Why the Red Cross Can Not Be of Further Help. Can Twitter?

Sadly, I've had no progress to report since my last post.
I filled out a missing persons page for each of my relatives that went missing after 1917 and gave it to the Red Cross.  After a few months, I was notified that since I personally never met any of these people, they consider this a genealogy search and can not provide further assistance.  My research has now hit another wall, it seems.

However, while watching a story about Twitter on CBS Sunday morning, I began to wonder if I could use Twitter's global network to find and connect with our Zvolanek family overseas.  Maybe if I learn more about Twitter and ways to use it, I can discover what became of our family.  Maybe someone in the Ukraine, Russia, Czech Republic - or someplace completely unexpected - will see this photo and recognize the family of Jan Zvolanek Sr.

Taking a New Approach: Working With Our Local Red Cross

I've hit a wall on my goal of finding out what happened to Grandfather John's parents and siblings.  The good news is - since I now have exact names, dates, birthplaces, locations - my search is no longer considered simple "genealogy" research.  Instead, I am attempting to find and re-connect with a defined group of family members.

Previously, the International Red Cross could only be helpful in determining where in the Ukraine my grandfather was born and lived since I had no other names or proof that anyone truly existed.  Now I do.  And so, tomorrow I will meet with Ms. Blount, the international case worker at the Kansas City chapter of the Red Cross.  I'll hand her the print outs of every official piece of paperwork that I have obtained through my years of research.  It will take a long time to achieve results, I'm told.  Our family here in the United States has waited nearly 100 years to find out what happened to our family in the Ukraine.  We'll be happy to wait just a bit longer to finally have our answers.

Continuing the Research

After so much progress in the previous years, my investigation came to a standstill when my Ukrainian researcher was unable to find information about Grandfather's family in the Ukraine after 1917 when the Russian Revolution began.  Also, I tried to contact the Czech researcher to go back even further than the amazing 4 generations he found in the Czech Republic, but he did not respond.  Probably busy.

But -- GOOD NEWS!!  Now that I am retired, I will have much more time to follow up on these things.  And, as we've learned, technology is advancing in ways that make me hopeful to someday find out what happened to John Zvolanek's parents and siblings.  My ultimate goal is to find answers, living relatives in Eastern Europe, and mend the lost connection.

One Last Surprise in 2011

On the last day of 2011, a letter arrived from Nove Ransko, Czech Republic.  It was from the clockmaker, Josef Stastny.  We had visited with him during our research trip in May while searching for the Briza family in Nove Ransko.  Mr. Stastny lives down the street from the former Briza house -  the return address on several letters written to John Zvolanek.

Above:  Records we found in Nove Ransko City Hall, May 2010 regarding the Briza's address.

This record led us to confer with the neighbor, Mr. Stastny, pictured below.

The letter contained original photographs of the Briza girls mentioned in letters to Grandfather, an old photo of the street where they lived, a photo of Antonie Briza as an old woman, standing in front of the Briza house,  and a newer photo of a child standing in front of the house.

Frantiska, Antonie and Ruzena Briznova

Above:  The old photo I received from Antonie's daughter, Ms. Lipova.

Blue "X" indicates the Briza house, recently demolished.

Below:  The photo I took in May 2010.

Antonie Briznova Smelcova

A child in front of the Briza house before it was demolished.

I still do not know exactly what John's connection was to the Briza family.  I suspect it was more than friendship, possibly they were related in some way.  I would love to follow up with Mrs. Marie (Smelcova) Lipova, Antonie's daughter, if she responds to my recent letter thanking her for the photos.

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!