Individual Details
John Dimitrios Pouletsos
(Jan 1878 - 19 Apr 1968)
Information from Nicholas John Pouletsos to Carol Petranek, August 1989.
Carol Petranek wrote a family history on the Pouletsos family with the help of Uncle Nick Pouletsos, for the 50th anniversary of Bertha and Nick Pouletsos. Copy in possession of Carol Petranek.
My father, John, was the only boy in a family of seven children. He was born in January 1878 in Peleta. The Greek culture at that time was that the eldest son had the duty of marrying off his sisters, and a marriage required a proper dowry. Without a dowry, a girl had no hope of marriage. In order to meet these needs, my grandfather sold my father into bondage when he was eight years old. He went to Romania where he worked and sent money home to his parents. He was the wine boy in a cafe, and his job was to run down to the wine cellar and bring up wine for customers. People would gather at the cafe to play cards, drink wine, and eat cheese, olives and bread. One night some Turks started a fight and my father was stabbed in the leg. The big gash left a permanent scar. He ran away but could not go home because his family would have been duty-bound to send him back to his owner. Instead, my father got on a boat and came to the United States. He landed in Ellis Island around 1896, but he didn't stay in New York. He went directly out west to St. Louis where he got a job selling fruit on push-carts. I remember him telling me what a hard life that was. While he was out on the streets selling fruit, people would throw nails and glass from the upper windows and rooftops down on him. He left that work and got a job on a railroad gang with four or five other Greeks.
My father was a small, frail man and did not have the large physical build of many of the other men on the railroad gang. Greeks were known to be good cooks, and my father hunted prairie chickens and deer or stole lambs and would cook for the rest of the work crew. The old Irishman who was the foreman of the gang took a liking to my father because he enjoyed the food he prepared, so he gave the Greek men the job of being the cooks. My father worked there for quite a few years while continuing to send money to his family in Greece.
In the early 20th century, the land known as the "Oklahoma territory" was considered Indian country, home of the native Cocktaw and Chicasaw tribes. When the government sectioned off parcels of Oklahoma for landrushes, there were certain areas where people couldn't settle because they were set apart as Indian reservations and were considered Indian land, which meant that anything under one foot of ground, including all the mineral rights, belonged to the Indians. When the railroad gang came into the Oklahoma territory, my father liked the area so he and a buddy homesteaded sections of land. My father got a quarter-section, and his friend (who became my uncle through marriage) purchased the adjoining quarter section for about $10. In order to keep the land, a home had to be built, so the men built two shacks of sod, one on my uncle's place and one on my father's. Years later, my cousin Nick, who is a geologist for Standard Oil, went back to these old homesteads and said that all you could see on the properties were oil wells!
My father and my uncle remained in Oklahoma during the years they worked on the railroad. They eventually moved to Connersville, Indiana, where they opened a pool hall and luncheonette. They were barely scratching out a living, so in 1912 when the Balkan War started, my father went back to Greece to join the army to fight. After the war ended in 1914, my father went back to his home town of Pelata, married my mother and brought her back to Connersville. By this time, all of my father's sisters were married except for the two youngest sisters. When he came back to America, he told his partner, Mike, about his sister, Philothea, and he agreed to marry her which is how she came to America. (These people became my cousin, May's, father and mother). The two partners sold their business in Connersville and took their wives back to their shacks in Oklahoma to live. That's where I was born.
-- MERGED NOTE ------------
The best man at his wedding was Ioannis Athanasiou Manitaras. When his sister Filothea arrived in America on the 25 May 1915, John was residing/working at 423 Central Ave, Cincinnati, Ohio.
Carol Petranek wrote a family history on the Pouletsos family with the help of Uncle Nick Pouletsos, for the 50th anniversary of Bertha and Nick Pouletsos. Copy in possession of Carol Petranek.
My father, John, was the only boy in a family of seven children. He was born in January 1878 in Peleta. The Greek culture at that time was that the eldest son had the duty of marrying off his sisters, and a marriage required a proper dowry. Without a dowry, a girl had no hope of marriage. In order to meet these needs, my grandfather sold my father into bondage when he was eight years old. He went to Romania where he worked and sent money home to his parents. He was the wine boy in a cafe, and his job was to run down to the wine cellar and bring up wine for customers. People would gather at the cafe to play cards, drink wine, and eat cheese, olives and bread. One night some Turks started a fight and my father was stabbed in the leg. The big gash left a permanent scar. He ran away but could not go home because his family would have been duty-bound to send him back to his owner. Instead, my father got on a boat and came to the United States. He landed in Ellis Island around 1896, but he didn't stay in New York. He went directly out west to St. Louis where he got a job selling fruit on push-carts. I remember him telling me what a hard life that was. While he was out on the streets selling fruit, people would throw nails and glass from the upper windows and rooftops down on him. He left that work and got a job on a railroad gang with four or five other Greeks.
