Bio: Jelercic, Vincent & Mary

Transcriber: stan@wiclarkcountyhistory.org

Surnames: Jelercic, Fabcic, Routar, Raik, Yurkovich

----Source: Family Scrapbook

Vincent Jelercic was born in Vipava, Jugoslavia on January 22, 1875. Vincent came to the United States on a boat. The trip took twelve days. On January 7, 1905 he married Mary Fabcic in Lorrain, Ohio. Mary was also from Vipava in Jugoslavia and came to the United States by boat. Her trip took 31 days.

Both were born to farm families. They settled in Lor¬rain where Vincent worked in the steel mills, in 1911, having read about land for sale in a Slovenian paper, he bought 60 acres of land about three miles north and one mile west of Willard. The price of the 60 acres was $1020.00.

A small shack was built to live in. The couple had two children. Mary was born in 1914 and Sylvia was born in 1916. In 1919 Vincent's wife Mary died due to the flu epidemic. Mary was four years old and Sylvia was two. Vincent raised the girls and never remarried.

The present house was built in 1921 with the help of Happy Routar. Vincent got his first car in 1927. He had an older brother Joseph who lived a Vi mile from his place. The rest of the family remained in Europe. Vincent died February 13, 1965. Mary had three sisters, all in Jugoslavia.

In 1972 Sylvia took a tour of Jugoslavia and visited Vipava and found that she had an aunt living there yet. It was her mother's youngest sister. All ties had been severed for many years so it was a grand reunion.

Mary is married to Stanley Raik and lives in Greenwood. Sylvia married Val Yurkovich on December 7, 1946. After their marriage, Val and Sylvia took over the Vincent Jelercic farm which still remains in their ownership.