Ready to Write the Next Chapter!

2011 was a year of progress in finding answers about my Czech heritage.  I never believed I'd find exact names of my great-grandparents and great-uncles in my grandfather's family photo, but this year I did!  Clearly, these brothers were beloved by my grandfather, because he named his own sons after his two oldest brothers.  This year I also learned that my grandfather had one, possibly two sisters, which was a complete surprise since there were no young women in the Zvolanek family photo.


This year I verified exact names, dates and aquired documents pertaining to the life events of my Grandfather, Great-Grandfather, Great-Great Grandfather and Great-Great-Great Grandfather!  So detailed are these documents that they bear not only the names, addresses and occupations of the main characters at each event, but also details about wedding witnesses and godparents at baptisms.  Such a treasure to have digital copies of these documents!


There remains the question of what happened to the Zvolanek family after 1917 when John and Jim's letter to the Ukraine was Returned to Sender.  But after so much progress this past year, I feel more hopeful than ever that the answers are out there somewhere.  I'll just need to be persistent!

Newly-Translated Letter to Russia - from Grandfather John Zvolanek

Since I had another letter that had not been translated, I sent it to Serhiy of Interinfo.  This one was written by John.  The last pages are in Czech, not Russian, so I have also sent this letter to Mirek in the Czech Republic.  Translation appears below the letter.

Page 1
Our dear Parents!
Brothers, Sisters-in-law and Nephews,
We all beg you to accept our heartfelt greetings along with a humble bow to the ground and a warm kiss.
Dear Parents and Brothers,
In the first lines of my letter I haste to inform you that we, thank God, are alive and well, wishing you all to be safe and sound and get every success from God in your undertakings now and ever.
I wonder why you are not receiving my letters. I have sent you two letters and received no reply to either of them yet. And I have no idea what is wrong with them.


Page 2
As regards the letter that Stephan had sent to Vasiliy, Vasiliy forwarded it to me, and from it I learned that all of you are safe and sound, thank God, so it was a great joy for me to get to know that.
Dear parents,

I sold the workshop I had owned, and now I work in Du-Bois in a place where the straitsstraits) (the word in the letter that we put in italics looks like was located, and I make $100 a month. But soon, I will earn even more, as we are about to move to a new workshop. My life here is quite good: I work as I like and do what I want to do. I work 8 or 9 hours a day.

Page 3
Dear Parents and Brothers,
In my previous letter which I sent to you I explained everything in detail about how I had got married, etc. But in case you have not received it yet I will once again describe the circumstances and how it happened that I got married. (The following sentences of the letter are somewhat unintelligible having being written in a simple and ungrammatical language making them difficult to understand). During this world war, everything has become so expensive that for two it is perhaps easier to subsist than to live alone. In those inns they used to do whatever they wanted… Therefore we got angry for that, and some of us got married, and now we have a new life.

(Page 4 translated from Czech by Dr. Miroslav Koudelka:)
Page 4
Dear and beloved parents:
Secondly, when I was sick, no one cared about me, and then I remembered you, dear parents and dear mother, how you had taken care of us when we had been sick, how you did not sleep all nights long. No one compares to you, dear mother. Anyway, things then brought me to a decision to make a big change and I got married.


I do not know what else I should write you. Vasil is sending you his pictures, one for you and one for Mr. Ropernicky, and if he has any spare ones, he will send them to the brothers and the sister.


Here is my address:
Mr. John Zvolanek
Du-Bois, Neb.
Pawnee Co.
America


For now, stay with God,
Sincerely,
Your son
Jan Zvolanek


When you get the letter, write soon.

Page four's reference to the fact that Uncle Jim is sending his photos indicates that this letter was part of Uncle Jim's returned letter of October 1917.  Mabel and John would have been newlyweds and (I assume) unaware that they were expecting my mother Marjory in early May.  Otherwise, I feel sure John would have mentioned it to his family.

I don't know how my Grandma Mabel would feel about the less-than-romantic explanations of why John decided to marry!  However John's message to his mother, my Great-Grandmother, about her tender care is quite touching.

