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!