After two full months of working from 8:30-5 every day, our records preservation project in Sparta is finished! Dimitris and I have captured over 102,000 images of marriage records in the Mitropolis of Sparta, dating from 1835 to 1935–100 years of the oldest documents with precious and vital family information. It is a feat accomplished with much determination, pure love, and a sincere desire to be of service.
Finished!
Determination is in my DNA, inherited from hardy and strong ancestors who lived as farmers, shepherds and workers in a land that challenged their daily existence. It came from my four grandparents who left that land to persevere in a country where they could not speak the language and where their limited skills did not stop their success in owning businesses, purchasing land, and raising honorable families.
Pure love is the feeling I have for my family, past and current. Without those from the past, I would not exist. Without me, my family line would not continue. It is a circle; beautiful and eternal. This love also extends to my countries of ancestry and birth. My four trips to Sparta in the past five years have engendered a deep affection and connectedness to that region which, quite honestly, has surprised me. Now, my patriotism and endearment straddles both sides of the Atlantic.
Service is part of who I am. It’s what I do. My daily life is comprised of volunteer work in my community. Now, that community has extended to the region of Sparta. I feel a deep and sincere responsibility to “give back” in some way. I am following the example of many people–including my own family–who return to their native villages and try to make life better. I have seen plaques on church buildings with the names of American donors. I know of a group who raised money to improve the mountain road to their village. I learned of a couple who built a lovely home for the priest of their village.
Others may donate funds for buildings and church bells; I donate my time to preserve historical documents. It is my privilege to do so.
Spartan Roots (Σπαρτιατικές Ρίζες) 
What a beautiful, heart-warming post. And, truly, you do give, give, give. Thank you again, Carol.
Many thanks for all you do, and all you have done.
Susan Manolakos
Thank you for your kind words!
Good work! (And I’m sure it was LOTS of work!)
Thank you!
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thats wonderful how can i locate these? are they on an online archive or in a village in sparta im traveling there soon and would love to find my grandfathers marriage certificate
emanuel or manolh xrusomallhs
Helen – the Chrisomalis family is from Anavryti and is a large family. Do you know the approximate year of marriage? If so, you can go to the Mitropolis of Sparta on Lysandrou Street and request a lookup. Have a wonderful trip!
Awesome work, Carol. I believe my grandparents (Βασίλη Μπατσάκης and Ελένη Μπούτσαλη) were married in 1913 in Niata. I’ll be in Laconia next month for the first time. Would you recommend I go to the Mitropolis or will the information you collected be available to search soon?
Hi Diana, I am excited for you and your upcoming trip! Please visit the Mitropolis and ask to speak with Dimitris Skiadas. He can speak some English. Please tell him that I sent you. Please try to determine an approximate year of marriage before you go. Dimitris will look in the marriage index books for their information. It will be a while before the documents that we digitized will be online. Please let me know how it goes! My email is spartanroots1@gmail.com.
Congratulations on completing this Herculean endeavour Carol! God Bless and safe travels home!!
Will you provide information on how to access these records you have compiled/uploaded? Looking forward to searching them!!!
Hi Pola, Thank you for your comment. Marriage records from Sparta will be uploaded to one of the major genealogy companies, and will be available to search. However, I have been asked not to reveal the name as of yet, as the company would like to handle the announcement and publicity. However, I will absolutely write a post the minute documents are available! Thanks for reading my blog, Carol