Hello, I'm trying to find any information regarding my great grandfather's immigration from Greec
I'm trying to find any information regarding my great grandfather's immigration from Greece. Part of the struggle we have is I see SO many different spellings for his name. I have added all the information I know in the details.
Name: Ioanis George Tsiazis (This is the name on his naturalization papers, changed to John Davis)
Alternative Names: He seemed to use John consistently in the US, with the last names of Chicegis, Chiajis, Chaizio, Chiajis, or Chiezis
Born: 1/1/1891 in the village of Agros on Corfu Island had a sister named Helen and brother named Stephen
Emigrated: Age 11, lived with a uncle in Chicago
Married: 1/9/1917 in Murray Utah to Verna Peterson/Pederson
Naturalized: 12/11/1936 in Ventura California
Death: 10/19/1955
Respuestas
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@LisaQuibell LisaQuibell It is depressingly hard to find Greek ancestry. My husband's grandfather had a name enticingly similar, Tsioutsias, also spelled Chiouchias sometimes. He went by Harry. The judge who presided over his naturalization wouldn't allow him to keep that name so it was changed to Thompson. The Tsioutsias family came from in Psari, in a mountainous region in the Peloponnese south of Corfu.
Since you know the town he was born, you should go there! My husband has gone, as has one of his cousins and a niece. The niece took video of one of their ancestors showing the location of the house where Harry was born, and on my "to do" list is to edit the video and put it online. The main problem with Greek genealogy is documentation. The Turks ruled the area until around 1820's, and my understanding (after talking with a FamilySearch expert at a conference) is that all the records from the Ottoman era were taken to Istanbul rather than left in Greece.
If you visit Corfu, obviously you can ask questions. Among other things, my husband's ancestors alluded to an Albanian past. In fact, my husband's cousin witnessed a little scene where one of the older aunts scolded the boys for swearing in Albanian. Apparently she wanted them to swear in Greek. LOL This type of thing is a clue. Of course, Corfu is very close to Albania, much more so than Psari.
Have you done DNA? My husband has quite a few known descendants of siblings of Harry, and we have corresponded, sharing our information. Unfortunately he has many DNA matches with Greeks who's connection is unknown. I keep monitoring the ones who have trees, hoping for breakthrough information.
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By the way, we *know* why Harry came to America and were able to pass the story along to descendants of his siblings. Harry came first, and 3 brothers followed. If you make connections through Ancestry via DNA, you may bump into someone who knows the original story.
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I'm not sure if you are looking for records in the US or in Greece? It is not unusual for Greek names to be spelled many different ways. The Corfu Vital Records are now online at MyHeritage at this link: https://www.myheritage.com/research/collection-10842/greece-corfu-vital-records-1841-1932?s=210681471. The names are indexed in both Greek and English. My colleague, Gregory Kontos, has a website, GreekAncestry.net https://greekancestry.net/ which is filled with educational information, webinars and name indexed records from Greece. He also gives free 1/2 hour consultations, and he can help you with suggestions regarding records from Corfu.
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A little bit unorthodox, but there is a facebook page, called "Association of Parishioners of Agios Vasilios, Agros, Corfu (Ένωση Ενοριτών Αγίου Βασιλείου Αγρού Κέρκυρας). It is a little bit messy, but they have posted the explanation of a few surnames of the village of Agros (unfortunately not yours). As it is written, they want to connect all the people with heritage from Agros, so you could send them a message. But as I said, the page is a little bit odd.
Copy and paste the following text in fb, in order to find that group, if you want.
Ένωση Ενοριτών Αγίου Βασιλείου Αγρού Κέρκυρας
Good luck!
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