IDTG

With the instrumental help of the Very Reverend Father Patriarchal Vicar Archimandrite Nikodimos Priangelos of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria, of the Greek Orthodox church in Cairo, Egypt I was able to get information about my paternal grandfather’s baptism and birth.

According to the entry in the church’s records:

Kimon Andreou, son of Evangelos Andreou of Volos and Orthodoxia Stavrinou of Cyprus, born on June 22 1887 in Cairo and baptised in the holy church of St. Nicholas in Cairo on December 16, 1887 by the Reverend Father David and with Maria Stavrinou as the godmother

Code: 1 Page: 77 Number: 220

Coincidentally, my father got some information and it appears that Orthodoxia Stavrinou was from Larnaca, Cyprus. However, I do not know more about her such as her birth year or her parents.

It appears that the Stavrinou family migrated to Greece at some point as cousins of my father still live in Athens though contact is very sparse these days.

If and when I receive copies of any documents I’ll get them posted here.

In addition to the above, there is a document from the municipality of Athens listing information about my grandparents and specifically about my grandfather’s important life events. Unfortunately, his birth date differs from what is in the records of the church in Cairo.

As mentioned above, the church in Cairo states that my grandfather was born in 1887 but the document from the municipality of Athens states 1889. A difference of two years, which is larger than the 13 days of the Julian vs. Gregorian calendars (the latter being adopted in Greece in 1927). I tend to trust the church records more (as it regards the birth date), as they were contemporary, rather than the Athenian ones as those were recorded at a much later date. Also going against the city of Athens is the total lack of any information on his parents or place of birth. However, I do trust those records for the other dates as they all occured in Athens.

According to the records of the city of Athens:

• My grandmother, Athena Giakoumelos, was born in 1899.
• My grandmother’s parents were Spyridon and Maria Giakoumelos.
• My grandparents were married on August 25, 1913.
• My grandfather died in Athens on February 15, 1944

In the previous entry I talked about my mother’s maternal line. In this entry, I’ll go over my father’s maternal line, the Giakoumelos or Γιακουμέλος family of Zakynthos (Zante) or Ζάκυνθος.

The Giakoumelos surname is fairly common on the island and upon visiting, one sees the name everywhere. Unfortunately, I am not aware of the meaning of the name though I will share as much as I can from the family’s tradition.

My grandmother, Athena Giakoumelos or Αθηνά Γιακουμέλου, was born in the village of Gyri or Γύρι in 1899 and her family was one of the founding families of the village. The village is located in the municipality of Artemisia, just north of the town of Macherado and about 30 kilometers from the island’s capital of Zakynthos. The village dates back to 15th century is has always been a small town. According to the latest census, it has 58 permanent residents and the Giakoumelos of today are related to my grandmother – probably cousins of some sort.

The family tradition is that the townsfolk of Gyri were originally from the Mani region of Greece that left the area due to the very harsh conditions there. Adding to the difficult living conditions caused by the aridity and lack or arable land, Mani was a center of clashes with the Ottoman and Venetian forces.

The story continues with the family returning at some point to Mani believing the conditions have become better in the homeland. However, after staying in Mani for a few years, the family returns to Gyri.

It is unclear if this is the story of the family or of the population of the town. It appears that the village has always been sparsely populated and never was even moderately sized.

I have only visited the village once where my family met cousins of my father that still live there. We got a tour of the small village and saw a monument to my great-grandfather, my grandmother’s father, for his contributions. Apparently, he was a person of some importance in the village and was who founded the school there.

I’d like to visit the village again and try to get accurate information about the family’s history and perhaps corroborate some of the family histories.