Category Archives: Papagiannakos/Pappas

Shifting Gears

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My last post about our family reunion caused me to reconsider my perspective on family history research. I write a monthly genealogy column, “Turning Hearts” for Meridian Magazine online, and used my last post as the basis for an article published October 18, 2013, which is reproduced below.

Last weekend, my “East Coast” cousins gathered for a joyous occasion – the baptism of the newest member of our family, Megan Ryan, at St. Andrews Catholic Church in Westwood, New Jersey. We are the grandchildren of Louis Pappas (Ilias Papagiannakos) and Angelina Eftaxias Pappas.

Family gatherings were central to the lives of our grandparents. As immigrants from Sparta in the early 1900’s, they settled in Hoboken, New Jersey. They traveled regularly to Brooklyn, New York, to be with family and friends from their homeland. These associations  brought them a sense of comfort and security in their new and very different country.

Our parents – Catherine, Bertha, William, and Nicholas – also treasured “family time.” All four families lived in neighboring towns in northern New Jersey. We cousins grew up together until the scattering began. Job opportunities took our fathers to Long Island, California, and Maryland. Only Uncle Bill remained in Westwood. There were occasional visits, but as cousins married and children arrived, we spun into differing orbits.

Except for Aunt Pauline, Bill’s wife who just turned 90, our parents have passed into a new realm of family relationships in the spirit world, unencumbered by worldly travails and earthly distances. This has engendered a new realization into all of us: We are now our parents’ generation; we are the ones to keep family traditions and maintain family ties. Our first reunion in July 2012 reinforced our longings to be together. The more we meet, the more precious these events become. We miss our  four “West Coast” cousins in California, the children of Nick, and we hope to be together with them soon.

Our renewed cousin reunions have changed my perspective on family history work. I have spent untold hours reading obscure documents from Greece with the hopes of finding one of my surnames. Although I now have a spreadsheet with several hundred names, I can’t go back far enough to find a common ancestor and to determine how these people are related to me (I know they are, as they hail from my grandparents’ ancestral villages). At times I become frustrated and am tempted to “throw in the towel” and wait for the Millenium to continue my research. But in my heart, I know that is not right. I must do what I can with what I have.

Our cousins reunions have caused me to pause and reconsider that I should reallocate some of my time from searching for the dead to reconnecting with the living. There are photos of my living relatives to be obtained and attached to our online tree. There are stories to gather from my cousins, so our collective family memories can be memorialized for future generations. There is research to be done on our parents’ cousins who came to the U.S., but whom we never had the opportunity to meet.

Shifting gears is not easy, as I am driven to probe deeper into my pedigree line. But it is essential to do so:  someday, our children will be us. If we do not capture our own family stories – and those of our parents and grandparents – we will leave them an empty legacy.

 

 

 

A Joyful Family Reunion

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On October 12, 2013, the “East Coast” descendants of my grandparents, Louis Pappas (Ilias Papagiannakos) and Angelina Eftaxias Pappas, gathered in Westwood, New Jersey to celebrate the baptism of Megan Sophia Ryan, the great-granddaughter of Louis and Angelina, and daughter of Lois (Pappas) and Bobby Ryan.

Group with caption

Our grandparents had four children: Catherine, Bertha, William and Nicholas. Those of us in the photo above are the families of Catherine (Carol Petranek & John Kostakos), Bertha (Louis & John Pouletsos), and William (Lois Ryan & Pam Bergonzoni). Pauline Pappas, center front in wheelchair, is the wife of William and the only one of our parents who is living. She turned 90 years old in July and was thrilled to be with her family. We miss our “West Coast” California cousins who descend from Nicholas:  Louis, Nick, Paula and Vincent. We hope that someday soon, all of us can be together.

I am sure that our parents were smiling down at us as we gathered for such a happy event. Family activities were such an important part of their lives, and I am happy to say, they are for us as well.

Papagiannakos in Lakonia

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For the past month, I have been researching Papagiannakos records in preparation for a meeting with Father Eugene Pappas (Papagiannakos), priest at Three Hierarchs Church in Brooklyn, and a “cousin” to my mother. Both his family and mine descend from two different Nikolaos Papagiannakos’ from Agios Ioannis (born in the early 1800’s), but we have not yet been able to go back far enough to find our common ancestor.  Hurricane Sandy derailed my visit with Father Eugene as Brooklyn is now under water, but my research continues.

