Dr. Anton Lukic Zuk of Russia and Zagreb

[BingandNelsonFan]

I am trying to learn about the family of Dr. Anton Lukic Zuk, M.D., the specialist on bacteriology and hygiene. He was born in Russia on June 25, 1898. I do not know his father's name, though I believe that it was "Lukic". He was born at Kiev on January 20, 1853. He was professor of science and director of the first gymnasium at Kiev. According to one source, that gymnasium was later named in his honor as the "L.A. Zuk Gymnasium". All that I know about his wife is that her name was listed as Anastasija Vasiljeikova.

Dr. Anton Zuk married in Zagreb in 1929. His wife was Antika Cubelic. She was the daughter of Zvonimir Cubelic and Terezija Hochsinger. Zvonimir Cubelic was the state finance counselor in Zagreb. I believe that they only had two children.

Dr. Anton Zuk left Zagreb in 1956 and came to the United States. He lived in Cleveland, Ohio, and worked at Fairview Hospital until his death on July 26, 1967. His ashes were taken back to Zagreb and buried in a family plot in Mirogoj.

This is what I know about the family of Dr. Anton Zuk. Any help and additional info would be most appreciated. I would be very interested to know where in Russia he was born. Any information on his parents would be of great interest, too! These are relatives of mine, but I don't have a lot to go on.

I do know that Dr. Anton Zuk's uncle was Vladimir Nikolaievich Zuk, M.D., and served as professor of pediatrics at St. Petersburg, Kiev and Odessa.

Thanks in advance for any help!

[Превед]

The family name is most probably written Жук (Russian) / Žuk (Croatian) / and should be transliterated as Zhuk. It's a quite common Russian and Ukrainian name, meaning "beetle".

The transliteration Zuk used by the family in the US is most likely because of the medium of Croatian, in which process just the diacritic was dropped.

Here is evidence of the original spelling (with pre-Revolutionary hard sign at the end), in a book on pediatrics written by V. N. Zhuk:
http://www.drobooks.eu/image/cache/data/knigi/Zhuk_1885/62-700x700.jpg

I do not know his father's name, though I believe that it was "Lukic"

Лукич / Lukić / Lukich is a patronyme meaning "son of Luka" (Luke), so most likely his father's name was Luka. Based on his brother Vladimir's patronymic, his full name was Luka Nikolayevich Zhuk.

[Превед]

He was professor of science and director of the first gymnasium at Kiev. According to one source, that gymnasium was later named in his honor as the "L.A. Zuk Gymnasium".

You are probably reffering to the Первая киевская гимназия, First Kiev Gymnasium, founded in 1811. At its centennary in 1911 it was renamed the Imperial Alexander Gymnasium.

[BingandNelsonFan]

Thanks for all of this help!

The place where I was able to get any info here was the "Encyclopedia of American Biography" from 1967. That is the place that listed the connection to the Gymnasium. The link that you sent was great, as I really appreciated seeing the photo of the building. Wow!

We had always heard that the family name was changed from "Zukarelli", but now looking into it, that is totally wrong. They were definitely Russian, and your explanation of the name is most helpful!

[BingandNelsonFan]

Hi, again! I have just come across two references from 1895 and 1899 that list a Nikolai Nikolaievich Zuk as an Instructor at the University of Kiev. It seems quite possible to me that this could be another uncle to Dr. Anton Zuk and a brother of Luka and Vladimir. If anyone finds any connection between these men, I'd be interested. Thanks!

[Превед]

Hi, again! I have just come across two references from 1895 and 1899 that list a Nikolai Nikolaievich Zuk as an Instructor at the University of Kiev. It seems quite possible to me that this could be another uncle to Dr. Anton Zuk and a brother of Luka and Vladimir.

If indeed a gymnasium named after Luka was called the "L. A. Zhuk Gymnasium", his patronyme must have been something starting with A. Thus he can't be the brother of the two Nikolayevichi you mention.

Here is a picture of Vladimir Nikolayevich, from his classic "Мать и дитя" - Mother and Child, the Russian Empire's equivalent of Dr. Spock: http://images.vitber.lv/i/product_full_size/kernel/images/542d3d2101f95.jpeg
It lists his birth and death dates as 8th of April 1847 - 17th of October 1917. (Presumably New Style, since the book is printed in 1924, but in Berlin, with pre-Revolutionary orthography, so evidently for sale in the émigrés community.)

BTW I saw it stated that he was a native of the Kiev Governorate, had higher medical education and worked primarily as a medical and pedagogical journalist / writer.

[BingandNelsonFan]

Hi, again! Thanks so much for continuing to help with this.

