I've read on the internet that the Red Cross can reunite families who lost contact during wars and revolutions. So last week I e-mailed the Red Cross in the Ukraine and sent them a link to this blog/research. I hoped they could help me access birth and death records to find what happened to our Uncles, Great-Uncles and Great-Grandparents.
At first, the Red Cross informed me that they did not recognize the town name, suggesting that perhaps this was in Poland. They further stated that Red Cross responsibility does not cover "Ancestry work."
Not one to give up right away (!) I e-mailed them back with a jpeg image of the Returned Envelope, and explained that I have living relatives who would like to make contact with other living relatives overseas. This is not just a "historical interest" for me.
I'm very excited to report a small breakthrough! On Monday December 6th, I received this information:
Dear Mrs. Chevalier,
We are pleased to advise you that thanks to the copy of the envelope we have been
able to clear the location of the village Jahubec, which is called in Ukrainian
language "Ягубець". It is really located in Ukraine, Cherkasskaya oblast,
Christinowsky rajon.
Taking inro account the above said we made a request (as an exception) to the local
authorities of this village to inform us if somebody from the family of Zvolanek is
still living there.
We'll advise about outcome of this request. While corresponding with us, plesase, cite
our case number 97061/15.
Sincerely,
Tracing specialist
Luidmila Obukhova
Researching my Grandfather's history is like working a puzzle. I make a little progress, I keep searching, I find new pieces, I evaluate whether the pieces fit.
Such is the case with my Grandfather's letter to his parents in Russia. When I started working on this project, I didn't even know his parents lived in Russia. The envelope actually was addressed to Russia, but I didn't know exactly what I was looking at! Both my Grandfather and Great-Grandfather were named Jan. However, I had assumed that someone had added my Grandfather's name to the front of the envelope when the letter was returned to Nebraska. I never initially considered that my Grandfather Jan was named after his father Jan in Russia.
I keep going back to to this letter to get more information - and get it right. It was obviously important to my Grandfather, because he kept the letter for his lifetime (and beyond.) Did he envision that it could be useful to someone, someday? Did he think the connection to his family could eventually be restored? Some day, when I can access the correct databases in Russia/Ukraine, I will have more pieces of the puzzle to use in my search for the whole picture.
With each attempt at a better translation, I am coming closer to the facts. With the latest translation from Reverend Jan Dus, Grandfather sends his greetings to Eduard and Josef. I don't know if these are friends or family, but they must have been important people in his life -- Grandfather named his oldest son Edward and his youngest son Joseph. His middle son John Stanley is, apparently, John Zvolanek III.
Bit by bit, I also become aware of how my Grandfather was feeling about the path he chose in life. Today I learned this:
Dear parents, I think of you and Russia a lot. I recall how I lived there and grew up there, where I walked .... I will never forget about the village I grew up in. I will never forget anything until the end of my life. Dear parents, with a great joy, I ask you not to forget about me as I can promise I will never forget about you.
I'm in the process of uploading low-resolution jpegs of all John's documents to this Shutterfly share site:
http://returntojohnzdocuments.shutterfly.com/
You can view them (individually labeled) on Shutterfly. There are several folders of documents to upload, nearly 100 individual scans(!) so check back periodically to view them all. I'll try to organize them according to the "Contents Page" (first image in the Shutterfly album.)
Many of the images on Shutterfly will also be posted within this blog whenever I get translations and other pertinent information about them.
Anyone should be able to access the Shutterfly album. If you have problems, please let me know ASAP!