And so -- this letter proves that both my grandfather John and his brother Jim contributed to the 1917 letter to Russia that came back "Return to John Zvolanek."

Zvolanek Branches Reaching Into 1760's

Today I heard from Dr. Miroslav Koudelka, who provided dates and digital copies of our Zvolanek ancestors from Krucemburk, Czech Republic.  I will be entering specific information into Ancestry.com,
but in general, here's what our once-barren family tree looks like:

I still do not have answers about what happened to our grandfather John's parents and siblings after the Russian Revolution, and I will keep trying to find that information.  However, it's nice to fill out this tree and to know they all were born and lived in the city of Krucemburk -- and the specific house numbers where they resided and often celebrated weddings!


Digital copies of these archival records can be found on the Shutterfly site!

New Growth on the Zvolanek Family Tree

Where there were once no visible branches, we will soon see a full family tree!  I've once again received good research news, this time from Miroslav Koudelka in the Czech Republic, telling us the maiden name of John Zvolanek's mother -- my great grandmother.  He also confirms that I am indeed related to the Coufals who were so welcoming to us when we visited Stare Ransko last May!

Dear Denise,
The basic stage of research on your project has been done and I am happy to say it was fairly fruitful. Proceeding step by step from your grandfather's siblings down to the past, I have got to the generation of your gggg-grandparents who gave birth to a son (your ggg-grandfather) in 1787. Also, from Frantisek Coufal (and his brother Petr) plus from another family living in Krucemburk (Miroslav Zvolanek) I learned the needed data about their ancestries and then traced them down, trying to confirm their relationship to you. To Frantisek and Petr you may be related even two ways - in addition to the Zvolanek family line, thru the Patek family line as well (that was the maiden name both of your gg-grandmother and his ggg-grandmother) but it will very likely need further research.

Besides, I have some more "trophies", such as an autograph of your great-grandfather.

I should be able to work out a detailed research report and send it to you within a week.

Best regards,

Mirek

The Returned Letter Reveals Another Surprise

Yesterday I received an e-mail from Interinfo containing an exact translation of the letter to Russia that was returned to my Grandfather in 1917.

I'd gotten a rough translation of this letter several years ago from a Czech researcher, the Reverend Jan Dus.  Since I'm now in contact with a researcher in the Ukraine (because that's where John and Uncle Jim were born) I asked for a translation done by a Ukrainian -- someone who would be fluent in the language of our letter - Ukrainianized Russian.

In reading this updated translation, I was at first confused because the writer has just been drafted into the U.S. army and has a girlfriend in the Ukraine.  I recognized that Military Service during WWI was our Great-Uncle Jim's story, not my Grandfather's.  When the writer finally says he's listing his brother's address as his contact information, it became clear that this letter was, in fact, written by Jim. Jim makes a very poetic observation about friends and mountains that's beautiful and heartbreaking.  The request for detailed information about his girlfriend may explain why he never married.

The Austrian passport we have is definitely Jim's, as we realized a few years ago while comparing it to passenger arrival information on the Ellis Island website.  The Zvolanek family photo was taken after our Grandfather left Ukrainia -- John is not in that photo.  Since Jim is standing at the far right of the photo, he probably brought it to the United States with him.  So, at least some of the paperwork we've had all these years belonged to Uncle Jim.


The letter of 1917 was perhaps passed on to our Grandma Mabel upon Jim's death in 1964, or, more likely, kept by our Grandfather John upon its return - undelivered - to John Zvolanek's home address in late 1917 or early 1918.

Waclav Zvolanek, "Uncle Jim" -- the true author of The Returned Letter.

Regardless of which documents originally belonged to each brother, both Grandpa's and Uncle Jim's papers have enabled me to find out a lot about our Ancestry and to continuously update new information on this blog.  I've recently found another Czech researcher who believes that with the verification of our Great-Grandfather's birthplace in Krucemburk, he can trace our Zvolanek family back 4 generations within the Czech Republic.  I hope that's the case, and I look forward to uncovering more surprises about our Zvolanek family.  Given that we knew next to nothing, everything is a surprise!

