Vashko
Hi.I'm brand-new here, and to genealogy in general, so please forgive me if I act stupid.;)
Vashko is my last name.My paternal grandfather, John, never talked much about his family, so I know next to nothing about where he came from or who his exended famliy was.
He was born in 1910, back in what was to become Czechoslovakia.I think he headed over here with his mother Anna in 1920 while his father (whose name I do not know) stayed behind to earn some more money to pay for his own trip to America.I have no idea of the names of the ships that brought any of them over.
When my great-grandfather finally arrived in the U.S., he and Anna had another child, Joseph.
John died in 1994.Joseph died earlier this year.Again, both men were unusually tight-lipped about their parents and I have no knowledge of any sort of extended family such as their aunts, uncles, cousins, etc.
My grandmother has promised me copies of my grandfather's naturalization papers.She also says that she has a copy of my grandfather's original birth certificate, but it's all in Czech.I also believe that there was a period where the family owned some farm land in northern Arkansas, but I can't find any record of a "Vashko" in Arkansas deed transfers or tax assessor records.Of course, this was probably over 70 years ago and not included in most on-line property records databases.
I know a little about the name "Vashko".My dad tells me that the "h" originally was not there.Rather, there was something called a "hacek", similar to an apostrophe, that drew out the "sh" sound from the "s".So it was something like "Vas'ko".
It is also my understanding that "Vas'ko" can be broken down into Vas, similar to Vasily, which is the Eastern European variation on the English "Basil".The "ko", again from what I understand, is a sort of generic suffix, often in a diminutive context, simlar to "son" (Johnson, Peterson, Henderson, etc.).So "Vas'ko" would literally translate into something like "Basilson". ???
I only know of maybe 5-6 "Vashkos" in the U.S. outside of my immediate family, and I have no idea if the name is especially common in Eastern Europe.I do see a lot of "Washko"s in the U.S., and I would guess that the names are of common origin.
Anyhoo.....I'll have more information to go on once I get those papers from my Grandmother, but I was just posting tonight on the infinitesimally small chance that what little info I have jibes with someone else's research (i.e., you know of some ancestor named Anna who moved to Arkansas around 1920).
If any of this trips a switch in anyone's head, I'd sure appreciate it if you'd post with your thoughts or information.Further, if any of the information about the name itself is incorrect, I'd appreciate a correction.
Thanks much!
More Replies:
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Re: Vas'ko
Zlatica Beca 8/22/02
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Re: Vashko
John Adam 8/22/02
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Re: Vashko
C. Fronzek 8/22/02