimun, is a priest, and in 1741, the register of marriages recorded the marriage between "Matij Odvitović, son of Ivan Miklanić and Luca, daughter of Petar Bolona", who had a daughter, Manda, in 1749.[5].

So the Odvitović family, who are Mikljanjev on the male line and Odvitović on the female line, remain on Kata, daughter of Ivan Bahaja and Manda who marries Ive Kalebov, Manda, also daughter of Ivan Bahaja and Manda who marries Ivan Masnov and Manda, daughter of Matija Bahaja and Lucije, who marries Matija Rančev (Rančić).

According to the data from the Glagolitic and Latin registers of Brbinj parish, it could be concluded that after the extinction of the Odvitović male line, Matij Rančev and his wife Manda Bahajeva moved to the Bahajev estate.[6]. In 1781, Matij Rančić and Manda Odvitović baptized their son Ivan, who became a priest and had no offspring. Ivan's sister Ivanica[7] marries Osip Ivančev (Brunac), who takes the surname Bahajev[8], but their male line also died out, so his daughter Matija married Antonio Fižulić from Dragove in 1836, who came to Bahajev estate and they had several children. Osip Bahajev born Ivančev remains a widower because his wife Ivanica Bahajeva dies in 1830. In 1833, Osip also married the widow Tomica Schaugneva, but she also died in 1834. Matija Bahajeva and Antonio Fižulić had children Miha, Mikula, Ivan, Marko, Ivan and Petar[9]. Miho, Mikula, Marko, Petar and one of Ivan die as children[10], and the lineage is continued by Ivan Fižulić Bahajev, who married Maria Španjol "from old Mate Španjol" in 1870. They had only one daughter, Antona, born in 1875, who died when she was only 20 days old, and thus the line of the Bahajev, that is, the Odvitovic family, died out, who were Fižulić from Dragove in the male line, and in the female line only partly Bahajevi, because Matija, who is marrying Antonio Fižulić, was just the grandaughter of Manda Odvitović Bahajeva.

In the Latin registry book of people born in Brbinj for the period from 1853 to 1886, I found a valuable systematization of Brbinj families from the 19th century, which, based on data on people born in Brbinj in the indicated period, was made by don Šime Barani, the then parish priest of Brbinj.

In this systematization of the Brbinj families for the Odvitović family, parish priest Barani writes: "Odvitović or Bahajev no longer exists but Ive Fižulić", but the list of descendants of this Ive Fižulić is empty, because probably the only daughter of Ivan Fižulić, Antona, had already died. The second entry states, "not according to the real birth, but according to the writings: Šimun Odvitović = Bahajev"[11] reveals to us another branch of Odvitović.

In the registry book of those who died in 1835, the fact of the death of Martin Odvitović was entered, where it is stated that his parents were Anton Kamilov and Jelena Kamilova, which once again indicates that these Bahajev family members actually came to the Bahaev estate. Don Riko Finka writes about this coming to the estate of the Odvitović family[12], so he says that Martin Kamilov Biličin (born in 1797, died in 1835) married Kata Božina from Soline (born in 1797, died in 1839) and that they came to the estate of don Ivan Odvitović. In the register of the deceased, it is stated that Kata Odvitović died at the age of 42, that she was born in Soline to father Anton Božina and mother Maria Božina. Martin Kamil was born in Brbinj in 1798 (don Riko writes that he was born in 1797), "to Anton Biličin from Sestrunj and Jelena Jurinova called Kamilova". Martin's father, Anton Biličin from Sestrunj, had come to the estate of Kamilov family, and in 1785 he married Jelena Jurinov from Brbinj. In the registry of marriages, the marriage was entered "between Anton son of Ivan Bilicin from Sestrunj and Jelena daughter of the late Jure Španol (who are descended from the second and fourth branches of the "friendship" relations).[13]. In the register of births, Anton Biličin is mostly recorded as Anton Biličin from Sestrunj, once as Anton Kamilov, but also as "Anton Kamilov and Biličin from Sestrun". Martin Odvitović dies in 1835 and his parents are listed as Anton Kamilov and Jelena Kamilova. Their lineage is continued by their son Šime, as we learn from the marriage registry of Brbinj parish, where the marriage between Šima Odvitović and Antona Kalebova was registered in 1853. From that entry we learn that Šime Odvitović is the son of Martin Odvitović and Kate Bahajeva. This Šime had sons Luka and Šime.

[1] See the birth register of Brbinj parish in the years 1744, 1753, 1756, 1757 and 1758

[2] See the register of marriages of Brbinj parish in 1700

[3] Economic conditions of Zmajević's Glagolitic seminary in Zadar during the time of rector Canon Josip Calvi (1782 - 1810), Proceedings of the Institute of Historical Sciences HAZU in Zadar (60/2018), Zagreb - Zadar 2018, p. 261.

[4] See, for example, the register of marriages of Brbinj parish in the years 1766, 1772, 1773.

[5] See the register of births in 1749, the father is Matij Bahaev, in the register of marriages Matia Odvitović

[6] See the Latin register of the dead of Brbinj parish for the year 1830, when the fact of the death of Ivanica Bahajev from her father Matij Bahajev and Manda Bahajeva is entered. Matij Rančev and Manda Bahajeva had a daughter Ivanica, so it is possible, in fact probable, that Matija Rančev came back to Bahajev with his wife because the house remained empty and thus took the surname Bahajev

[7] See the register of births of Brbinj parish from 1792

[8] See the register of marriages of Brbinj parish from 1806, when the fact of marriage between Osip, son of Jivan Brunac, and Jivanica, daughter of the late Matia Rančić, was recorded.

[9] See the birth register of Brbinj parish from 1839, 1840, 1842, 1844, 1846 and 1850

[10] See the death register of Brbinj parish in the years 1839, 1843, 1846 and 1853.

[11] Vidi prije str. 21.

[12] Don Leonard Riko Finka: Chronicle of Brbinj parish, unpublished manuscript, p. 352.

[13] More about Jelena daughter of Jure Španol and Anton Biličin in the section about the Kamilov family