The many families of Bilić in Trogir

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History The earliest evidence of Bilić family in Trogir can be found on the ledger stone from the church of St Lazarus (today St Joseph) which is dated to the year 1533. It is inscribed with the names of three brothers Matthew, Peter and George Bilić who have built a family tomb for themselves and their descendants.

The ledger stone is located near the altar of the church, to the right of the ledger stone covering the tomb of the Franciscan brothers whose monastery was built around the church of St Lazarus. The Bilić ledger stone is decorated with the symbol of the sickle, fashioned in the style usually associated with 'stećci', one of the agricultural symbols that were commonly put up on tombstones of agricultural families in the late medieval and early modern period.

The inscription of the tombstone can be read as:

HAEC EST SEPVLT(ura) MATT
HAEI PETRI ET GEOR
GII FRATRUM BILICH
HEREDVMQ(ue) SUORUM
AD MDXXXIII

It translates as follows:
Here is the burial of Matthew, Peter and George, brothers Bilich, and of their descendants. AD 1533.

Since all of the subsequent branches of the Bilić family from Čiovo (Trogir) have been consistently buried in the same church of St Lazarus, all the way up to 1831 when the opening of the 'new' communal cemetery was followed by a ban on future burials within the ancient city churches, it is reasonable assume that some of the three Bilić brothers are the ancestors to all Bilići from Trogir alive today. Unfortunately, the inscription from the ledger stone does not mention the name of their father while the Trogir's baptismal books only start in 1569, preventing us to connect the dots.

Furthermore, we have no means of knowing whether the three Bilići brothers were a new branch of some other Trogir family, or if they were migrants to came to the Čiovo settlement from some of the mainland villages that could have been ravaged by the Ottoman forces in the early years of the sixteenth century.

Bilići in the stati animarum

Status animarum 1702/3
In the status animarum of 1702/3 we find 6 different entries for houses headed by a person with the Bilić surname. The six houses can be further subdivided into several units. Namely, the house #78 headed by is connected to house #217 from the city, because Orsola Bilich is the mother to the head of the house #217 Lorenzo Bilich. Giacomo Bilich, the head of the house #12, is the brother of the sisters Vincena and Elena Bilich who lived with their 2 illegitimate children in house #11. Again, the heads of two large households, #13 and #89 are currently presumed to be brothers, with the young brother Doimo later on adopting the surname Kalamarkovich.

Citta

217
[Bilich alias Vučić/Vukov]
Lorenzo Billich anni 27
Margarita sua consorte anni 33
Orsola sua figlia a. 2
Orsola sua madre anni 60
Cattarina sua figlia 0

Isola Boa
11
[Bilic: Botta & Tutiqua branch]
Vincenza Billich anni 46
Elena Billich anni 37
Zuanne Billich anni 17 (com. illegitimate child of Johannes Decaris alias Tudorov)
Lucretia Billich anni 15

12
[Bilic: Botta & Tutiqua branch]
Giacomo Billich anni 33
Cattarina sua consorte anni 31
Cosmo suo figlio anni 16
Joanna sua figlia anni 10
Mattio suo figlio anni 9
Antonio suo figlio anni 6

13
[Bilic: Tudorov & Ruše]
Antonio Billich anni 44
Domenica sua moglie anni 32
Nicoletta sua figlia 21
Margarita sua figlia a. 17
Maddalena sua figlia anni 16
Nicolo suo figlio anni 14
Pietro suo figlio anni 13
Teodoro suo figlio anni 6
Giacomo suo figlio anni 4
Zuanne suo figlio anni 2

78
[Bilic: Panto & Panighello]
Orsola Billich anni 58
Mattio suo figlio anni 21
Madalena sua consorte anni 24
Zuanne figlio di Mattio a. 0 (2 mese)
Andrea Billich anni 19
¬¬Margarita sua moglie 21
Antonio suo figlio anni 1
Zorzi figlio di Margarita 0.8

89
[Bilic alias Calamarcovich]
Doimo Billich anni 31
Tomasina sua consorte anni 26
Andrea suo figlio anni 3
Giacubina Billich anni 52
Nicolo suo figli anni 1
Margarita figlia 0.10

Status animarum 1723 and its addendum of 1726
In the status animarum of 1723 and 1726...

Doimo Bilich from the census of 1702/3 (#89) appears to be the same person recorded as Doimo Caramarcovich in 1723 (#31).

The persons from the house #11 in 1702/3 appear to be split into two houses in 1723: houses of Bilić sisters (#11) and that of Zuanne Tudorov (#56). The round number of the age of the Bilić sisters (#11) suggests that it was approximate, which explains the difference between the two entries. This line is presumably the line of the illegitimate child of Zuanne Decaris, so this surname Tudorov is not in connection with the later nickname Tudorov for a branch of Bilich family that would later become Ruše.

The house of Giacomo Bilich (#12) from 1702/3 is the ancestral home of 3 brothers Mattio, Antonio and Cosmo Bilich, all marked as the sons of the late Giacomo. This branch appears to be particularly fruitful throughout the seventeenth century and it is likely that it has spawned at least several off-branches with nicknames listed bellow. But thus far we have only identified the nickname Botta that was associated with the descandants of the above mentioned Antonio Bilich, son of Giacomo.