Currently, Interinfo is trying to find out what happened to Great-Grandfather and Grandpa John's siblings after this letter was returned, a question central to my research.  Jim's letter mentions that his family was still writing to him from Jahubec in 1917.  We now have official documentation about their residence and activities in the Ukraine up until 1914  - three years before Uncle Jim wrote this letter home.  But I'm staying on the trail until we find documentation that gives us insight about what happened to them beyond October 1917, which was the beginning of the Russian Revolution - and the apparent end of all correspondence.

Here, now, is an excellent translation of the Returned Letter, originally written in Russian by our Uncle Jim, Waclav Zvolanek.  In it, he mentions the names of his brothers Edward, Joseph and other family members, names that our Grandfather passed on to his sons, names that have been recently verified by the Russian Documents retrieved by Interinfo:

Page 1
November 25, 1917

Dear parents and brother and sister-in-law,

My greetings to you, dear parents and brother and sister-in-law. In the first lines of my letter I would like to inform you that, thank God, I am safe and sound; recently I have been drafted into the military, and I wish you all the best and every success in your undertakings, and bow low to you all and kiss you hard. I would also like to inform you that on November 25 I received your letter (the month is illegible, looks like November), for which I am very grateful as I had learned from it about the developments in Russia and your life there.

Dear parents, I do not know the reason for your not receiving my letters. About my becoming a soldier

Page 1B
I wrote 2 letters. But judging from your letter of August 20 you did not seem to have received my letter by then. Perhaps, it was lost or its delivery may still be pending. And if you receive this letter, please reply instantly, and I also beg Edward and my sister-in-law to write me something. And if you receive this letter, please also write to Brother Jozef how I am getting on and what service I am now in. I thought that I had saved my life, but Holy God knows what’s going to happen next, and whatever happens I will write you about it. Dear parents, I also enclose some photographs to remember me and ask you to give them to all the relatives, and besides

Page 2
I ask you to give one photograph to my girlfriend, Antonina Kopernitska. I also request you to tell them that I would be very much glad to write to them as well. I wrote 2 letters to them, too, and have no idea if they received them. Perhaps, they did not, as I have not got any reply yet, and I don’t know the reason why. Therefore, I ask you, dear sister-in-law, Mrs. Edward Zvolanek, if you receive this letter and the photographs, please write a letter to Antonina telling her how I am getting on and about my life as a soldier in America.

Page 2B
Please ask her in your letter if she got married and how Milka is getting on, etc. I also request you to write me about your children and how they are. Dear parents, I think of you and Russia a lot. I recall how I lived there and what I did while growing up, and I also often recollect where I walked, along with the places I used to visit, villages, etc., and I will never forget anything of that. If I am alive, we may probably meet again. As they say, friends may meet, but mountains never greet. It may happen just this way.

Dear parents, with great pleasure I ask you not to forget about me, and on my part I promise I will never forget about you.

Dear parents, please keep correspondence with

Page 3
my Brother (the brother’s name is not indicated, instead the word Brother is used) Ivanovich Zvolanek, and I will ask him not to forget you either, moreover, I will ask him to communicate his address to you; and in case you do not have the address, here it is. Write it the way I put it here, as follows:


Mr.John Zvolanek
Du Bois Nebr.
Du BoisNebr.


That’s all.


Fare you well, while I remain your brother Vasiliy I.Z. (I.probably stands for Ivanovich (son of Ivan) and Z. - for Zvolanek). Thank God, I am alive and well, kissing all of you hard and looking forward to receiving your reply. Zbohem. (means good-bye in Czech).

Page 3B
Dear parents, with great pleasure I ask you to write me about how you all are getting on and who is now in Mr. Martin’s workshop. Please also give my best regards to (illegible abbreviation). Tell him that I am very much grateful to him for his training and that I will write to him as well with due respect. Thank you for teaching me, so that now I can earn my living. And now good bye,


Zbohem. (Good-bye!) I (and) Zbohem. (Good-bye!)