I was finally able to get a scan of the whole article about Dr. Anton Lukic Zuk from the "Encyclopedia of American Biography" (instead of deciphering from the Google Book Snippet View!), and it says that Dr. Anton Zuk was born in Kiev, Ukraine, Russia. It says that his father was "Luska" Zuk. Would that be another Croatian spelling?

I don't know why it says that the gymnasium was called "L.A. Zuk Gymnasium", since it states clearly in the very next sentence that Luska's brother was Vladimir Nikolajevic Zuk. There are a couple of spelling errors in other parts of the article, so this may just be an error.

I'll keep posting with anything that I can find! Thanks again!

[Превед]

I was finally able to get a scan of the whole article about Dr. Anton Lukic Zuk from the "Encyclopedia of American Biography" (instead of deciphering from the Google Book Snippet View!), and it says that Dr. Anton Zuk was born in Kiev, Ukraine, Russia. It says that his father was "Luska" Zuk. Would that be another Croatian spelling?

Strange. Luska, Lushka or Luchka may be some Ukrainian pet form of Luka, but if you search for Luska / Luška in Croatian you get this region in Montenegro / Albania:
https://hr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lu%C5%A1ka_%C5%BEupa
and in Ukrainian луска / luska evidently means "fish scales"!

[BingandNelsonFan]

Strange. Luska, Lushka or Luchka may be some Ukrainian pet form of Luka, but if you search for Luska / Luška in Croatian you get this region in Montenegro / Albania:
https://hr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lu%C5%A1ka_%C5%BEupa
and in Ukrainian луска / luska evidently means "fish scales"!

Perhaps this is some kind of misspelling also, as Dr. Anton Zuk's wife is listed in this article as "Ankica". Elsewhere her name is listed as "Antica". She was Croation, but her Americanized name was always just listed as "Anna" or "Ann".

Here is a picture of Vladimir Nikolayevich, from his classic "Мать и дитя" - Mother and Child, the Russian Empire's equivalent of Dr. Spock: http://images.vitber.lv/i/product_full_size/kernel/images/542d3d2101f95.jpeg
It lists his birth and death dates as 8th of April 1847 - 17th of October 1917. (Presumably New Style, since the book is printed in 1924, but in Berlin, with pre-Revolutionary orthography, so evidently for sale in the émigrés community.)

Thank you for this! It is always so intriguing to see the face that goes with the name. From the photo of the book page, though, it looks like Vladimir died in 1915. Is that right?

[Превед]

Here is a picture of Vladimir Nikolayevich, from his classic "Мать и дитя" - Mother and Child, the Russian Empire's equivalent of Dr. Spock: http://images.vitber.lv/i/product_full_size/kernel/images/542d3d2101f95.jpeg
It lists his birth and death dates as 8th of April 1847 - 17th of October 1917. (Presumably New Style, since the book is printed in 1924, but in Berlin, with pre-Revolutionary orthography, so evidently for sale in the émigrés community.)

Thank you for this! It is always so intriguing to see the face that goes with the name. From the photo of the book page, though, it looks like Vladimir died in 1915. Is that right?

Uffda, my misspelling. 1915 is correct.

[BingandNelsonFan]

Hi, again!

I'm still working on all of this and trying to dig through notes that might help sort this out. Family stories say that Luka/Luska and Anastasija Vasiljeikova Zuk/Zhuk were murdered in 1917 with all their family in Kiev. The only one to escape was Dr. Anton Lukic Zuk, as he was in school at the time.

I have been trying to find anyone with the last name of Zhuk in Kiev, and this came up:
https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%96%D1%83%D0%BA,_%D0%A1%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%B3%D0%B5%D0%B9_%D0%AF%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%B2%D0%B8%D1%87

This man's name was written "Сергей Яковлевич Жук", but this does not translate to any type of Russian name in a translator. What name is this?

The family says that all Zhuks in Kiev are related, but they believe that they all died out in 1917. Of course, that is what was told to the family outside of the Ukraine. There was, apparently a sister to Luka Zhuk, too, who was held in a camp and died some years later in Kiev.

Any help is most appreciated. Thanks!

[Превед]

I have been trying to find anyone with the last name of Zhuk in Kiev, and this came up:
https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%96%D1%83%D0%BA,_%D0%A1%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%B3%D0%B5%D0%B9_%D0%AF%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%B2%D0%B8%D1%87

This man's name was written "Сергей Яковлевич Жук", but this does not translate to any type of Russian name in a translator. What name is this?

Сергей Яковлевич Жук = Sergey Yakovlevich Zhuk.

The family says that all Zhuks in Kiev are related, but they believe that they all died out in 1917. Of course, that is what was told to the family outside of the Ukraine.

Perhaps they meant all the Zhuks who "were something" were related, but otherwise I doubt it. Zhuk is the 97th most common surname in Ukraina.