Individual Details

Name from town register family #6, listing his son, Mihail (wife Eleni) and their family.


Named as father of Konstantinos in Mitroon Arrenon, 1875, April, from Sparta:
Page 71, Line #3318:
Aridakos, Konstantinos, father: Christos; born 1875, 4th month (April), in Agios Ioannis.
Received from Aris Poulimenakos, September 2013.
Copy in Greek Archive file; also in "Aridas - Aridakos subfolder" on computer.

July 2014: Carol Petranek and Gregory Kontos visited Pigi Lerikos Aridas in Agios Ioannis. She said that the Aridas family name was originally Mihalakakos. They changed it to Aridas and Aridakos and a family member (Konstantinos) changed it back to Mihalakakos because he did not like Aridakos.

October 5, 2009 email from George Revelos to Carol Petranek stated that Christos and Golfo were his great-grandparents:

October 5, 2009
Dear Carol,
I was surprised to get your e-mail.  I would be happy to give you all my information regarding my side of the Aridas family, however it is rather limited.  My great grandparents were Christos and Golfo Aridas.  My mother, Frosine Aridas Revelos, is 101 years old and unfortunately had a stroke in 1997 and suffered both short and long term memory loss. She does not remember her parents and siblings.  However,  I know my grandfather Michael Aridas was married twice and lived in Agios Ioannis. He and his second wife Eleni Karteroulis, my grandmother, had passed by the time I went to Greece.  His youngest living child Anastasia Aridas Pantazou, my mother's sister and my aunt, lived in the "patrico" house. I and my brothers visited many times.  The family home in Agios Ioannis was divided into three homes.  My grandfather's portion faced the road
from Sparta as did the portion that Aristides Aridas lived. Michael's nearest Sparta and Aristidis' away from Sparta. I don't know the name of Aristidis' father who would have been my grandfather's brother. the third portion behind the first two,was accessed via a walk from the road on the Sparta side of my grandfather's home.  A Papagianakos family lived there. 

I believe that Aristidis Aridas was a partner in the local bus service in Sparta with a Kostakos from Agios Ioannis.  Aristidis had two children Fifitsa and George.  Fifitsa married and lived in Athens.  I
forget her married name.  George married Mantoula and lives in his family home.  He was also involved in the bus service after Aristidis passed, but has since retired.  He had two children Aris and Roula who my mother baptized.  Aris lives in Athens and Roula lives with her parents.  She
works in one of the banks in Sparta.  She is paralyzed from the waist down due to a motor scooter accident as a teen.  Their address is George Aridas, Agios Ioannis, Sparti 23100, Greece.
 
Now to get to my grandfather.  I don't know his first wife's name.  She bore him three children, Christos, Katina and Golfo.  Christos went to Russia to live with an uncle.  He died during the Russian Revolution, either in the Red or White Army.  He left a Russian wife and children.
During the Greek Civil War after World War II she wrote my grandfather to come to Greece.  Grandfather rejected her pleas because the Communists at that time vowed to send children to indoctrinate Greece to Communism.

Katina married Louis Vlahos (Ilias Vlachos) from Sparta and came to Springfield, Ohio.  She had four children, John, Michael, Lester (Eleftheris) and Maxine (Metaxia).  John Vlahos married Olivia a non Greek from Texas and became a playwright.  He did all the screen plays for "The 3 Mesquiteers"westerns in Hollywood before moving to Connecticut. He wrote plays for Studio One and Omnibus on TV.  He is deceased. His wife taught in college in Connecticut.  They had three children two girls and a boy.  Stephanie was one of the girls. I've forgotten the other's
name. Their son Michael Vlahos was a Washington Naval Intelligence spokesman on the news duringthe Falklands War.  Michael was killed in action in WWII and is buried in the American Cemetery in Belgium.  He was a navigator on a B17 bomber and never married.  Lester married Effie from Huntington, WV. and lived in Dayton, OH.  He had one son Lou.  Maxine married Nick Stamas from Dayton.  Both John and Maxine named their sons after their brother Michael, killed in WWII. She had twin boys Michael and Steven and a daughter Nikki.  Both Lester and Maxine are still living, both widowed.  I was close to the Vlahos family spending many years together visiting my Thea Katina.  Grandfather brought Golfo and his son Panagiotis, his son from his second wife to Springfield to live with Katina in 1921.  Golfo married a Pappas from Columbus and died there in childbirth in 1929.  The baby died also.  My mother, Frosine visited
her in Columbus thatyear.  I think Panagiotis lived with her and died from the Flu prior to my Mother coming to America.  Grandfather returned to Greece without Golfo and Panagiotis in 1921 or 1922, I'm not sure.

