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Mothkovich is a mispelling of the name Matkovic.. it comes from John Matkovich, the child of Croatian Immigrants Jana Bakic (aka Dolinac, then Matkovich, then Gutteries) and Joseph Matkovich, who was orphaned about 1920 when his mother Jana was diagnosed and sent to a sanitarium with Tuberculosis (later to die in 1923), and her spouse Elias Gutteries left John and his brother on the side of the road in Iowas. The immigrant boys were found by a nun - Sister Mary Columban. When placed with authorities prior to an adoption, the persons responsible spelled the name in the manner they thought was phonetically correct when pronounced by the 2 young boys. Matkovich became Mothkovich. This is my understanding of the events.. Joseph disappeared about 1918, we don't know if he left, divorced or died, etc. We've not found his records or a DNA relative to link him to a correct Matkovich family - though DNA matches hint strongly that the home of origin is Lic, Croatia or there-abouts.