Branković family of the Military Frontier The Branković family was a Serb noble family based in the Military Frontier of the Habsburg Empire during the 18th and 19th centuries . The family traced its nobility back to Đorđe Branković , Count of Podgorica ( 1645 – 1711 ) , who was created an Imperial Count in 1688 . After his death , his title was passed on to his relative Jovan Branković ( 1675 – 1734 ) , who served as an officer in the Habsburg army in the Military Frontier , as did most of his male descendants . They participated in various wars waged by the Habsburgs . The last Count of Podgorica died in 1856 , ending the male line of Jovan Branković . Jovan Branković . Đorđe Branković , born in 1645 , was a Transylvanian Serb diplomat , writer , and self - proclaimed descendant of the medieval Serbian Branković dynasty . In 1688 , the Habsburg Emperor Leopold I created him an Imperial Count , but had him arrested in 1689 . From 1690 until his death in 1711 , Đorđe Branković lived as a captive in Vienna and Cheb . Since at least 1700 , his personal attendant was his relative Jovan Branković born in around 1675 in the Transylvanian town of Lipova . The exact kinship relation between Jovan and Đorđe , who had no children , remains unclear . As Jovan was not a descendant of Đorđe , the latter ' s title could have been officially passed on to Jovan only through a special grant by the Habsburg emperor , but no document to that effect is known to have existed . Regardless of that , Jovan came to be tacitly recognized as a count . After Đorđe Branković ' s death in 1711 , Jovan Branković joined the Serbian Militia , a unit of the Habsburg army that was mostly active in the Military Frontier of the empire . He distinguished himself in battles with the Ottomans and rose through the army ranks . In 1717 he was appointed commander of the city of Sombor . He was first mentioned as a count in the Treaty of Passarowitz , signed in 1718 between the Ottomans and the Habsburgs . In the same year , Jovan began to build his mansion , which would be turned into the city hall of Sombor in 1749 . The south - eastern part of the mansion is still preserved in the modern - day building . Jovan married Marija of the Kostić family , with whom he had a daughter , Jelena , born in 1721 , and two sons : Nikola born in 1729 , and Jovan born in 1733 . Jovan senior died of an illness in 1734 . Jovan Branković ' s children . The daughter of Jovan Branković , Jelena , married Đorđe Čarnojević from Futog , who was an adopted son of Mihajlo Čarnojević , Count of Mačva . Jovan ' s widow , Marija , moved in 1749 with her sons to the village of Boljevci near Zemun . In December of the same year , her eldest son Nikola joined the Syrmian Hussar Regiment , with which he participated in the Seven Years ' War . Nikola married Ana of the Putnik noble family . Mojsije Putnik , the Serbian Orthodox Metropolitan of Karlovci , and Avram Putnik , a general in the Habsburg army , were Ana ' s uncles . In 1766 , Ana and Nikola moved from Boljevci to the nearby village of Ugrinovci . They had six sons and three daughters ; their third son , Petar , died at an early age . After his hussar regiment was disbanded in 1786 , Nikola was transferred to the Petrovaradin Infantry Regiment , and given the rank of captain first class . He retired in 1800 , after fifty years of active service in the Habsburg army . Nikola died in Ugrinovci in 1804 . The second son of Jovan Branković from Lipova , also named Jovan , joined at the age of sixteen the Syrmian Hussar Regiment , together with his brother Nikola . Jovan participated in several wars , including the Seven Years ' War and the War of Bavarian Succession . He married in 1763 and had three children : the daughters Pulherija and Jelisaveta , and the son Mihajlo . Jovan suddenly died at the age of 54 , in 1787 , three years after his wife ' s death . His minor children were adopted by their uncle Nikola . Jovan was posthumously promoted to the rank of major . Jovan Branković ' s grandchildren . The first son of Nikola Branković , Đorđe Branković , was born at the beginning of 1766 . His army career started in 1784 in the Petrovaradin Regiment . Afterwards , he served in several units of the Habsurg army , including the Serbian Freikorps , and the Slunj , Brod , and Gradiška Regiments . He retired in 1824 in the rank of colonel , the highest rank obtained by any of the Brankovićs . Army documents