submitted by
Peter Makarthis
on 26.09.2004

Great thought. I am having difficulty in this area of research. My theme is Fatseas (Phacheas) and Defteron c 1900.
See Family Trees re above and Psaros.
Any contacts with Leftheris?
I also have some contact with Gavrilly family here in Australia.
Yeia Sou
Peter M

submitted by
James Gavriles
on 27.09.2004

I do have an interesting consequence of my Grandparents living in Smyrna.
As the story goes, My Grandfather, Theodore Panaretos ,had this grocery business and distillery in Smyrna. When the word came that all were to leave if they valued their lives, My Grandfather insisted that one of my Mother's sisters stay and help him close out the business in Smyrna, while the others escaped back to Kythera. My Grandmother , who was not Kytherian, but from Aegina, didn't like the idea that the one daughter stay behind. Either way , my Grandfather won out and she stayed ,while the others escaped. Needless to say , she was killed during the upheaval and my Grandfather escaped on his own back to Kythera. You can imagine that my Grandmother was pretty saddened along with being ,mad at my Papoo. They stayed in Kythera for some months and then somehow immigrated to the U.S> in Massacussetts ,where my Grandfather's cousin lived in New Bedford, Cosmas Panaretos and his wife Jenny Aronis.
Eventually they moved to Detroit Michigan, when My Father,Nicholas Gavrilis, married my Mother. The whole family moved to Detroit and have lived here since, But the interesting part was that my Grandmother held such a grudge about my Grandfather over the death of the daughter, that they never lived together as man and wife again. After arriving in Detroit 1925, My Grandfather lived until his death in 1938 with my parents in their home and my Grandmother lived with another daughter and her husband in their home until she died in 1962. She was something else, as my Papoo probably felt even worse than her over the death but he just couldn't do anything about it after the fact. I am sure that it contributed to his early death, just from the sadness it had caused him for her loss.

submitted by
Alison Stapleton
on 21.09.2005

Hi there, my mother remembers her father speaking of Smyrna.
His name was Alecos (Alexander) Politis and it has been suggested to me that his name derives from Constantinople.
Grandad arrived in Australia after the First World War.

submitted by
Society of Kytherian Studies
on 21.09.2005

Emmanuel P Kalligeros has written a pamphlet under the auspices of the Society of Kytherian Studies (Iteria Kytheraikon Meleton), called The Kytherians of Smyrna and the Lost Homelands.

It was published in Athens in 1993.

"The text of a lecture of the same title, organised by the Society of Kythirian Studies to commemorate 70 years since the destruction of Smyrna. The main topic of the lecture concerns the flourishing Kythirian community of Smyrna which was the city's most populous Greek comunity. It includes interesting information from the life and activities of this particular community, until its violent destruction by the Turks in 1922".

More information on The Kytherians of Smyrna and the Lost Homelands, and how to purchase the pamphlet

Society of Kytherian Studies. List of Publications.