George Margaretich was a colorful character who met a violent end in New Orleans in 1913. He had been a well known mining operator in Arizona Territory, ran a saloon in Flagstaff in the early 1890s, and prospected and developed gold and copper mines in both Nevada and Arizona.
A brief bio on www.croatians.org/ indicates he was a native of Dalmatia, Croatia and immigrated to the United States in 1857. If you are unfamiliar with Croatia, one of its famous natives, Nikola Tesla, was an infant when George left Buffalo, New York, and "rode horseback across the plains" to California arriving in 1858. That in itself is a story I would like to have heard from him! Imagine the adventures he encountered. Google tells me author Robert Badovinac published a book in 2000: George Margaretich in the West. AbeBooks has agreed to look for a copy.
George married the recently widowed Mrs. Rebecca Clem in Yavapai, Arizona Territory in 1889. The 1900 Federal Census shows their family (misspelled) as: George Marguart, age 55; Rebecca Marguart, age 49; with teenagers, Elmer Clem, Clara Clem, and Eula Clem. George is listed as the owner of a stage coach line.
Because I know little of my great uncle Johnny Margaretich's heritage, I keep an eye open for items related to his surname. His own father farmed in central California 100 years ago. Naturalization papers from 1901 in Juneau, Alaska indicate John's dad came from "Yugoslavia." While I know of no relation to George Margaretich, genealogy has taught me to keep the puzzle pieces of data spread out on the table, so to speak, as connections might be made. Or not. But what fun looking through old archives! Why, two articles from Louisiana newspapers raise interesting questions:
"Charges By Trazivuk. Declares Margaretich Has Been Swindling Fisher Folk" - headline from Times-Picayune, New Orleans, June 17, 1913, p. 2:
Read of the trial of George's killer in the New Orleans Item newspaper from June 17, 1913.
The whole page show some attention-grabbing headlines, with a second snippet about a British suffragette:
