 Oral traditions and fragmentary stories were collected and interpreted by writers who travelled in the region in the 19th century and early 20th century about the origins of Shkreli.French consul in Shkodra, Hyacinthe Hecquard in his 1858 "Histoire et description de la haute Albanie ou Guégarie" notes that Shkreli descend from an old Albanian family in the region of İpek, whose chief was called "Kerli" (Carl).Sixty years later, Edith Durham who travelled in the region wrote in "High Albania" (1908) that she recorded a story in Shkreli that they came from an unknown region of "Bosnia".