I have always known that my paternal grandmother was a STEBLAJ, and that there were cousins living in the same area. I sat down with my parents, got a list of Grandma Polona's siblings from the family Bible, and started going through the local cemeteries for any STEBLAJ that I could find. I followed paper trails from immigration papers to obituaries, and I created paper trails of my own by writing letters to as many relatives as I could find. The response on this family line was tremendous, and everyone sent additional information so that I could expand my search.

My luck on this surname-searching continued when I connected with 3 other researchers, 2 second cousins and a third cousin living in Slovenia. We all brought different perspectives to the family history, and the exchange of data was terrific. You can send Joyce Mlaker Wood Mail! Or send Ed Kucler Mail! Our third cousin, Martina Dolnicar, has been a blessing to us by getting to the parish records of Iska Vas, enabling us to get some earlier generations.

Our STEBLAJ clan at this point appears first in the Iska village (9.2 miles south of Ljubljana) of Austria, according to parish records. They then moved to Iska Vas (8.1 miles south of Ljubljana), which is where my grandmother's generation was born.

You can see a little red "x" in the middle right part of the postcard where my grandmother Polona marked her home.

Almost all of the individuals we have in our tree thus far stem from two brothers; my great-grandfather, John, and his brother, Matevz. Great-granduncle Matevz and wife, Marija Bostjancic had at least six children, 4 that we know emigrated to the U.S. Fransisca remained in Slovenia, marrying Andrej Dolnicar. A son, Martin, we have been unable to get any information on yet. Of the 4 that emigrated, there was a son, Matevz--AKA Mato; AKA--Michael; AKA--Mike who settled in Mercer County, Pennsylvania. There he was instrumental in the construction of the Slovenian Workingmen's Educational Home in Sharon, Pennsylvania in 1924, and he continued to be active in that organization throughout his life. Also his wife, Johanna AKA Jennie ZELEZNIKAR, and his sons, grandsons, granddaughters and their spouses remained as active members to that group. The other three emigrants settled in Minnesota: Joseph married Frances SEME, Marija married Anton IPAVEC, and Johanna married Joseph TROST. All three of these families made their home in St. Louis County in Northern Minnesota.

Greatgrandfather John and wife, Agnes SIVC, had 10 children; two of them died during childhood. Sons John and Frank both came to the United States; but John was sent back to Slovenia due to a problem with his sponsors, and Frank voluntarily went back home to join the Austrian army. Family history indicates he became an officer and later died with his entire troop, but I have been unable to verify this so far. Makes for a great family story, though! Son Andrew remained in the homeland, marrying a RUPERT but we don't have too much more information on him. The same is true for daughter Anna, who married a DOLENSEK and settled in a town called Sarska. The four remaining children all came to the U.S., three of them to St. Louis County, Minnesota. Of this group, only Anton remained single and lived on a 40 acre farm. Joseph married Mary RIGLER and my grandmother, Apolonia AKA Polona--AKA Pauline, married Ignatz KRAMAR. The remaining sister, Marija, was the last to emigrate, settling in Mercer County, Pennsylvania, with her husband, Frank PONCER, and their 5 daughters in 1920.

From what we can piece together via immigration papers and other early documents, the STEBLAJ name changed slightly upon arrival in the United States. Those who settled in Minnesota changed the spelling to STEBLAY, and those that settled in Pennsylvania became STEIBLY(as far as we can determine!).

These ancestors may have started out only in Minnesota and Pennsylvania, but later generations moved on to Ohio, Washington state, California, Wisconsin and Texas! (They're probably in more places, we just haven't found them all yet!)

We still have many ancestors and descendants to find, but check out the link to the first 8 generations of our STEBLAJ line:

STEBLAJ