Looking for information about Kacaralaki family from Crete

Derin07

Hello, I am a descendant of the Cretan Turks who migrated back to Turkey in the early 20th century with the exchange. I am trying to learn more about my ancestors and their lives on Crete.

Here are some details I have about my family:

My great grandfather was called Kacaralaki Süleyman (Süleyman Kaçaroğlu / Kaçaralaki Süleyman). He was born on Crete in 1874. His father’s name was Mustafa and his mother’s name was Cemile. He had to move to Antalya, Turkey at the beginning of the 20th century during the population exchange. He probably was born in Chania.

On Crete, they used to live in Chania. I found a record of a relative called Kaçaralaki Ahmet who was killed in the Nerokouros village in Kydonia in 1896. The record is from the Ottoman archives which were lately digitalized. I also found some other court papers from 1888 and 1892 but they do not have much info besides some family names.

My grandfather was called Mustafa and his brother was Mehmet, they were cattle dealers selling sheep, cattle and pigs. After moving to Antalya, the brother of my grandfather, Kacaralaki Mehmet who had a Cretan business partner kept doing business with Greece and Italy.

My great grandmother was called Fatma and was born on Crete in 1884. Her father was called Halil. Unfortunately I dont know her maiden name. I dont think that she was from Chania though.

Thank you for reading my post and for any help you can offer. I appreciate your time and interest

Greek_Genealogy_Lover

Merhaba Derin07!

I couldn't find anything about Kacaralaki (with latin characters it is Katsaralaki) in the web. I'm not very familiar with archives of Crete, so I'm not an expert. But, I found something interesting in the Ottoman Archives of Constantinople (İstanbul). The reference of the archive is: DH.İ.UM.EK.104.84 (Hicri 7 Safer 1335 or 3rd of December 1916). I don't have access to the original document, only to its description.

"Teke livasının hissesine isabet eden şekerin satın alınması için gönderilen Antakya tüccarlarından Giridli Ahmed Muhtar ve Süleyman Koçarolaki Efendilere teslim edilmesi istirhamı."

"Request to deliver the sugar corresponding to region of Teke's share to the Cretans Ahmed Muhtar and Süleyman Koçarolaki Efendi, merchants of Antakya who were sent to buy it."

Antakya (Antiochia for the Greeks) must be wrong. The right is Antalya (Attalia for the Greeks), which was part of the region (liva) of Teke. So, Suleyman, as you said, was still in Crete in 1916, but had had commercial connections with Antalya. Maybe that's why he went there after the exchange of populations in 1923 or maybe even before that date.

Derin07

Thank you very much for your assistance; I truly value the effort you've put in. I managed to locate the document you pointed out, but there is no other information in it. Thanks once again.