This was originally published June 4, 2014. Since then there have been many discoveries that have changed the family tree in the post. Please refer to the "Karytaina Village Project" tree on Ancestry for the most current versions of the tree.
June 4, 2014: Since my last post, I have had many discoveries in family history research that I intend to document and share with interested family members...someday. My weekly visits continue to my now 97 year-old father where we tease apart his memories of family, friends and his life experience that feed both his memoir and our family history.
June 4, 2014: Since my last post, I have had many discoveries in family history research that I intend to document and share with interested family members...someday. My weekly visits continue to my now 97 year-old father where we tease apart his memories of family, friends and his life experience that feed both his memoir and our family history.
Recently I discovered that Georgia Stryker Kellman who blogs at Hellenic Genealogy Geek at http://www.hellenicgenealogygeek.com, had translated the 1865 Electoral Rolls for the TOWN OF KARYTAINA, in the Municipality of Gortynos. This is the birthplace of paternal grandfather. While I had seen the list before and picked out individuals with my family names, I struggled to do any kind of analysis, because my Greek is limited.
The digitized electoral roll, in Greek can be found at this link:
I took the work that Georgia did here and here and created a spreadsheet. This allowed me to sort by family names, identify family relationships and automatically identify the year of birth. This was made all the more easy because of the Greek tradition of associating a son with his father’s name.
Before I began, I knew that my great-grandfather’s name was George Palamedes and my great-grandmother was Ekaterini Nikolopoulou. This was because my father remembered his grandparents’ names. I also knew that the family respected the naming tradition of the eldest son, being named after the paternal grandfather. This is why my father was named George after his grandfather.
From the electoral list, just being able to group family members together, I could deduce that my great-grandfather Georgos Palamedes was born later than 1844, as he was not old enough to be listed on the electoral list. I could also see that my great- great-grandfather’s name was Angelis and he had at least four sons: Ilias, Panagiotis, Petros and Georgos. As Angelis was still alive at the time, his father’s name was Theodoros. Theodoros either did not live in Karitena or he died before 1865, more likely died before 1865 as Angelis was already 65.
Angelis did not have any brothers who lived in the village. I was not sure whether that meant he had moved from another village, so he may have been the only Palamidis to have children in the village or perhaps his brothers died before him, leaving no children. There were no others with that family name in the village and it is not a very common name in Greece. More research is required to answer that question.
150
|
Ilias
|
Palamidis
|
Angelis
|
30
|
1835
|
teacher
|
299
|
Panagiotis
|
Palamidis
|
Angelis
|
30
|
1835
|
landowner
|
300
|
Petros
|
Palamidis
|
Angelis
|
28
|
1837
|
retailer
|
5
|
Angelis
|
Palamidis
|
Theodoros
|
65
|
1800
|
retailer
|
I was then able to identify my paternal grandmother’s male family members.
183
|
Ioannis
|
Nikolopoulos
|
Athanasios
|
36
|
1829
|
landowner
|
270
|
Nikolaos
|
Nikolopoulos
|
Athanasios
|
40
|
1825
|
landowner
|
72
|
Vasileios
|
Nikolopoulos
|
Dimitrios
|
22
|
1843
|
student
|
215
|
Konstandinos
|
Nikolopoulos
|
Georgakis
|
35
|
1830
|
landowner
|
330
|
Panagiotis
|
Nikolopoulos
|
Georgakis
|
30
|
1835
|
official
|
73
|
Vasileios
|
Nikolopoulos
|
Konstandinos
|
45
|
1820
|
lawyer
|
101
|
Grigorios
|
Nikolopoulos
|
Konstandinos
|
48
|
1817
|
landowner
|
140
|
Dimitrios
|
Nikolopoulos
|
Konstandinos
|
60
|
1805
|
notary
|
265
|
Nikolaos
|
Nikolopoulos
|
Konstandinos
|
55
|
1810
|
landowner
|
48
|
Andreas
|
Nikolopoulos
|
Konstandis
|
45
|
1820
|
teacher
|
314
|
Panos
|
Nikolopoulos
|
Nikolakis
|
22
|
1843
|
student
|
53
|
Athanasios
|
Nikolopoulos
|
Nikolaos
|
?
|
landowner
|
Using my knowledge of naming patterns, I was able to identify the grandfather of my grandfather, Konstandinos Nikolopoulos b. 1830. From there, I could map out the relationships of all the Nikolopoulos men who appear to be related.
