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George Poulos
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Yeoryi Dimitrios Tzortzopoulos, (Hlihlis), Karavas, Kythera. 1872(?)-1918.

Yeoryi Dimitri Tzortzopoulos was born in Karavas in c. 1869. His parachoukli was Hlihlis; not to be confused with the soi, Yeoryopoulos, Ayia Pelagia, who share the same nickname. He married Olympia Tzortzopoulos (Pappayogigi(?), (1874-1958), a different soi), and they had 12 children.

4 of the children, all girls, either died in childbirth, or died young. Three died during the birth of the first 3-4 surviving children, whilst Georgia, the last born, died as a 4 year old.

The 8 surviving children were:

Aikaterini, Katina (1897-1976)
Marouli (1899-1984)
Dimitrios (1900-1936)
Minas (1903-1958)
Haralambos (1909-1978)
Theothoros (1911-1983)
Panayotis (1914-1959)
Costandinos (1916- )

Of these 8, five were destined to emigrate to Australia; Katina, Dimitri, Minas, Panayotis, and Costandinos.

In 1896, Yeoryi built the Tzortzopoulo patriko spiti, which lies at the base of the steps that lead up to the murmaro, and the church of Ayios Haralambos, in Karavas. The house was one of the larger houses in Karavas, but, given such a large family, conditions were overcrowded. Three or four children slept to a room.

Yeoryi was a man driven to "better himself". He maintained large herds of various types of animals. He aquired a large land holding, including a large tract of land in Ayia Pelagia, from which he operated a factory to manufacture tiles. [I wonder whether anyone is in posssession of a photograph of the factory?] He was a good sailor, and a good trader - and frequently sailed from Kythera to Pireaus and back - trading in commodities. He established a successful emporio.

Because of Yeoryi's diverse interest, wife Olympia was forced to work hard. During Yeoryi's frequent absences, she helped to tend the herds, the crops, and the "businesses". By WWI, they had established themselves, and their family, quite well in Karavas.

During WWI, Greece entered a period of political turmoil, which almost culminated in the latter years, in civil war. [See entry, Seal of the autonomous state of Kythera, under History, subsection, Documents, for a brief background history.] Tension was high between monarchists and republicans - those "for Constandinos" - and those against him. In 1916, in Potamos, Yeoryi, a vassilikos - an avowed monarchist; made the fatal mistake of declaring himself "for the king". An altercation ensured. Later, Yeoryi was taken away by authorities, and brutally bashed with a bourthola - a large elastic like stick. He sustained multiple injures. Particularly debilitating were serious injury to his kidneys. Although he survived the attack, he never fully recovered his health. He was weakened, becoming susceptible to all kinds of infection. In 1918, the Spanish flu epidemic struck Kythera, and Yeoryi succumbed to it.

My father, Con(standinos) Yeoryi (Tzortzo)Poulos remembers, as a two year old, being summoned to his bedroom, were he was lying grieviously ill, and his father saying goodbye to him. Yeoryi kissed him. By the next morning he was dead.

Wife Olympia, was left to fend for 9 children, aged from 20, to recently born. (Georgia, the youngest, would die soon after her father.)

In 1922, with money accumulated by Yeoryi, Olympia sent Dimitri, the eldest son to Australia. In 1928, Minas and Panayotis, followed, (sponsored by Capitan Minas, an older cousin, they called barba, who later settled in Molong). [See separate entries for Capitan Minas]. Katina and Costandinos emigrated to Australia after the war. Many of the other children, had, in the intervening period left Kythera, to find work in Athens and Pireaus.

Olympia died at age 84, in 1958, after falling twice down the aspa, slope, to the rear of the family property in Karavas. Like so many other Kytherian mothers (see separate entries for Peter Venardos, and Dimitri Miller for example), Olympia did not see the 5 children who had emigrated to Australia again; including my father Con(standinos). Dimitri died in a tragic car accident in 1936. The others were too busy establishing themselves in a "new" country to return to visit.

