Papanastasiou

[Administrator]

The Papanastasiou family of Castellorizo, from which I originate on my late father's side, can be traced back to a priest by the name of Anastasios who lived on the island in the period before and immediately after the Greek Revolution (1821-1828).

As is common with families connected to a member of the priesthood, Anastasios' family became known as 'tou Papa Anastasi' and, more formally, 'Papanastasiou' - in other words, 'the family of the priest Anastasios'. The family was also known by the nickname 'tou Mourelou'.

From what we know to date, Anastasios had at least three children with his wife Maria. One son, Yeorgios, married a Triantafylia ('Papadia') Efstathiou in around 1860. Another son, Kyriakos, settled in Alexandria.

The third child we know of, a daughter Christina (b. 1827), was twice married. While we do not know the identity of her first husband, we do know that her second spouse was Vasilios Efstathiou Atzemis (who was also previously married) and that she, in turn, bore three children to him - Anastasios (who married Despina Alexandrou Tsakouni), Evangelia (who married Iakovos Yeronikolas) and Ioannis ('Mavroukos') who married Despina Economou Palassi. Christina died aged 95 on 13 August 1922.

The priest's first son, Yeorgios, had two boys and three girls. The first son, Anastasios, married Maria Mihail Malli (a priest's daughter), and their offspring settled in Perth in the 1930s. The other son, Nikolaos (my grandfather), married twice. His first wife, Anna Efstathiou Atzemi, died in 1918 soon after the birth of their first child. His second wife, my grandmother, Triantafylia Stam. Stamatiou, bore him another six children, including my late father. All settled in Sydney after the Second World War.

The three daughters of Yeorgios suffered very different fates: the eldest, Maria, married Markos Perounis. She was one of the island's midwives until her death in 1938. The second, Evangelia, married Andreas Andreou and bore only one child - a daughter Evdokia who resides to this day in Perth (now Irini Stratikis). Evangelia was to drown in the Empire Patrol tragedy in September 1945. The youngest daughter, Anna, married Yeorgios K Protomastorou, but died leaving two infant children during the flu epidemic that struck the island in August 1918.

If anyone would like to share information about their connections with the Papanastasiou clan, they should not hesitate to get in touch via this Forum.

Nicholas (Pappas, Papanastasiou)

[Paula]

Dear Nicholas,
There are some similarities in what you have written and what I have been told about my grandmother's family.

My maternal grandmother emigrated to Wheeling, West Virginia in 1921 from Castelorizzo. Her mother's maiden name was Evangelia Papastathiou, not an exact spelling of your name, but close and some of the first names are alike.

My grandmother told me many times that her grandfather was a priest and she gave me a gold medallion that she said had belonged to him. It has the Nativity on one side and the Resurrection on the other.

Evangelia married Panayiotis Papantoniu . Their children were Mary, my grandmother, Evdokia, Pandeles, Lucas, Elias, Evthokia and Olga.

Evangelia died before 1921 when her children left Castlorizzo. Mary, Olga, Pandeles, Lucas went to the U.S. to an uncle, Antonis Panagiris. Elias went to Canada and Evdokia went with her father to Piraus, Greece.

Thank you for contributing to this site. It is very interesting.
Paula

[Administrator]

Paula,

Do you know the approximate date of your great grandparents' marriage? And are you able to give me their children's names in birth order? And do you know if Evangelia had any siblings and what their names were?

This information will enable me to look more deeply into your request. While I do not think that our two families are necessarily connected, you never know what further investigation might reveal.

Papaefstathiou was a surname on the island in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Like my family's name, it was derived from the name of a priest, in this case 'Efstathios'. 'Stathis' is a common shortening of Efstathios so I would guess that your great grandmother's maiden name (Papastathiou) can be traced to one of your ancestors with this name, probably, as you say, Evangelia's grandfather.

In the dowry archive, the name 'Papaefstathiou' appears three times for three different brides. Each one is called 'Maria' and they appear to have been first cousins who married between 1901 and 1907. Interestingly, the fathers of two of them are named 'Pantelis' and 'Efstathios' respectively.

Nicholas