Was George White the Earliest Emigrant from Konavle to California?

There is a Skuce family in California with many branches. They are descended from Đuro Skvrce and his wife Marija Sablić who emigrated from Pločice, Konavle, around 1910 and changed their surname to Skuce. When I was a boy, there was a Nick Skuce, my mother’s second cousin, who occasionally visited my family near Fresno, CA. I learned this history of the Skvrce/Skuce family, as described above, from my mother.

In 1999, when I first visited Croatia to find genealogical information on my mother’s family, I came across Đuro Skvrce of Dubrovnik, who was born in Pločice (there are many men in this family named Đuro). Đuro told me what he knew of the Skvrce family that emigrated in 1910 (it was not his branch of the family but, still, he had some information). He then mentioned that long ago a Skvrce man from his branch emigrated from Pločice and never returned. Đuro did not know when he left, where he moved to, when he died, or if he had a family. All he knew was that he changed his name from Đuro Skvrce to George White. This was part of the Skvrce family folklore, and apparently Đuro Skvrce of Dubrovnik was the last living person to know the story.

I checked the church records in Pločice and, sure enough, there was a Đuro Skvrce who was born in 1819 in Pločice, and died in 1889 in Jackson, California, with no mention of the name change. I thought that this was probably George White but because White is such a common surname in America, I never expected to find proof.

This is the left side of one very wide page from a Stanja duša book of the Pločice church in Konavle. Below is the right side of the page. The priest noted here that Đuro (Giorgio, born 20 Ott. 1819) had moved to California.

This is the right side of the page, with a magnified excerpt of the death information (boxed in red). The excerpt reads: 29/11 1889 u Jacksonu u Americi. In English it is: 29 Nov. 1889 in Jackson in America. This death information was probably learned by the priest via church-to-church communication or via government-to-government communication through the Dubrovnik or Cavtat courts.

A year later, I was in the Jackson archive looking for information on my great-grandfather, who was also from Pločice, and who was rumored to have been in that area in the 1880s. In the 1880 federal census I noticed there was a George White in Jackson who was born in Austria, had a large family, and was 61 years old. I was sure this was Đuro Skvrce, so I stayed another 3 days in Jackson looking for more information. Eventually I found that he entered the U.S. in New Orleans in 1843, traveled to California in 1850, became a U.S. citizen in 1859, married a woman from Arkansas in 1862, became a respected merchant in Jackson, and had 8 children. But I never thought I could find proof of his name change because in those days in the Western U.S. you were whoever you said you were, and no questions were asked.

But then I came across an index of California pioneers published by The Native Daughters of the Golden West, which contained over 32,000 surnames. There was a George White listed, living in Jackson, and next to his name in parentheses was (Squirtza). So there he was. Đuro was found after all those years.

This is an excerpt from the Index of California Pioneers of  the Native Daughters of the Golden West. George’s reference number is to the right of his name. It leads to his biography, submitted by his daughter Kate White (1868-1893). Kate had to submit her father’s biographical information in order to prove that he was a pioneer, and therefore that she was eligible to join the organization. See the transcript of George’s biography, below.

I then tried to find out if he had any descendants living today. After several months of making phone calls, writing letters, and sending emails, I found his oldest living relative, a great-grandson born in 1930 in Yolo County, California, and then living in Oregon. His family had left Jackson long ago. He did not know of the name change but had heard that “someone”originally came from Austria. He thought it was the real Austria, not Dalmatia (or Croatia). I sent him copies of all the information I had found, and a photo of Pločice, and he was happy to receive it. Today George White has at least 30 descendants living in all parts of the U.S., all descended from one daughter (Sultana “Tanie”) and one son (Tom).

George White may have been the first person to emigrate from Konavle to California, and certainly one of the first to emigrate from the Dubrovnik area.

—Tom Ninkovich

Cavtat, Croatia, July 2025

---

Short biography of George White

Đuro Skvrce (George White; 20 Oct 1819 Pločice, Konavle - 29 Nov 1889 Jackson, CA).

Father: Mato Skvrce (ca 1782 - 22 Apr 1855); mother: Kate Saulović of Palje Brdo, Konavle.

Became a U.S. citizen on 3 Oct. 1859 in Jackson Co. (source: Citizenship Book B, p. 189).

Married Sultana Jane Loyd (ca 1843 Arkansas - 27 Feb 1923 Jackson, CA).

Married 14 Apr 1862 in Jackson, CA. In the marriage record, Sultana was listed as “Mrs. Santilla J. Green” (source: marriage records in Amador County Recorder’s Office).

Children of George White and Sultana Jane Loyd

• James White (ca 1861 - 1888) [probably a step-son from Green marriage]

• Matthew “Martin” White (ca 1863 - 1889) [maybe married Amelia Spencer in 1887; marriage license found but no marriage record]

• Tom White (1865 - 1925) [married Teresa Lagomarsino; has descendents today]

• Catherine “Kate” White (1868 - 1893)

• Peter White (1870 - 1877)

• Sultana “Tanie” White (1873 - 1954) [married Charles Franklin Goss in 1892 (civilly in Jackson) and 1894 by Catholic church in Sutter Creek; has descendants today]

• Maria Jana White (1876 - 1879)

• Henrietta White (1880 - 1951) [married Melvin Ford in 1904 in Jackson; had 2 children but no descendants from them]

• Anna Beatrice White (1884 - 1887)

This is a transcription of the application form that Kate White submitted to the Native Daughters of the Golden West in 1891 to become a member of the organization. She submitted this information to prove that her father, George White, was a California pioneer. Kate died 4 years later at the age of 24.

A photo of downtown citizens of Jackson, California, taken in 1885. This was 4 years before George White died. There are no known photos of George White but there is a good chance that he is in this photo. At least, it shows the dress and general demeanor of his compatriots. Amador County Archive photo.

1891 photo of the Native Daughters of the Golden West parade float in Jackson, California. Kate White, daughter of George White, is standing in 2nd row, far left. Kate died 3 years after this photo was taken, age 24. She did not marry. Amador County Archive photo.

Sultana “Tanie” White (1873 - 1954), daughter of George White and Sultana Loyd. She married Charles Franklin Goss in the mid-1890s in Jackson. Photo from Susan Goss Calcagni of Rhode Island.

Obituary of George White in Amador Ledger newspaper of Jackson, CA, on 7 Dec. 1889.