After extracting Papagiannakos names from villages around Sparta in Electoral Rolls of 1872, Mitroon Arrenon, and other documents, I found that prior to 1900 in Agios Ioannis, there were two Ioannis’ and at least five or possibly seven Nikolaos’. I also found Papagiannakos in Therapni, Tsintzina and Zoupena.

I plotted all these families on a Google map. I put purple pins in each of the villages where a Papagiannakos family lived. Click on the pin and you will see a pop-up window showing the families in that village: 

Here is a list of the families I have found so far:

AGIOS IOANNIS:  1815-1941

1815-1900: Families (fathers and sons)

1.  Ioannis 4 had 1 son, Georgios born either 1875 or 1880

2.  Ioannis 5 had 2 sons: Spyridon born 1890/91 and Evvagelos born 1895

Nikolaos – There were at least 5 and possibly 7 families with Nikolaos as father:

  1. Nikolaos 1 (may be same person as Nikolaos 4, as sons are 4 yrs apart). His son was Panagiotis born 1841 (this is my great-grandfather)
  2. Nikolaos 2, married to Georgia Piperis; they had 8  sons born 1889-1910  (this is Father Eugene’s ancestral family)
  3. Nikolaos 3, born 1815 (may be same person as Nikolaos 1, 6 or 7, as he is 20, 22, or 26 when the sons were born)
  4. Nikolaos 4 (may be same person as Nikolaos 1, as sons are 4 yrs apart); his son was Ioannis born 1845
  5. Nikolaos 5 had one son, Theodoros, born 1901
  6. Nikolaos 6 had one son, Ioannis 2, born 1837
  7. Nikolaos 7 had one son, Ioannis 1, born 1835

1901-1941: Families (fathers and sons)

  1. Andreas, with 6 children born 1931-1941
  2. Aristedes, with 4 children born 1929-1940
  3. Konstandinos, with 6 children born 1927-1935
  4. Christos, with 2 children born 1901-1904

THERAPNI: 1867

Father: no name, son Dimitrios b 1867 (source: School Archives)

TSINTZINA:  1830-1840

Dimitrios had 3 sons, Ioannis b 1830, Georgios b 1837, Panagiotis b 1840

ZOUPENA:  1886-1891

Father: G, had one son, Ilias b 1886

Father: P, had one son, Christofos b 1891

Although I am grateful for the records that exist and have allowed me to research to this point, I am anxiously awaiting more information. Using several sets of records allows me to compare and contrast dates, names and locations at different times. Church records would be the golden key that ties families together. Perhaps there will come a day when they will be readily available in Greece as they are in other countries.

Now that I have finished looking in the general area of Sparta, I will look farther south in Lakonia and perhaps into Messinia, into the Mani region, to see if, when and where the Papagiannakos name appears. I’m looking for migration patterns. Meanwhile, I will keep looking for additional records to help me sort out the Nikolaos’, and be able to go back another generation or two to find the common ancestor.

Then, I’ll start on another surname! This work is never done 🙂

 

 

Pappas Cousins Reunion

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Pappas Cousins Reunion July 2012

Grandchildren of Louis Pappas (Papagiannakos) and Angelina Eftaxias gather on July 21, 2012 for our first cousins reunion.

On July 21, the grandchildren of Louis Pappas (Papagiannakos) & Angelina Eftaxias gathered for our very first “cousins reunion” in New Jersey. Louis & Angelina had four children: Catherine (my mother), Bertha, Nick & Bill. Except for Nick’s four children who live in California, all of us East Coast cousins were there with our spouses and some our children. We spent a delightful summer afternoon just as our parents and grandparents used to do:  eating traditional Greek food, talking politics and business, and catching up on family news. We were especially happy to have a baby shower for one of our cousins who will have a new baby girl in early August.

As I watched the younger children playing on the lawn, I was struck by the shift in generations. It didn’t seem that long ago that my cousins and I were the ones running through the house or exploring the yard. All of our parents are gone; only my uncle’s wife remains at age 89. My cousins and I are now the older generation.

I spent hours scanning many of my mother and grandmother’s old photos which were shared on CDs. I also compiled notebooks of Eftaxias family history. Passing these out to my cousins gave me a sense of joy and continuity. With today’s technology, sharing family history is easy. Making it a priority to do so is the big challenge!