Gravas

[Administrator]

Levis posted this message about the Gravas family on the Photography board:

Does anyone know anything about Evangelos Gravas (o' Syrianos)? He is my Great Great Grandfather and I wanted to know some info about him.

Cheers
levis

Evangelos Gravas was known as 'o Syrianos' because he was born on the island of Syros.

His son Yeorgios migrated to Australia and was prominent in the Sydney Castellorizian community. Another son, Markos, married Asimina Emm. Palassi on Castellorizo in 1929.

A daughter, Christina, married Ioannis V Smaragdas in 1911, while another daughter, Chrisafina, married Ioannis Hatzistavrianou Karalenis in 1914.

There should be others on this Forum who know more about Evangelos' life. Hopefully, they will be able to give you more information.

Nicholas

[cressie]

Hi Levis

I cannot help you further re your inquiry re Evangelos but have some associated info on the family in Australia.

Evangelos had at least four sons, Constantine, Markos (who both migrated to Perth), George and Spiro (who both came to WA but moved to Sydney). Constantine married an Australian girl in 1916 and my late mother talked about the involvement of Mrs Gravas at her own wedding to an Aussie...

"I didn’t marry in the Greek Church because of my mother’s suggestion. She said, “ Mary has been married in the Greek Church and Ron’s family haven’t had a marriage yet, so you should get married in their church. So long as you are married in a church it doesn’t worry me. So I went to see the priest and he wanted me to get Dad to change into Greek Orthodox, but I wouldn’t go along with that. I decided to get married in the Methodist Church but invited the Greek Priest to come along. So the Priest and his wife came both to the church service and the reception.

Mr Mandalis was as the wedding as a father figure and Mrs Edith Gravas, who was Australian but could speak Greek, stood at the door and assisted. Mrs Gravas knew all the Greek people and met the visitors with Mr Mandalis and my mother. It was all done so beautifully. There was no language problems as Mrs Gravas conducted conversations with all the visitors and my mother understood all that was going on."

When Constantine died in 1959 and Marcos in 1957 both of the Death indexes nominated their Father as Angelo (for Evangelos) and Mother as Irene (for Ireni?).

Marcos married a Castellorizian girl, Asimina Palassis, whose family connects to mine by marriage.

I do have the known descendants of Constantine and Marcos on my website but nothing on the brothers who moved to Sydney.

Hope this helps in some way.

Allan in Perth

[levis]

Thanks for the information.
Greatly appreciated!!

Thanks again,
levis

[Administrator]

Levis,

Thank you for posting the wedding photo of your great grandparents Markos Evangelou Gravas and Asimina Efstathiou Palassi on the following link:

picasaweb.google.com/levissi5/KastellorizoWeddingPhotos

In answer to your request, I am able to identify the following people based on your numbering of them:

2. Christodoulos Konstandinou (doctor)
6. Kyriakos Gonios
8. Apostolos Nikandros (priest)
9. Kostas Papastefanou (priest)
11. Andreas Amygdalos/Nouris ('o Vasilias')
12. Evangelos Gravas ('o Syrianos')
13. Kostas Passaris
16. Christodoulos Passaris (municipal policeman)
20. Marigo Dimitriou Hatziyiannaki (nee Kypreou)
27. Anastasia Pallara
28. Chrysanthe Stavrianou
29. Katina Yeorgiou Grava
32. Yeorgios Evangelou Gravas
33. Markos Evangelou Gravas
34. Asimina Efstathiou Palassi
35. Efstathios Nikolaou Palassis
36. Nikolaos Hatziyiannakis
37. Irini Passari
38. Christina Stavrianou
39. Magdalene Sehopoulou (nee Barboutti)
42. Kyriaki Passari

That's about all I have located to date. I have only listed people that I am reasonably certain of.

By the way, the precise date of the wedding was 1 September 1929.

I will modify this post as more people are identified.

Nicholas

[Levis]

Hi Nicholas,
Thank you very much for the names of people in the photo. I have changed them on the Website.

Thank you for helping me out!

Levis

[Administrator]

Levis,

In relation to the wedding photo, no. 18 is not Panagiotis Hatziyiannakis as far as I am able to see.

Nicholas

PS: It would be helpful if you posted as a member of the Forum rather than as a guest. Tks, N.

[sophia]

Seeking information that Evangelos Gravas may have been known by another surname "Orologas". This name appears as his on dowry papers for his daughter Christina in 1914.
Can anyone shed some light on this ?

[Administrator]

Sophia,

Yes, I have heard this before and there is some further (earlier) evidence for it, aside from the 1914 dowry contract you refer to.

In a municipal death entry from 1902, Evangelos is listed by this name as one of the witnesses to the burial, while in a 1907 dowry document the house given as part of the dowry is described as being adjacent to his house and he is again described by this surname (rather than 'Gravas' or 'Syrianos').

Of course, 'Horologas' means watchmaker or watch repairer though I am not aware if he ever worked as one. Do you have any information through the family?

Nicholas

[sophia]

Nicholas

Thank you for your reply. As far as the family (by this I mean what his grand daughter Chrissanthi Stavrianos always said) is concerned, Evangelos was a boat builder when he spent time in Syros, but was Castellorizian born.

There has always been a vague mention of the Orogolas name and it's meaning, but no specifics - it looks like it goes back a long way, maybe to his father, of which we have no information. Also I note now on the Castellorizo Genealogy Pages that a middle name has been added - Konstantinou - which is a mystery to us.

Do you have any information regarding obtaining birth or death records on Castellorizo, or were they all lost ? Also, you mention a 1907 dowry document, was it for his eldest daughter - or just a reference to location ?

I will keep digging and keep you posted.

Sophia

[Administrator]

Sophia,

Yes, I also know him as a shipbuilder from Syros, hence his nickname. You're probably right - the name may have originated from his father's occupation. Another possibility is that he made the clocks/timers for the boats that were built on the island.

The 1907 dowry contract I referred to contains no direct connection - as you suspected, it is merely a reference to a location in an unrelated contract.

As for birth and death records, I have quite a few copies here and am in the process of compiling them into a database. Let me know which birth/death you are after, and I will do my best to find it. Currently, I have here death records from 1902-1914, 1918-1922 and 1929-1937. I only have birth records for the 1929-1937 period.

Nicholas

[sophia]

Nicholas

Looking for death records of Evangelos Gravas and his wife Irene Passari, so maybe the 1929-1937 dates would be worth a look thank you.

There was no mention of them being involved with the evacuation, so maybe they had already passed on.

Would have been helpful if we had asked more questions earlier !

Sophia

[Administrator]

Sophia,

The only death entry I can find is for Irene who died on 21 September 1937 aged 74. Her cause of death is noted as 'heart condition'. The names of her parents are listed as Yeorgios Passaris and Christina Santrape.

Given that she is described as 'married' at the time of her death (as opposed to 'widow'), it appears that Evangelos survived her.

Hope this helps,
Nicholas

[sophia]

Nicholas

Thank you for input and help with the Gravas puzzle. Maybe someone else has information that they would like to share.

Sophia

[Descendant]

I am a great granddaughter of the Mrs Gravas spoken of as the English woman who spoke fluent Greek at the church door......Edith Gravas not only married a Greek but became one.....she died speaking Greek not English....as did her daughter Herene who had been brought up in the Greek community in Perth....she had never been to Greece.
My dad is still alive and has some knowledge as does his younger brother......herene Gravas married George Giambazi, a Greek albanian