Demetrios Gavriles Family - journey to America

I can only give some account of the immigration of the sons of Demetrios Gavriles of Logothetianica, coming to America, from what I recollect, having been told. Some of it may be myth, and some of it may just not be correct, as they are all gone and unable to verify.

My grandfather Demetrios, who family nickname was "Boukiouros", was some sort of sponge diver and also some sort of treasure hunter from Logothetianica. He used to tell my grandmother he was going sponge diving, but in reality he would go looking for treasures in the sea. A lot the times he would find something really good. He never kept the treasures. I think he would give them to either the museum or a scholarly person. He would go at the end of one of his treasure hunting days to other sponge divers and buy sponges from them, so that my grandmother would think he had been working all day. I really don't know how many brothers or sisters he may have had. I know of at least one brother and two sisters. Anyway, he married Politimi Christianos, and subsequently had 6 sons. Not long after the time after the birth of the youngest son, Politimi died. I don't know from what, but my grandfather then had the task of raising his 6 sons on his own, and I am sure with some family help from relatives. Somewhere in the area, he must have had some land also as he raised crops from trees, such as almonds and fruits, and maybe citrus.

As each son would finish his schooling, they got the itch to go and find their fortune. I am pretty sure they did this with my grandfather's blessing, as he wanted the best for his sons and knew that there was not much opportunity on Kythera at the time. One by one, they came to the United States. John the eldest, was first and also he was the wildest. Not much is known as to where he came to or what he did for the first 10 years. The 1910 census finds him working in Tulsa Oklahoma as a waiter.

The next eldest son, Theodore, came to America as a shoemaker. He got employed, we think in Salisbury, Maryland, with a fellow Tsirigotis name Psalidas, who owned a shoe repair shop there. His time of emigration is in the early teens of the century. The next eldest son, Peter, emigrated to Australia, instead of America.

My father is next and comes here (US) in 1914, also as a shoemaker. He joins Theodore in Salisbury, Maryland, but doesn't stay long. Not sure why, but he may have been bored with shoe repair. The story continues with an unknown, as I was told by him that he next went to a Gavriles relative, who owned a confectionery. This was in Maryland also. We think that he worked for the Gavriles Candy store in Laurel Maryland, where he learned to make candy. We are not sure how the Gavriles families here are related, as the candy store Gavriles's seem to have come from Potamos. He doesn't stay long there either as somehow he is talked into going to Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, to get a job in the steel mill there. This he did and started to work for the steel company. Very soon into this employment a fellow worker was talking with his superior about something on the job and a giant crane carrying the molten steel came by and decapitated him in front of my Father's eyes. He became very scarred after this and within a few days quit and got a new job, in Youngstown, Ohio, with a company owned by some Iccariotides, that contracted to paint bridges. My father still being very young, was given the task of walking out with a bucket and a ladle of water for the painters on the bridge. Little did he know that there was only just the skeleton of the bridge to walk on and not having this experience, he was very timid, in walking out onto this rails to give the fellow workers water. This job also didn't last long. He quit and got a job as a dishwasher in a Greek restaurant in Youngstown, Ohio. He tried to be frugal in his living by trying to live on graham crackers and milk, in a rooming house. The room didn't even have a window.

He managed to stay there for some time and then was directed to try his luck in Detroit, Michigan. He had saved some money and moved to Detroit. He managed to find fellow Tsirigotides there and worked again as a dish washer and learned how to be a cook. Pretty soon he opened his own restaurant in the downtown area. He did fairly well and then was coached by an American accountant to become a citizen. Just about this time the U.S got into WW I, and he had a choice of either staying out of it or if he joined the army he would subsequently become a citizen. Somehow he got talked into the U.S. Marines. Luckily he didn't have to spend any time actually fighting. He was trained and then sent to Russia, as part of the U.S. Protectors in Russia during the Bolshevik revolution. By the time that was over , the war was also over and he returned back to Detroit.

Brother Theodore also joined the U.S. Army and became a citizen and did see action over in France. He subsequently earned the title of sergeant and was very proud to have served in the war. Upon discharge he went to Detroit to become a partner with my father and their first cousin Mike Christianos in a restaurant they opened up a few blocks from the original Ford Factory, in Highland Park, Michigan.