My father was a small, frail man and did not have the large physical build of many of the other men on the railroad gang. Greeks were known to be good cooks, and my father hunted prairie chickens and deer or stole lambs and would cook for the rest of the work crew. The old Irishman who was the foreman of the gang took a liking to my father because he enjoyed the food he prepared, so he gave the Greek men the job of being the cooks. My father worked there for quite a few years while continuing to send money to his family in Greece.
In the early 20th century, the land known as the "Oklahoma territory" was considered Indian country, home of the native Cocktaw and Chicasaw tribes. When the government sectioned off parcels of Oklahoma for landrushes, there were certain areas where people couldn't settle because they were set apart as Indian reservations and were considered Indian land, which meant that anything under one foot of ground, including all the mineral rights, belonged to the Indians. When the railroad gang came into the Oklahoma territory, my father liked the area so he and a buddy homesteaded sections of land. My father got a quarter-section, and his friend (who became my uncle through marriage) purchased the adjoining quarter section for about $10. In order to keep the land, a home had to be built, so the men built two shacks of sod, one on my uncle's place and one on my father's. Years later, my cousin Nick, who is a geologist for Standard Oil, went back to these old homesteads and said that all you could see on the properties were oil wells!
My father and my uncle remained in Oklahoma during the years they worked on the railroad. They eventually moved to Connersville, Indiana, where they opened a pool hall and luncheonette. They were barely scratching out a living, so in 1912 when the Balkan War started, my father went back to Greece to join the army to fight. After the war ended in 1914, my father went back to his home town of Pelata, married my mother and brought her back to Connersville. By this time, all of my father's sisters were married except for the two youngest sisters. When he came back to America, he told his partner, Mike, about his sister, Philothea, and he agreed to marry her which is how she came to America. (These people became my cousin, May's, father and mother). The two partners sold their business in Connersville and took their wives back to their shacks in Oklahoma to live. That's where I was born.
-- MERGED NOTE ------------
The best man at his wedding was Ioannis Athanasiou Manitaras. When his sister Filothea arrived in America on the 25 May 1915, John was residing/working at 423 Central Ave, Cincinnati, Ohio.
Events
| Birth | Jan 1878 | Peleta of Kynouria, Arcadia, Greece | |||
| Immigration | 1901 |  | |||
| Marriage | 9 Feb 1914 | Poulithra of Kynouria, Arcadia, Greece - Kaliope N. Packs or Pakiotis | |||
| Residence | 1940 | Westwood, Bergen, New Jersey, United States | |||
| Burial | 1968 | Paramus, Bergen, New Jersey, United States | |||
| Death | 19 Apr 1968 | Westwood, Bergen, New Jersey, United States | |||
| Alt name | Ioannis (John) Dimitri Theodorou Pouletsos | ||||
| FamilySearch ID | M4MD-6V8 |
Families
| Spouse | Kaliope N. Packs or Pakiotis (1886 - 1979) |
| Child | Demitrios John Pouletsos (1914 - 2009) |
| Child | Sophia Pouletsos (1916 - 1917) |
| Child | Nicholas John Pouletsos (1917 - 2010) |
| Child | Spiro Pouletsos (1918 - 2014) |
| Child | Athanasios OR Thomas Pouletsos (1920 - 2016) |
| Child | Anna Pouletsos (1922 - 2006) |
| Child | Sophia Pouletsos (1923 - 2025) |
| Child | Pouletsos (1924 - 1924) |
| Father | Dimitrios Theodoros Pouletsos (1838 - ) |
| Mother | Sophia I. Soulias (1850 - ) |
| Sibling | Theodoros Dimitris Theodoros Pouletsos (1868 - ) |
| Sibling | Adamantia OR Diamanto D. Pouletsos (1870 - ) |
| Sibling | Eleni D. Pouletsos (1876 - 1960) |
| Sibling | Kyriakos Dimitri Theodorou Pouletsos (1880 - ) |
| Sibling | Aikaterini (Katerina) Dimitriou Pouletsos (1886 - 1978) |
| Sibling | Georgios (George) Dimitri Theodorou Pouletsos (1887 - ) |
| Sibling | Filothea Pouletsos (1892 - ) |