Looking for information on my maternal grandfather's family in Greece

LegacyUser

Looking for information on my maternal grandfather's family in Greece

The information I have is minimal, but my hopes is someone will recognize a name.

 

In the US he was known as Nick Kallas. Rumor is that he and his brother, George, stowed away to New York in 1905.

 

He was born Nickolas/Nikolaos Kallamations/Kallamontinas/Kalamatianos (he constantly changed the spelling of his name as well as his age on different papers). Born December 26, 1888. Claimed he was born in either Athens or Crete.

 

He had listed different names for his parents: his father--George or Jordan; his mother--Helen or Ella or Mamie.

 

After he passed, my mom remembers a relative from Greece coming to the house about an olive orchard he had inherited (she was just a kid though and that's all she remembers).

 

I realize it's a long shot, but looking for a family with the last name of Kalamatianos (or spelling variation) that owned an olive orchard and had two sons--Nicholaus and George--who came to the US around 1905, whose first names were George/Jordan and Hellen/Ella.

 

Thanks for any help you can give

 

LWhitehead56

Is this your relative?

https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/60884/images/41744_1521003235_0865-00438?treeid=&personid=&hintid=&queryId=5b6ea008ae758f7e5862a027b001dec5&usePUB=true&_phsrc=pd1-1963526&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true&pId=1418893

This website lists Father as Kallas or Koulouras, which could be another spelling of the name.

 

There is a Nick Kallas that fits your dates listed on a census in Ohio but he lists his name as Nickolaus George Kallas.

 

Check out Greek Wiki which has hundreds of links to information. One of them might prove helpful. I am hoping someone on this page will have more information or better suggestions for you.

Robert Neely1

Have you tried family members for an AR#(alien registration number)? If you get one try United States Customs and Immigration service (USCIS) for a search. The search is expensive but may bring results. Nobody lies on a government(the alien) unless it's absolutely and positively necessary. The search stops at 1951. Good luck.

 

LegacyUser

I don't think so. I don't recognize any of the names and the signature isn't the same. Thanks

LegacyUser

What remaining family is left do not have any info either. They are aware their dad wasn't always honest about things and he never talked about his life to them. He has always been a mystery. But thanks for the info. I'll see if I can find anything there

Carol Kostakos Petranek

This is one of those cases where you have to find him in every record that could possibly have been made for him in the US (including Robert's suggestion of Alien Registration files, BUT only if he had not naturalized by 1940). Make a chart, and list every document, with the year, and the name(s) listed in the documents. Then, correlate them and try to come up with a best guess as to where he really was born, as that is just as critical as the surname itself. Records in Greece are kept by location, and you must have the exact location to find the family. Which means, the village in Crete (not just the island itself). I am attaching a document I use in classes, "Using US Records to Find An Immigrant's Surname and Village of Origin". Also, try searching the GreekAncestry.net website for Crete, which has Male Registers from Chainia: https://greekancestry.net/chania/