The house of Orsola Bilich (#78) from 1702/3 and of her son Lorenzo (citta #217; this Lorenzo is marked as Vucich in the addendum of 1726, house #209) is connected to the house of Orsola's grandchild, through her son Andrea known from registry books, by the name of Michel Bilich (#169). Michel was old enough in 1723 (he was 28) to be recorded in the 1702/3 census, but both he and the rest of the family of his father Andrea are missing from the 1702/3 census. Michel's two sons Andrea and Teodoro would later take up the nicknames of Panighello and Panto respectively.

Finally, the numerous house of Antonio Bilich (#13) in 1702/3 is connected to the house headed by Nicolo Bilich (#13) together with brothers Teodoro and Giacomo), which appear in both censuses and which are recorded with the mention of their then deceased father.

The house of another Teodoro Bilich, son of the late Antonio, is enigmatic, because it is possible that a mistake has been made in the census and that he is listed twice (alone and in the house of Nicolo #13). But it is also possible that he is a different Teodoro Bilich entirely.

In the addendum of 1726, apart from the aforementioned Lorenzo (Bilich) Vucich, we find another entry for Jacubina (#142) who was already widowed in 1723 (#138), but who had a in-house servant in 1726 signifying that she was of a higher status than the rest of the Bilić families that were agricultural.

Borgo

138
Giacubina Bilich vedova 26
Zorzi suo figlio mensi 8
Luca suo fratello 22

Isola Boa
11
Casa delle sorelle Bilich
Vicenza Bilich 70 (rip)
Elena Bilich 80 (rip)

13
Casa di Nicolo Bilich
Nicolo Bilich q. Antonio 30
Teodoro suo fratelo 21
Giacomo suo fratelo 18
Domenica figlia di Nicolo 7?

17
Casa di Mattio Bilich
Mattio Bilich q. Giacomo 30
Margarita sua moglie 26
Giacomo suo figlio 2

18
Casa di Andrea Vukov
Andrea Vukov qm. Zuanne 43
Margarita sua moglie 42
Zuanne suo figlio 16
Antonio suo figlio 12
Maddalena sua figlia 6
Domenica sua figlia 2

31
Casa di Doimo Calamarcovich
Doimo Calamarcovich qm Zuanne 50
Tommasina sua moglie 44
Zuanne suo figlio 24
Michiel suo figlio 4

32
Casa di Antonio Bilich
Antonio Bilich q. Giacomo 27
Cattarina sua moglie 33
1726 Bartolo suo figlio 2

56
Casa di Zuanne Tudorov
Zuanne Tudorov figlio di Zuanne 37
Cattarina sua moglie 26
Cosma suo figlio 6
Antonio suo figlio 5
Giacubina sua figlia 2

57
Casa di Cosmo Bilich
Cosmo Bilich figlio di Giacomo 37
Margarita sua moglie 37
Maddalena sua figlia 17
Zuanne suo figlio 13
Antonia sua figlia 7
1726: Zuanna sua figlia 2

99
Lorenzo Vucich 50
Margarita sua consorte 53
Orsola sua figlia 22
Mattio suo figlio 18
Domengo suo figlio 15

169
Casa di Michel Bilich
Michel Bilich figlio di Andrea anni 28
Zuanna sua moglie anni 27
Andrea suo figlio anni 4
Teodoro suo figlio anni 1
Domenica sua figlia 7
1726: Simona sua figlia ½

198
Casa di Teodoro Bilich
Teodoro Bilich q. Antonio anni 27
Cattarina sua moglie anni 23
1726: Antonio suo figlio 2

Addendum 1726
142
Giacubina Bilich a. 30
Zorzi suo figlio a. 4
Luca suo fratelo a. 24
Mattio Guglich (Guojlich) suo bauba 90
Clara sua serva

209
Lorenzo Vucich 50
Margarita sua moglie 56
Mattio suo figlio 20
Orsola sua figlia 24
Domengo suo figlio 18

Nicknames of the various branches of Bilić family (according to Bezić-Bužančić):

Bariša 1799.(branch of Tutikva) [Marin Bilić Tutikva Bariša]
Beketa (Becheta) 19. st.
Botta 1767. [Antonio Bilić-Botta]
Cimić 1795. [Cosimo Bilić-Cimić]
Dojaska 1754.
Juriša (Jurissa) 1772. [Giovanni Bilić-Juriša]
Kalamarković 1733. [Dujam Bilić-Kalamarković]
Kravarić 1816.[Dominik Bilić Tutikva Kravarić]
Kuklatrudna (Cuchlatrudna) 1813.

Lenko (Lenco) 19. st.

Ostojić 1839.

Panifello i Panighello 1786. [Andrea Bilić-Panighello]
Panto 1790. [Teodoro Bilić-Panto]
Porkara (Porcara) 1766.

Radačić 1769. [Mattio Bilich detto Radacich]
Ruse (Rusce) 1801. [Tudor Bilić-Ruše]
add. Smoljan (branch of Pantoikva): Jakov Bilić Panto Smoljan] Surlian 1816.
Tudorov 1722. (illegitimate son of Decaris) [Giovanni Michele Decaris Tudorov]
Tutikva (Tutiqua) 1790. [Mattio Bilich (detto Tutiqua)]
Veer Badgna 1758.[Andrija Bilić Tutikva Badnjavečer]
Vučić 1740. [add. Lorenzo Bilić-Vučić]
Zalante 1788.

Note: The above list should be treated carefully because Bezić's research is not always the most reliable, particularly relating to the large and genealogically complicated family as Bilići of Trogir.

Note: The earliest preserved registries for Trogir are as follows: baptisms (and births) from 1569, deaths from 1609, and marriages from 1702.