I still have one question about the very last page (3B) of the letter.  It appears to be a letter within a letter, again greeting parents and friends, again saying goodbye.  So perhaps Grandfather John placed a quick note into Uncle Jim's letter before it was sealed and mailed to the Ukraine.  The original handwriting on this last page is larger, wider and quicker, less exacting than the prior pages...  and it would certainly make sense that Jim invited his brother John to add a quick hello to his family in Ukrainia.
 *****
About Jim's statement, "friends may meet, but mountains never greet." This is a Romanian proverb.  It's also listed on the internet as an Italian Proverb.  Shakespeare ironically alluded to in "As You Like It" (iii. 2), by Celia—"It is a hard matter for friends to meet; but mountains may be removed with earthquakes and so encounter."  I found a nice link about Russian proverbs that includes Jim's - along with several other fun and interesting proverbs.  The author of this article states that "every adult Russian language speaker (over 20 years of age) knows no fewer than 800 proverbs."


I'll close for now with a Russian proverb that fits all my research quite nicely:  Blizok lokot', da ne ukusish'.  -- The elbow is near, but you can't bite it!  --  So near, yet so far.

Zvolaneks Russian Passport 1886-1887. Two Sisters: Frantsishka and Anna. The update from Interinfo.

Dear Denise,

I hope we located first Russian passport of the Zvolaneks issued to them after their arrival in the Kiev gubernia. The 1885 registry of foreigners who received passports as residents of the Russian Empire does not list your ancestors (State archive of Kiev oblast: f.2, оp.145, file №867). For the first time, they were listed on the 1886 registry of foreigners (State archive of Kiev oblast: f.2, оp.145, file №906, p.83v). According to this registry, their passport was issued on 26 October 1886.

We succeeded in finding  it (State archive of Kiev oblast: f.2, оp.115, file №347, p.70). Their Russian  passport under # 3328  was issued on the basis of their Austrian passport issued in Khotebork (Russian spelling) on 30 July 1886 under #40. It lists Iogan Tsvolanek, his wife and three children (Iosiph, Eduard and Frantsishka). The passport also describes Iogan Tsvolanek's appearance.

As we now understand, Frantsishka was born in  Czechia. I think you may contact Czech archivists and ask them to verify this information. At the moment, I guess that Anna and Frantsishka maybe are  two different persons. As you remember according to the 1897 Census record Anna was 8  and her place of birth was the village of Yagubets.

According to the 1915 documents, they arrived in the Russian Empire in 1882/3. Please see my email 6 July. However, in 1915  they might simply forget exact date of their arrival. Or they really arrived in 1882/3, spent some time here and after that returned home. In this case, the 1886 arrival was second one in their life. You can ask Czech archivists to check if they lived in Krucemburk in 1882/3. However, at the moment  I suppose that they arrived in 1886.

Kind regards,

Serhiy

New information about Grandfather's family in Russia.

Today's news from Serhiy provides more answers and raises a couple of questions, but overall the research he is providing dovetails nicely with other information I've assembled.

Dear Denise,
Every year, each foreigner residing in the Russian Empire had to apply for a special passport giving him or her the permission to stay there. We located and reviewed registries of foreigners who received such passports as residents of the Russian Empire.


1) State archive of Kiev oblast: f.2, оp.145, file №913 (Registry of foreigners who received passports as residents of the Russian Empire in 1888). On 7 November 1888, such passport was issued to Iogan Tsvolanek, his wife and children: Iosiph, Eduard and Frantsishka (folioes 357v-358). As you remember, according to the 1897 All Russia Census record Ivan Matveevich (the son of Matvey) Zvolyanek's daughter was listed as Anna. We suppose that her original Czech name was Frantsishka. She was born before 7 November 1888.


2) State archive of Kiev oblast: f.2, оp.145, file №921 (Registry of foreigners who received passports as residents of the Russian Empire in 1890). On 22 November 1890, such passport was issued to Iogan Tsvolanek, his wife and children: Iosiph, Eduard and Frantsishka (folio 585v).