Here are the new additions to my family tree on the Nikolopoulos line:
This was only the beginning. My father and I walked through all 374 names, slowly and carefully and I recorded all his reactions.
When we got to Andreas Theodoropoulos, he remembered, he had an uncle with the name Theodoros Palamedes.
4
|
Andreas
|
Theodoropoulos
|
Theodoros
|
40
|
1825
|
landowner
|
Now when my father says “uncle” or “aunt” we have to dig a bit. His notion of “uncle” and “aunt” is not restricted to the siblings of his parents or grandparents.. Quite often he will call an older cousin “uncle” or the cousin of his father or mother “uncle”. This was and may still be, a sign of respect in Greek society, for older relatives. When I probe the specific relationship, sometimes he remembers clearly, other times he says “that was 90 years ago, I have to think” or he’ll say “you know I was little and they didn’t always explain these things to me”. So we work with a best guess that we hope will provide us with clues to the past.
Back to Uncle Theodoros, he remembers him as the same age of his father and a blood relation to his father. He recalled he had a “good position” and was well respected in society. He concluded that Theodoros and Constantine Palamedes were first cousins. With Angelis having three other sons, we were not able to figure out whether Theodoros was the son of Ilias, Petros or Panagiotis.
Then we got to this name:
9
|
Athanasios
|
Skourletis
|
Dimitrios
|
25
|
1840
|
pupil
|
As soon as he hit this name, my father said “ I had a very, very, very dear uncle Anastos Skourletis. Do you know that his name Anastos means the resurrection of Christ?” It is likely his uncle was the son of the man listed on the roll. With a little probing, I discovered that Anastos was my paternal grandfather’s cousin, the son of a sister to my great-grandfather.
My father remembered Anastos as a kind man, who was lame, either with a short right leg, or a club foot. He was a lawyer who became a judge of the “second court”, which I interpret to mean the “appeal court”.
Anastos Skourletis and Professor Balis were very good friends. Every afternoon they would visit the Neo Falerion together. Professor George Balis (1879 - 1957) was a prominent Greek lawyer who drafted the Greek Civil Code 1940. My father, also a lawyer, was his assistant. It was his belief, that although Professor Balis knew him to be an excellent student, it was likely because of Anastos Skourletis’ intervention that he was offered the position.
Professor George Balis and George Palamedes March 15, 1940
Following that interesting diversion, we continued along the list and he had the following comments:
52
|
Aristeidis
|
Skourletis
|
Nikolaos
|
25
|
1840
|
trader
|
“It sounds very familiar, but I’m not sure”
72
|
Vasileios
|
Nikolopoulos
|
Dimitrios
|
22
|
1843
|
student
|
“I’m sure he is a relation.”
101
|
Grigorios
|
Nikolopoulos
|
Konstandinos
|
48
|
1817
|
landowner
|
“This might be my great-grandfather. Yes, he is a landowner!”
75
|
Vasileios
|
Charakopos
|
Dimitrios
|
30
|
1835
|
landowner
|
“Charakopos, this reminds me of a relative, but I can’t remember the relationship.”
78
|
Georgios
|
Tankalakis
|
Ioannis
|
35
|
1830
|
lawyer
|
“I knew a Tankalakis from the village, he was also a lawyer.”