Olympia's life story typifies the hardships of numerous Kytherian women - hard work, death of spouse, deaths in childbirth (often both mother and child, ), estrangement from children at a very young age, breakup of the family. (Imagine "shipping" 11, 12, ..14 year old chidren off to a distant country - knowing that you may never see them again.)


Katina married Anastasios Levantis, and they had 4 children:
Helen, Tony, George, and Platon (Paul).

Marouli married Andoni Larios, and they had 1 child:
Sophia.

Dimitrios married Athena ...., and they had 4 children:
George, Con, Harry, and Olympia.

Minas married Froso Tzortzopoulos, and they had 5 children:
Olympia, Maria (deceased at 13 months), George, Stamatina (Metti), and Theodora (Dora).

Haralambos married Panayiota Vanges, and they had 4 children:
George, Vangelis, Stephanos and Eleni.

Theothoros married Maria Krithary, and they had 2 children:
1 stillborn, and Olympia (deceased).

Panayotis married Argero Aloizos, and they had 6 children:
1 stillborn, Olympia, Ourania, Georgia, George, and Peter.

Costandinos married Evangalia Coroneos, and they had 5 children:
George, Olympia (deceased), Peter, Phillip, and Theothoros (Eric).

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3 Comments

James Gavriles
on 29.10.2004

Intersting ,as there were several Tzortzopoulos's families living in the Detroit michigan area, that were from Kythera? They must have been from the Logothetianica Agyia pelagyia area as they were very good friend of my Father's. The one was Emanuel Goergopoulos, had 3 sons and one daughter. They went by the name of Georgeson. The 3 sons all became Doctors of Osteopathy. The daughter married a Kytherian from Baltimore whose last name was George. The sons names were Minas, Peter and Byron. The daughter's name is Gloria. The Mother was a sister to the Galacatos brothers that lived in Detroit. The other family also went by the last name of Georgeson. They were related to the other family, Emmanuel and Theodore were Brothers. This was Theodore Georgopoulos . They had one son, Minas. Not sure if or how they are related to the family from Karavas??

George Poulos
on 30.10.2004

It is my opinion that ALL Tzortzopoulos's derive from the village of Karavas - and that although there are many different soi, designated by different parachoukli, I believe that they derive from a common ancestor. Most of the Tzortzopoulos family in Australia shortened their name to "Poulos". All the Tzortzopoulos family members who remained in Greece retained the full spelling of "Tzortzopoulos." Tzortzo-poulos literally means family of George; but some take it to mean "son of George." Dimitri Poulos mentioned above had 4 children who were orphaned young, after Dimitri's 1936 car accident. The second eldest son was Haralambos (Harry). Following the convention you have spoken about in the USA, Harry's eldest son, now in his 30's, took on the name Georgeson. My father Con Poulos, mentioned to me two older cousins, whom he called "burba", who established large supermarkets in Baltimore, USA. One of them paid to lay out the direct water supply in Karavas. My father was invited to work in their business, and he agreed to do so "after to went to visit his 2 brothers and sister in Australia." He didnt return. The Baltimore son George, you mention, could well be son of the Baltimore Tzortopoulos of supermarket fame; in which case they were definitely related. I am very keen to establish contact with Tzortzopoulos soi in the USA and would appreciate any further information you may have.

Ellena Galtos
on 07.11.2004

Jim Gavriles referred to Emanuel Georgiopoulos, who married Panagiota Galakatou, the niece of my great grandfather Kosmas Galakatos. As Jim says, both Panagiota and Kosmas were born in Christoforianika. Panagiota’s brothers in Detroit were Nikolas and Polychronis Galakatos (later known as Nick and Paul Peterson). They were cousins of my grandfather, Nikolas Galakatos, and great uncle Alexandros Galakatos (Alex Milkton) who were born in Smyrna. I have placed photos of most of these people on this web site, and they are all in the family tree that I’ve put here. I too would like to find out more about the Georgiopoulos family. Like George Poulos’s family, my grandfather and one of his sisters ended up in Australia. The other two Galakatos siblings ended up in the USA. I suppose with all of us originating from a small island, it’s no surprise there are family connections between us all! Ellena Galtos