3) State archive of Kiev oblast: f.2, оp.145, file №945 (Registry of foreigners who received passports as residents of the Russian Empire in 1896). On 16 March 1896, such passport was issued to Iogan Tsvolanek, his wife and children: Iosiph, Eduard and Frantsishka (folio 135v). Ivan (or Jan) and Vaclav are not listed yet.


Kind regards,
Serhiy

Our Grandfather Jan does not yet appear in the 1896 passport registry listed above, however all American documents indicate that he was born in 1891.

An older sister named Frantsiska has appeared - she was evidently born before the 1888 registry was made. (Is this the same person as Anna, mentioned in the 1897 Russian Census report?)


A little more research in this area will continue to refine the Census and Passport information that I have received this week.


What happened to these family members after Grandfather lost touch with them in 1917?  Will census or passport records shed light on that mystery? 
 

And... now... We're back to researching Krucemburk!

I researched and e-mailed city and Moravian regional authorities, then the archives around Kreuzberk, Czech Republic - with no records being found of the Zvolanek family.  To clarify the search for the archivist I e-mailed him a copy of Great-Uncle Joseph's Austrian passport, which shows information identical to Uncle Jim's Austrian passport.  It's good that I now have TWO Uncles' information to cross-check the facts!

This morning I received this e-mail from Zdenek Kravar, archivist from the Kreuzberk area:

Hello Denise,

from the copy of the passport of your Great Uncle is the identification of Kreuzberg clear. The place is today Krucemburk and is not in Moravia or Silesia, but in Bohemia.

You can find more information on this websites:

http://www.krucemburk.cz/

http://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krucemburk

To find more information about your ancestors you must contact the regional archives in Zamrsk:

Státní oblastní archiv v Zámrsku

Zámek 1
565 43

Zámrsk

Fax: 465 503 117

E-mail: podatelna@archivzamrsk.cz
Www: http://www.archivzamrsk.cz

Sincerely

Zdenek Kravar

I will once again focus my search for our Great-Grandparents and Great-Great Grandparents in the area of Krucemburk.  We had stopped briefly there to research during our May visit, but there were no archives open that day.  (From Krucemburk it was a very short drive to where Grandfather had briefly lived in the town of Stare Ransko.) 


Great thanks to Zdenek for supplying the much-needed e-mail connections.

I have now sent requests to the archives in Zamrsk for any information they can provide about our branch of the Zvolanek family.
Once step backward, two steps forward...  onward we go. 

1897 Russia Census Record - Jan Zvolanek's Family in Yagubets Village

Early this morning I received information from Serhiy at Interinfo:

We located and reviewed  the new archival document of the Zvolanek family which provides full information about all members of the family in 1897: which provides full information about all members of the family in 1897: the 1897 All Russia Census record (State archive of Kiev oblast: f.384, оp.12, file №143, folioes 21-22). Place of their residence: the village of Yagubets.

1. Ivan Matveevich (the son of Matvey) Zvolyanek aged 46, blacksmith, an Austrian subject. Native language:Czech. Place of birth: Krutsenburg, Austria.  

2. His wife: Iogana Iosiphovna Zvolyanek aged 44, an Austrian subject. Native language:Czech. Place of birth: Krutsenburg, Austria.     

Their 6 children:

3. Iosiph aged 21, bachelor, blacksmith, place of birth: Krutsenburg, Austria.     

4. Eduard aged 19, bachelor, place of birth: Krutsenburg, Austria.      

5. Anna aged 8, place of birth: the village of Yagubets.  (Age and name may be different.  See Update 7/29/11)     

6. Ivan (or Jan) aged 4, place of birth: the village of Yagubets.  (Grandfather Jan was born in 1891 and would have been age 6.)     

7. Vaclav  aged 4, place of birth: the village of Yagubets.     

8. Stepan (or Stephan) 3 months old, place of birth: the village of Yagubets.        

As I understand, Ivan and Vaclav were twins.

Their native language – Czech. All of them were Roman Catholic and Austrian subjects.

Great information!  However, according to all United States documents, it is more likely that Jan (Grandfather) and Anna were the same age, Vaclav (Uncle Jim) was 3-4 years younger than Grandfather John.  Additional research will confirm this fact, no doubt.

