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.
