In the late 1870's the parents of Fred Zcolanek and Minnie Neuman came to the United States
     from provinces of Bohemia and Moravia in what is now Czechoslovakia, Europe.
          Grandfather Zvolanek homesteaded near Wilson, Kansas. Grandfather Neuman bought a relinquieshed
     farmstead west of Elsworth, Kansas.
          Both my parents were born indugouts in the early 1880's. Both worked on their parents' farms
     until grown. Mother helped out in homes in and near Ellsworth. She also worked for awhile in the
     Ellsworth Hospital.
          After their marriage in 1908, the couple moved to their farm near Cheney, Kansas. Here, Fred,
     Mary, Harry, Frank, and Helen were born. Fred and Mary began their education in the nearby country
     school.
          The farm was sold and the family moved to Dad's father's farm west of Ellsworth.
          In 1920 my folks purchased the farm northeast of Sharon from Jake Spangler, and in 1923 the
     family moved to Barber County.
          We children attended the JOint District School. Some of the teachers were Olive (Mrs. Jerry)
     Gillespie, Ruth Coleman (Mrs. Fred Fetrow), and Opal Cox. Six of us went on to graduate from the
     Sharon High School.
          In Dad's later years he had the crop land sown to grass, and it remains so today. Mother had
     her chickens and garen as long as she was able to tend them.
          Dad enjoyed attending public autions and the community sales in the surrounding territory. If
     he thought he might meet an old friend at a sale one hundred miles or more away, he would drive there.
     He also enjoyed driving a covered wagon in the Medicine Lodge Peace Pagent.
          Harry, a mechanic, lives in Wichita. Frank, who passed away in 1977, worked for the National
     Gypsum Company in Medicine Lodge; Helen lives in Eugene, Oregon; Mabel lives in Sharon; Ethel, of Vida,
     Oregon, is a teacher's aide; and I live on the home place.
               
     Source:Chosen Land - Barber County, Kansas,  pg. 500 
     Submitted by: Mary Zvolanek