Ogorje 29th of June 1925.
Dear brother,
I can tell you that we are well thank God and we wish you the same, good health. Now my dear brother Simun Zarin received your letter he came by our house and I read the letter. Now what you write that you haven’t received my letter since Christmas, your last letter came on 2nd of February and you wrote that you sent 1 dollar but it wasn’t in the letter and you wrote to write you about what is new here, I wrote a 3 page letter about everything and I gave it to Simun a son of Ivan Runte to sent it and when he came home I asked him if he sent it and he said he did. I asked him about the receipt because I sent it by registered mail and he said he forgot it in the factory and that is why I didn’t write because I expected your mail. I didn’t think he would lie to me because I told him to send it by registered mail to be sure you get it. Now my dear brother don’t be afraid that we are ill or somebody that somebody died, I will write to you more often and brother write to me every month if you want mother to live longer. What you write about in letter you sent to Simun that we are mad at you, why would you think that we are brothers. Now my dear brother what is new here, the worse thing possible happened on 19th of June this year, it was Friday afternoon and God sent us hail and it destroyed everything on the ground after an hour, hour and a half it stopped, streets were covered with ice it looked like winter time. (page 1)
It happened on the 19th and still today on 29th, it is visible (the ice). Now what to write. I will tell you what was destroyed our village (now he describes parts of the village – the woods, somebody’s house, the church and I think he is naming two other villages Lokvine and Banovac – since he didn’t use capital letters it is hard to see if it is a village or something in his village, he is also mentioning the land) I will not have wheat this year because of it, for the corn I don’t know yet but I am afraid that it was also destroyed. God help us I will write to you about it. You asked about the animals, so far I have lived good but this year was bad but if you can help me I will survive this disaster so I will not lose everything, and I wouldn’t have to sell the land because no one would by it. Now I have 2 ox(es), donkey, 30 sheep’s, 12 lambs and 2 goats. I don’t have pigs and I will not by it. Last autumn I bought one and it died. Now what to write, nothing new here, aunts Ante went to Belgrade to military school this spring. Marta got married to Laza Gemusin, Iva Gemusina got married to Vicirova, Bocinic married sister of Seric and Jela Bacikina married his brother (last part of the sentence is unclear I don’t what he tried to say). Now what to write I am receiving letters from Mate and he is writing that he is well and that he is planning to retire this year then he will write. Now receive a greeting from your mother and the rest of the family. Bye your brother Josip, I want an answer.
Please provide corrections as needed....
Researcher::
Jim Radja
Vienna, Virginia, US of A
