On our way to Nove Ransko, we stopped to eat lunch in the town square at Chotebor, where Uncle Jim perhaps lived prior to coming to the U.S. (Either that or Chotebor is merely listed as the county seat on Jim's records - hard to decipher.)
After lunch we proceeded to Nove Ransko to search for the house where the Briza family lived as indicated by two letters that Grandpa had kept. We stopped at City Hall to ask where house #66 was located. The ladies seemed excited to have a visitor searching for family clues. One of them disappeared into a side room, brought out a thick old ledger book and started searching for the #66 address. The ledger revealed that Antonie (one of Anton Briza's daughters mentioned in his letters) inherited the house and married Karel Smelc.
We discovered that Antonie passed away, the Briz house was torn down recently and a new house was built on the location. The ladies at the office called one of Antonie's neighbors, a watchmaker (hodinar) to see if we could come visit him and possibly obtain more information through our translator, Marek.
Although he had no memory of any Zvolaneks in the area, the watchmaker took our address and offered to (hopefully) find and send me an old photo of Antonie Briza Smelcova in front of #66.
I was being careful not to offend or frighten the current neighbors by photographing their homes, but permission to take a couple of photos of the street that Grandpa undoubtedly walked. This is looking up the street toward #66.
This is the new house located at #66:
But I think this photo of the house next to #66 gives us a better idea of what the original Briza home looked like - the house that Jan Zvolanek must have visited many many times.
If Jan Zvolanek worked as a machinist in Nove Ransko, it could have been at the factory at the opposite end of the Briza's street.
This factory was originally founded by Jan Pujman and was noteworthy at the time Grandpa lived in the area.
Note the bicycles on the right. Men were leaving work, getting on their cycles and riding away.
Next update will be about our visit to Stare Ransko where Jan Zvolanek actually lived -- just a short drive (or bicycle ride) from this factory and the Briza home.
And yes -- we did find a few distant Zvolanek ancestors there!