I had no idea that Grandpa had a sister!  Clearly, some children had left home (around 1911-1912) when I believe this photo was taken.  The toddler may be Eduard's son, since it's probably Eduard standing in the center of the photo.  The oldest brother Iosiph was most likely married and working as a blacksmith in Baibuzy, Cherkassy Uyezd, Russia. We know that in 1915 Iosiph and his wife Antonina had no children. 

Krutsenberg - Kreuzberg - Kruzberk! - Czech Republic

Per my request, Serhiy of Interinfo has clarified the exact location of Kruzberk, Czech Republic, where my Great-Grandfather and Great-Uncle were born. I had been thinking that the spelling was merely a version of Krucemburk, near Stare Ransko -- however, I was wrong -- again.  (but not really, see below!!) That's why, especially in Ancestry research, it's always good to verify EVERYTHING more than once - and assume nothing.


Now I can write to the city of Kruzberg (although I've found that the Czech spelling is actually Kruzberk, and the Russian spelling is Krutsenberg!) in hopes of obtaining official information about Great-Great Grandfather Matthew, Great-Grandfather Jan Sr. and Grandfather's older brother Joseph Zvolanek.

Kruzberk, CZ with a latitude of 49.83 (49° 49' = 60 N) and a longitude of 17.68 (17° 40' 60 E)

Birthplace of John Zvolanek's father and 2 older brothers, Kruzberk is east of Stare Ransko - where John Zvolanek lived before coming to the United States.

7/28/2011 UPDATE:

Serhiy of the Ukraine is mistaken - Great-Grandfather's birthplace is indeed Krucemburk!  See the full blog post of 7/28/2011.  As I said before, it's always good to verify EVERYTHING more than once!

Documents of Ivan and Ioseph Zvolanek Found by Interinfo

Today I received digital copies of documents belonging to my Great-Grandfather Ivan Zvolanek, and also many documents belonging to Grandpa's brother Ioseph Zvolanek. << Click on the highlighted links to view these documents on Flickr.


The documents are in Russian, but as I obtain explanations/translations, I will write the information under each image.


Exciting Stuff!


Here's one example of Great-Grandfather Ivan's documents, with his signature at the bottom:

Names of our Great-Great Grandfather, Great-Grandfather, Great-Grandmother, Great Uncles

More information came from Serhiy of Interinfo today. And although the changes of name can be confusing to me, Serhiy believes that this information is about our direct family members.
As he explains:

"At the moment I am practically sure that the found Zvolaneks are your direct relatives. Jan in Czechia was Ivan/Ioanne in Ukraine and Iohann in Austria."

Here are complete descriptions of what Serhiy has found:

1.State archive of Kiev oblast: f.1, оp.321, file №950: personal file of Ivan Matveevich (the son of Matvey or Matthew) Zvolanek. Date: 1915. According to the found file, after the break of WW1 (28 July 1914) he applied for Russian citizenship. In 1915, he was 64 years old. His wife Iohanna Iosiphovna (the daughter of Iosiph) was 62 years old. Ivan Zvolanek was Czech, Roman Catholic. He arrived in Russia in 1883, worked as a blacksmith in the estate of Martin near the village of Yagubets. Date and place of his birth:1851, the town of Krutsenburg (Russian spelling), Austria. In 1915, he lived along with his wife and two sons, Eduard and Stephan.

2.State archive of Kiev oblast: f.1, оp.321, file №922: personal file of Iosiph Ivanovich (the son of Ivan) Zvolanek. Date: 1915. In 1915, he was 39 years old. His wife: Antonina Zosimovna (the daughter of Zosim). They had no children. Iosiph Zvolanek was Czech, Orthodox (since 1905). However, earlier he was Roman Catholic. Date and place of his birth:17 March 1876, the town of Krutsenburg ( Russian spelling). He arrived in Russia in 1882, worked as a blacksmith in the village of Baibuzy, Cherkassy Uyezd. If requested, we can obtain photocopies of four documents. Other 3 documents are of minor importance.