Somewhere around this time, the elder brother, who is quite the gambler and carouser finds his way to Detroit also. They all live together for a while. The 2 younger brothers and the cousin running the new restaurant and the elder brother, basically living the life of riley and having a good time. He tried his hand at being a wrestler and a boxer. Going to fighting matches in other big cities and running with the wild crowd. He ends up marrying an Italian woman, Mary, related to Al Capone and they had one child, James. Theodore subsequently began working for this gangster in Chicago and being involved at the time with the prohibition business. He was known a "John Brokos", a nickname acquired through his fighting days and his association with undesirables. Those days were busy in the liquor and beer business between Detroit and Chicago, as liquor was readily available right across the Detroit river in Canada, and it was quite the distribution point for the midwest of America for the illegal trade, at that time of liquor.

He maintained a home in Detroit, where his wife ran a restaurant they bought in the downtown area.

There were 2 other sons: Andonis and Zaharias. Andonis never immigrated to either the US or to Australia. He stayed at home and joined the Greek Army and went to fight the Turks in the 20's. Unfortunately he was killed at some time during the war. Zaharias also stayed at home, as he was the youngest and I think was just in the process of finishing school when he contracted the flu that hit Europe in 1917. He subsequently also died from this illness.

Peter meanwhile had returned to Greece and to Kythera. He married a local girl, Pagonitsa Sophios, and they lived in Athens for a while. He decided to leave the family, he had 4 sons by now, and go to the US and join his brothers at their work in one of their restaurants.

My father and my Uncle Theodore decided to split their partnership and Theodore opened his own restaurant too, a few miles from my father's place. So now , 3 of the brothers were all running their own restaurants, and they were successful.

My father by then had hired an older refugee cook from Smyrna, who was originally from Potamos. This was Theodore Panaretos. The cook had several daughters and before too long, he caught the eye of the daughter Helen, who was educated and was a school teacher. Before too long they married and bought a house several blocks from the restaurant.

The story of the Panaretos's from Smyrna to Detroit, I will tell in a different chapter, later.

Peter decided to join Theodore at his place, and they worked together for several years. At about this time the depression hit the world, and Peter decided that he should get back to his family in Greece. He went back and subsequently opened his own restaurant in Athens, which he ran for many years.

In Detroit, meanwhile, the depression had hit pretty hard and business was tough. I think that the lure of making money in the liquor business, since it was still illegal, and since the elder brother had that connection, started to appeal to the other 2 brothers. Theofore's wife however started to get wind of their complicity, and she didn't want any part of it, or did she want her husband to be involved. She sat down and told Theodore that she was planning on going to live with her parents and take the kids to the Tulsa Oklahoma area, where the Coucoulis's had immigrated. She had lived in that area before she had married him.
He decided that he would rather be with his family instead and decided to pull up stakes and move them all to the Tulsa area, and start a new life.

My father, in spite of the depression, still was doing pretty well in his business and continued to thrive. I think that he was also at the time involved with illegal liquor sales on the side to supplement his income. He always knew that sooner or later the law would be reversed and the country would go back to legalising liquor and beer .

Somewhere in the early 30's, the government caught up with Al Capone and his empire and those who worked for him. They got indicted for income tax evasion from all the illegal business's they were involved with and they went to jail. Including my uncle John. This was the end of his high living. My aunt Mary sold the restaurant and her and the son James moved to live with other relatives in the Pittsburg area. John stayed in jail for many years. It was not talked about in my family and it was probably kept from the Greek community in general. It was not something my father and mother were proud of, to say that their brother was in Prison. John and his wife eventually got divorced while he was still in prison.

With the election of Roosevelt for the US President, the prohibition law did get repealed and my father decided to also open a bar in conjunction with the restaurant. This he did and along with the advent of WW II he was very successful during these times.

My father eventually retired from the ownership of the Atlas Cafe and Bar and enjoyed the rest of his life mostly with the 2 grandsons and family and also by travelling many times back to his beloved Kythera. He died in 1976.

Theodore had also made a success of his life with "Ted's Famous Grille and Restaurant" in Coffeyville, Kansas. He died with many grandchildren, and also travelled many times back to Logothetianica and to Kythera to visit.

Peter continued his restaurant business in Athens and also became an owner of a taxicab fleet in Athens which was very rewarding and he also passed away on the 70's. He enjoyed the visits from his brothers coming on vacation every couple of years in their retirement. John also passed away in 1967 having spent his last years living alone. He had suffered a mild stoke during the mid 40's and my father took care of him until he died.

This is a mere surface touch of the lives of the Gavriles brothers having left their home in Logothetianica and coming to the US