This envelope was always a sad sight to behold. Our family's story was that my grandfather mailed it to his relatives in the Fall of 1917, but the letter was returned, undelivered. He was never in contact with them again. But why?
My mother Marjory Ruth Zvolanek was born on May 4th, 1918 in DuBois Nebraska, just eight months after the letter was written. So I wondered, was Grandfather telling his family about his marriage to my grandmother, Mabel Darveau? And when he wrote the letter, did John already know that he and his new bride were about to become parents?
Our Grandmother, Mabel Darveau, born in 1900, Rulo Nebraska, was working as a housekeeper in DuBois when she met John Zvolanek, the local mechanic who immigrated from Eastern Europe. Mabel's French Ancestry has been easy to trace through family records and Ancestry.com. However, I couldn't be sure exactly where in Eastern Europe my grandfather was born. I wanted to point to a place on a map where my grandfather and his ancestors originated, but there have been very few Czech or Russian ancestry databases on the internet to give accurate information.
Since John's race was always listed as "Bohemian" I originally assumed he was born and raised near Prague. Letters and documents in his possession appeared to confirm this. Then, why was he sending a letter to Jacubek Russia? Other than my Grandfather's name, - Jan or John Zvolanek - the name Zvolanek did not appear to be a part of the address. However, I later realized that Jan Zvolanek was both my Grandfather's and my Great-Grandfather's name! So, just as family lore indicated, that's who was he writing to in Russia!
Once the hurdle of translation was overcome, perhaps the letter's contents would provide more clues. Searching the internet for the names of towns written on the front of the envelope yielded no good information to follow up on. How could I find out more about this mysterious location that I can barely read?
Over time, the information I unearth and add to this blog will answer my initial questions:
What news did Grandfather want to share when he wrote his letter in October of 1917?
Why was the letter returned to him?
What language is that, anyway?
If only I knew what the letter said...