As he worked down the list he would say things, like “not him, there were no tailors in the family”. He identified the following people as probable relatives, as they were family names:
103
|
Georgios
|
Deonardos
|
Deonardos
|
42
|
1823
|
landowner
|
151
|
Ilias
|
Skourletis
|
Konstandinos
|
30
|
1835
|
landowner
|
36
|
Andonios
|
Spyrakopoulos
|
Ioannis
|
27
|
1838
|
landowner
|
161
|
Theodoros
|
Spyrakopoulos
|
Dimitrios
|
30
|
1835
|
landowner
|
266
|
Nikolaos
|
Spyrakopoulos
|
Ioannis
|
28
|
1837
|
student
|
345
|
Spyridon
|
Spyrakopoulos
|
Ioannis
|
32
|
1833
|
landowner
|
179
|
Ioannis
|
Spyrakypoulos
|
Spyros
|
60
|
1805
|
landowner
|
71
|
Vasileios
|
Mandzouranis
|
Theodoros
|
30
|
1835
|
collector
|
164
|
Theodoros
|
Mandzouranis
|
Vasileios
|
75
|
1790
|
landowner
|
191
|
Ioannis
|
Mandzouranis
|
Theodoros
|
45
|
1820
|
landowner
|
227
|
Konstandinos
|
Mandzouranis
|
Theodoros
|
35
|
1830
|
landowner
|
235
|
Loukas
|
Skourletis
|
Vasileios
|
70
|
1795
|
landowner
|
305
|
Panagos
|
Skourletis
|
Georgios
|
35
|
1830
|
elementary school teacher
|
He was less certain of these names, but still thought they might be relations:
182
|
Ioannis
|
Dikaios
|
Nikitas
|
35
|
1830
|
landowner
|
191
|
Ioannis
|
Mandzouranis
|
Theodoros
|
45
|
1820
|
landowner
|
202
|
Konstandinos
|
Charokopos
|
Anagnostis
|
48
|
1817
|
landowner
|
When we got to:
196
|
Ioannis
|
Kolokotronis
|
Theodoros
|
65
|
1800
|
Lieutenant
|
He said “look, the hero of the Revolution!” Sure enough, when I checked out Wikipedia, he was correct, Ioannis Kolokotronis was the hero of the Greek War of Independence (1821 -1832), a general and later the Prime Minister. It was interesting that he identified himself as “Lieutenant” while his son Panos (#338) was a “Captain”.
Our last familial discovery was with Konstandinos Mandzouranis. My father recalled he had an Uncle Theodoros Mandzouranis, pobably the son of this Konstandinos. His Uncle Theodoros was probably married to a sister of his grandmother or grandfather.
227
|
Konstandinos
|
Mandzouranis
|
Theodoros
|
35
|
1830
|
landowner
|
George on his 97th Birthday
©DenaP:)
Since we had taken our exploration this far, I thought I would see what else I could extrapolate from the electoral list. There were 367 men over 21, many ages were rounded to 5, so they likely didn’t know their exact ages. Perhaps there were 1800 people in the town, assuming there were 4 women and children to every man of voting age.
The occupational breakdown was as follows:
bailiff
|
1
|
baker
|
2
|
blacksmith
|
2
|
bricklayer
|
1
|
butcher
|
2
|
Captain
|
2
|
carpenter
|
2
|
clerk
|
9
|
cobbler
|
30
|
coffee seller
|
1
|
coffee shop owner
|
2
|
collector
|
2
|
collector of money
|
1
|
coppersmith
|
1
|
doctor
|
2
|
elementary school teacher
|
1
|
farmer
|
62
|
goldsmith
|
4
|
gunsmith
|
1
|
landowner
|
89
|
lawyer
|
2
|
Lieutenant
|
1
|
magistrate
|
1
|
mason
|
2
|
mayor
|
1
|
military
|
2
|
miller
|
8
|
mule driver
|
1
|
not employed
|
3
|
notary
|
1
|
official
|
1
|
post office superintendent
|
2
|
postman
|
3
|
provincial secretary
|
1
|
pupil
|
2
|
retailer
|
24
|
saddle maker
|
2
|
sandal maker
|
1
|
servant
|
6
|
shepherd
|
5
|
shoe seller
|
4
|
soldier
|
2
|
solicitor
|
1
|
student
|
14
|
tailor
|
22
|
teacher
|
5
|
telegrapher
|
1
|
tinker
|
7
|
trader
|
31
|
treasurer
|
1
|
My above population estimate seems quite low, once we see how many men were involved in commerce and trade. There were 68 men in commercial activities like retailer and tinker. There were a surprising number of people employed at the post office, which had two supervisors. Every occupation was represented including a baliff, magistrate and even a gunsmith. There were 22 tailors to serve 367 men of voting age. There was even a telegraph operator. It was clear that at the time of the enumeration, the size of the town was considerably larger than the current 267 residents. I can hardly imagine how different the town must have felt compared the sleepy state I observed when I visited in 2008.
©DenaP:)
©DenaP:)
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