3.State archive of Kiev oblast: f.1, оp.60, file №2662: personal file of Iosiph Ivanovich (the son of Ivan) Zvolanek. Date: 1914/5. He applied for Russian citizenship and was admitted. The file contains eleven documents such as his Russian and Austrian passports, various letters, certificates. His Austrian passport gives original name of his birthplace: Kreuzberg, today Czech Republic.

This information is supported by the letter that our Grandfather Jan Zvolanek sent to his family in October 1917 - the "returned" letter which is the cornerstone of this blog. According to the translation of this letter obtained from Reverend Jan Dus, Grandfather mentions (in this order) Eduard, Josef, Antonie (female), Antonin (male), Milka and brother Ivanovi.

I now need to verify if Krutsenburg Austria, Kreuzberg Austria are the same as Krucemburk Czech Republic, which is minutes from Stare Ransko. (Answer: probably so, -- but experience has taught me that I'll need hard evidence before I believe it!)


At this point, I may be able to finally add some of these names to the Jan Zvolanek Ancestry.com family tree. And as Serhiy finds out more information, I will use it to clarify the branches that I have assembled so far.

After our return from the Czech Republic last month, I hired Serhiy Kutniy of the Ukranian Research firm Interinfo to search Ukraine archives for records about Grandfather's family. This morning I received his first update which ended with this paragraph:

"We succeeded in locating archival file which contains information about your grandfather Jan Zvolanek and his father (State archive of Kiev oblast: f.2, оp.138, file №13. Date: 1910). According to the found record (pp. 34/34v), an Austrian subject Ioanne Zvolanik aged 55 along with his son Iohann left his place of residence for Austria. Date of departure: 24 February 1910."

This passport information suggests that perhaps our 55-year-old Great-Grandfather Zvolanek was helping our 19-year-old Grandfather move westward to the Stare Ransko area. A little over a year later, my grandfather left Europe April 4, 1911, sailing to the USA. He arrived in Ellis Island on April 11, 1911.


Serhiy's update also gives us some useful information about our Great-Grandfather! Although residing in Russia (Ukrania) he was still considered an Austrian subject. (meaning that our Great-Grandfather was not born in Russia) Also, if his age was 55 in late February of 1910, he was born around 1855, and was 36 or 37 years old when our Grandfather was born (in Jahubec Russia) in 1891.


Another fact emphasized by this information -- It is hard to research our ancestors when their names change depending on place of residence. I would have never asked anyone to research what has happened to the family of Ioanne Zvolanik!

The Zvolaneks and Coufals of Stare Ransko

My new friend (possibly cousin) Frantisek Coufal has sent me many old photos of his Zvolanek ancestors, who Grandpa John Zvolanek surely knew while living in Stare Ransko.


First of all, here is a photo of the Vaclav Zvolanek family in front of #6 Stare Ransko, where Kirk and I visited with the Coufal family. If you compare with our photos taken in May 2011, you can see the similarity between the old house and the present Coufal home.

This is Rose (b.1873) and Vaclav Zvolanek (b.1866) with their daughter Ruzena. Mary Zvolanek-Coufal (pictured below) is also Rose and Vaclav's daughter.

Daughters Mary and Ruzena would have been of the same generation as our Grandpa John, so this may be how the house appeared to Grandpa while he lived in Stare Ransko.


When John Zvolanek listed Frantisek Coufal in his ledger, it was probably because Frantisek Coufal was the husband of Mary Zvolanek, the Grandmother of the Coufal family that we visited in Stare Ransko.

Mary Zvolankova Coufalova
August 26, 1899 - August 25, 1988

Frantisek Coufal,July 9, 1893 - June 15, 1950
husband of Mary Zvolanek.

Visiting Stare Ransko in search of the Zvolanek Family

According to Grandpa's Ellis Island Documents, his last place of residence before coming to the US was Stare Ransko. Probably he left his birthplace in Jahubec Russia to find work there.


After Kirk and I visited Nove Ransko to find information about the Briz family, we arrived in Stare Ransko to search for members of the Zvolanek family.It's a small town with no City Hall, so where to begin? Our guide Marek had the perfect idea: Stop at the local tavern.


