Grandpa was from the "Old Country."  That's what people would say about immigrants... "He's from the old country."
    His country was Croatia, when it was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and he admired Emperor Franz Joseph. In fact he had a mustache like the emperor. It didn't bother him at all that he, as a Slovenian, had been ruled by the Austrians. He belonged to a club called the Austro-American Benevolent Association and would go to their meetings once a month. At Christmas they would have great parties.

    Spiro had been in San Francisco sometime after 1867. He worked as bartender in 1876. The 1880 City Directory showed he owned an an oyster saloon at 808 Kearny Street. Now he owned a second hand store at Hayes and Gough. 

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