describe Đorđe as a courageous and deserving officer who participated in sixteen wars . He never married and had no children . After his retirement , Đorđe lived in Karlovac , Novi Sad , and Laćarak , where he died in 1830 . Nikola ' s second son , Dimitrije Branković , was born on 19 October 1770 . In 1788 he joined the Serbian Freikorps together with his older brother ; he later served in the Petrovaradin Regiment . He was promoted to the rank of captain first class in 1804 , the year when the First Serbian Uprising began in the Ottoman - held Serbia . The leader of the uprising , Karađorđe , had also served in the Serbian Freikorps , and Dimitrije was acquainted with him . General Geneyne , the commander of the Slavonian Military Frontier , appointed Dimitrije as his liaison officer with influential Serbs in the empire , and , through them , with the insurgents in Serbia . In 1805 , however , Dimitrije requested and received a discharge from the army . In the same year he married Marija , a rich and young widow in the town of Karlovci . She died next year giving birth , eighteen days before her newborn child died . Dimitrije soon entered his second marriage , which was childless . He was regarded as the most prominent of the six noblemen in Karlovci at the beginning of the 19th century . He died in 1836 . Nikola ' s fourth son , Stefan Branković , was born on 17 November 1777 . Stefan joined the Petrovaradin Regiment when he was nineteen . He participated in all Napoleonic Wars , but he slowly rose through the ranks , retiring in 1838 in the rank of major . He was a representative at the Serbian National Congress held in 1842 in Karlovci for the purpose of electing the new Metropolitan of Karlovci . Josif Rajačić was then elected , though Stefan voted for another candidate . His wife , Jelena , was the hostess of the Serbian ball held in 1844 in Novi Sad . Stefan died childless in 1852 , and his wife died in 1859 as the last Countess of Podgorica . Nikola ' s fifth son , Pavle Branković , was born on 5 March 1780 . He became a soldier in 1799 and participated in Napoleonic Wars , serving in the Petrovaradin , Lika , and Brod Regiments . On 28 June 1815 , Pavle and the companies under his command successfully defended a bridge on the Arly River at the town of Conflans in Savoie , France . For this feat , the Habsburgs awarded him the Knight ' s Cross ; he later received two more decorations . He was the commander of a district of the Military Frontier in Lika , before he retired in 1843 in the rank of lieutenant colonel . He and his wife Ana then moved to Timișoara , and later to Novi Sad . Ana and Pavle had only one child , a daughter who died young . Several years after his retirement , Pavle became blind . He died on 11 July 1856 in Novi Sad as the last Count of Podgorica , ending the male line of Jovan Branković from Lipova . His funeral was conducted by Bishop Platon Atanacković with the participation of numerous priests and an honorary military escort consisting of a battalion of the Petrovaradin Regiment . Nikola ' s sixth and youngest son , Avram Branković , was born on 21 February 1782 . He studied law in Budapest , which he finished in 1804 . He became a Serbian Orthodox cleric and taught at the recently established Theology Faculty in Karlovci . At that time , he was one of only two teachers at the faculty , the other being Lukijan Mušicki . Avram became a monk and took the monastic name of Antonije . Stefan Stratimirović , the Metropolitan of Karlovci , entrusted Antonije with various tasks . In 1819 Antonije was appointed the archimandrite of the Grgeteg Monastery , and in 1824 he became the Bishop of Pakrac . He was regarded as the most likely successor to Metropolitan Stratimirović . However , he suddenly died in 1824 , at the age of 42 . After Jovan Branković junior ' s death , his children were adopted by their uncle Nikola . The eldest , Pulherija , married in 1792 Jeftimije Nović from Krčedin , an officer in the Petrovaradin Regiment . He would be given a nobility rank in 1812 by the Habsburg Emperor Francis I . Descendants of Pulherija and Jeftimije lived in 1998 in Novi Sad and Belgrade . As for Pulherija ' s siblings , Jelisaveta and Mihajlo , neither of them married or had children . Mihajlo graduated from a military academy in 1800 , and he was immediately sent to a war . He retired in 1829 in the rank of captain . He lived in Slavonski Brod , where he died in 1854 .