by Carol Kostakos Petranek

With three of my four grandparents born in Agios Ioannis (Aridas, Kostakos, Papagiannakos), I am related to almost every family in our village. My desire to understand our family connections both intrigues and entices me to document how we all interconnect.

I have spent several summers at the Archives of Sparta, the Lixarcheion office and the Municipal Office (KEP), researching our families. I have gathered information from primary sources: the Dimotologion Koinotitos, Mitroon Arrenon, School Archives, Church Books, Election Registers of 1844 and 1872, and Marriage Records from the Metropolis of Sparta. To complete the project, I must extract additional names from marriage, church and school records, but the basic family structure of the village is now documented.

This data has now been compiled into a website, Spartan Roots Family Trees, which can be accessed here. As I continue to add information, the website will automatically update.

Important: Only people who are deceased are in this website!

To use the site, click on the home page, then on the left menu, click on “name index“. Using the alphabetical letters at the top of the page, click on the letter of a surname. A list of surnames will appear and the number next to each name indicates how many people with that spelling are in the database. Click on the letter of interest. Name spellings vary a lot and some begin with two-letter consonants (see Notes below). Alternately, type a surname in the search box. If a name does not appear, then click on the first letter of the name and scroll until you find it.

For example, I am looking for my grandfather, John Andrew Kostakos.

When you find a name of interest, you will see three icons on the right. Each takes you to a page with additional information about that person.

Number 1 is the Individual Page, with vital statistics, facts and notes about that person.

Number 2 is a Family Group Sheet. You can choose whether to view that person as a parent with his/her spouse and children; or as a child in the household of his/her parents.

Number 3 shows the person in a Pedigree view. He is the first person on the left, with his ancestors on the right.

Notes:

(1) to navigate, use the left and right arrows at the top of your browser to go one page back or forward.

(2) Be alert for names which begin with two-letter consonants. These are: μπ = b or mb; ντ = d or nd; γκ = g or ng; γγ = g or ng; τσ = ts; τζ = dz.

These two-letter consonants could be translated more than one way; e.g., Bolovitsiotis in English is spelled Μπολοβιτσιώτης in Greek, so it could begin with either a B or an Mp.

(3) If you know of a name that is not on the site, please contact me so we can determine why it is missing.

It is my deepest hope that this website will help you to trace your family back through time. Some men in the Election Register of 1844 were born in the late 1700’s! Our families have a deep and proud heritage, and I am so honored to have roots in our beautiful village!

I am so pleased that this initiative has been accepted into the Greek Ancestry Village History Project Initiative, which is explained here.