No one knew any Zvolaneks, but Marek was directed to a house where the local record-keeper lived. Kirk and I waited in the car while Marek found the man in his garden, attending to a swarming hive of bees! (I too keep bees, so this was a fun connection to make with someone in the Czech Republic.)

Looking right from Marek's car, then left and down the street.

After some discussion in Czech between he and Marek, (also informing him that I too keep bees,) the man went indoors, emerging with an old ledger of all addresses in Stare Ransko and the people who had lived at each address since the 1700's at least! By now I had stopped taking photos, not wanting to act too invasive and "touristy."


The ledger revealed that although no Zvolaneks currently live in Stare Ransko, Janu Zvolanekovi (b.1868) and wife Mari had once lived in Stare Ransko. House #17 had once belonged to Vaclav Zvolanek in 1890, and the house at #6 Stare Ransko had been in the Zvolanek family since 1868. The Coufal family, decendants of Ruzena Zvolanek Coufal (1908-1960) still lived there. The old beekeeper jumped up and told us to follow him.


We piled into Marek's car and followed the beekeeper as he trotted along the dirt road ahead of us. We offered to give him a ride, but he just kept jogging parallel to the forest, then motioning for us to turn right and follow him halfway down the next street.


At house #6, a gentleman was working in his yard. His name is Peter Coufal, and his grandmother was a Zvolanek. Peter and Ivanka Coufal's house had been in the Zvolanek family for several generations.


Marek told Peter that I was following up on my grandfather's old letters and documents, and that I had traveled from America to hopefully find and re-connect with my Grandfather's family.


Mr. Coufal was extremely excited. I'd even say GIDDY. Through Marek's interpretation he told us that OH YES! He is aware of this correspondence, and he has kept letters and photos from the United States that he wants to show us! He and his wife Ivanka invited us all to please come in! Peter called his brother Frantisek and invited him to join us. Frantisek also has many family photos and records. We all share an interest in exploring and preserving family history, which made the visit quite enjoyable.


Normally I would have taken photos continually, including the interior of this ancestral Zvolanek home, but didn't want to be rude. There were shelves of nice old beer steins in a cozy room with a low ceiling. Small square windows sent beams of sunlight streaming onto a glass cabinet of keepsakes and mementos.


Peter Coufal brought out boxes of antique documents and family photos to share with me, but unfortunately I didn't recognize any of the Zvolaneks in his photos. Apparently, two Zvolanek sisters from their Stare Ransko family had emigrated to America. They had both sent letters and photos home, sharing news about their lives and families in Chicago, but this family connection, too, had now been broken.


We all agreed that although there was no tangible evidence in the Coufal's records, it seemed reasonable to assume that my grandfather Jan Zvolanek most certainly would have come to Stare Ransko from Russia knowing that he could connect with relatives in this town. Reasonable to envision that Grandfather sat in this very room where we were now perusing photos of Zvolaneks and Coufals that once possessed all the information that, a century later, we could only attempt to decipher and connect.


Sadly, Kirk and I couldn't stay as long as we would have liked to -- the visit was less than an hour. It would be a two-hour trip back to Prague. As I headed toward Marek's car, it was hard to NOT be taking photos of this visit, but I didn't want the Coufals to feel like they were entertaining a tourist rather than a distant relative. But then, Frantisek Coufal asked Marek if I would let him take photos of us together! Our three cameras came out and we took turns posing with each other. Frantisek and I traded e-mail addresses and promised to exchange photos and family tree information. And we have!

Above, Frantisek Coufal and me.

Frantisek, me, Peter -- and Ivanka relaxing in the background.

And ironically, even though I held a copy of Grandpa's journal pages 33 and 34 in my Zvolanek Research Folder during the entire visit with the Coufals, it was only after I returned home to Parkville that I observed the following: Jan Zvolanek had written the name Frantisek Coufal (their Grandfather, married to Mary Zvolanek) on these journal pages of people to contact when he arrived in Stare Ransko.