Grandfather had many children with his 2nd wife Eleni Karteroulis. Evangelis died in his youth, Vasilis, born in 1905, died while in the Greek Army.  My mother was born in 1908, Panagiotis in 1910 died in the US, Kosta in 1912 died in the 1950's from TB. He was a theologian and
never married.  Iphigenia died in infancy.  Anastasia was born in 1918. She married late in life to Spiros Pantazos and died in a Nursing home in Sparta several years back.  She sold the family home prior to passing. We visited Thea Tasia often during her lifetime. 

The records inSparta and now in Mistra are all messed up. They didn't show my mother as Michael's daughter nor did they show he was married twice.  We, just this summer, corrected that.  We sent Mistra a copy of my mother's Greek marriage certificate that lists her as a
daughter of Michael Aridas.
 
By the way, I attendedAmerican University in my freshman year in 1948-1949 and watched Truman's inauguration that year.  I had an aunt Tasia Chaconas whose maiden name was Vouyaglis, I believe, from Agios Ioannis that I visited whenin Washington.
 
If you have any further questions, please feel free to e-mail me.
 
George N. Revelos
 
PS   My father was from Kosma and Vrondama andthe name in Greece is
Rempelos.
 
 
October 7, 2009
 
Dear Carol,
 
Thanks for the information.  You will notice that thereare two Eleni
Aridas listed in the Dimotologion, one born in 1866 with no father's last
name and death in 1959 and the other born in 1877.  Christos Aridasis
listed between the two, born in 1900 and death on 9/11/1955 which is the
same death date as Vasilios.They have the records screwed up.  My
grandfather died within weeks of my grandmother and they both died in
1959.  You will notice that the second Eleni's father's name is Vasileos
Kortapoulos.  I believe that's a typo and should be Karteroulis.  I'm
going to get in touch with my cousin Lester Vlahos and find out what his
grandmother's maiden name was.  I hope he knows.  My mother had a cousin
named Vasilis Karteroulis whom I met on one of my trips to Agios Ioannis.
My uncle Spiros Pantazou took me with Vasilis south of Sparta to go bird
hunting.  I was just a spectator.  But, I digress.  The Dimotologion
lists Christos after the first Eleni and he would be her child. It lists
neither Katina nor Golfo.  My mother is also missing.  Also, Christos
died in Russia and he and Vasilios could not have died in 1955. When my
mother married on March 3, 1929 in Sparta, they did not celebrate in
Agios Ioannis due to the death of her brother.  I believe that was
Vasilios.  They celebrated the wedding for a week in my dad's village of
Vrondama.
 
I am attaching a copy of thefamily record from Mistra.  My brother
Charlie was trying to get mymother recognized as part of the family and
hired an attorney inGreece.  It seems the records in Spartawere moved
to Mistra. The records areatrocious.  It lists date of births 100years
off and list no date ofdeaths. However, It does show my grandmother's
father as VasiliosKarteroulis.
   
George Aridas called me lastmonth, asking how we were all doing.  My
brother Charlie hosted Georgeand Roula when they were in Miami, FL at
the Spine Clinic looking fortreatments for Roula years ago.
 
Looking forward to hearingfrom you.
 
George           
 
My response - Oct 7:
Hello George,
 
I have been reading you remails and looking at the information I have received from the Archives in Sparta. Thank you for taking the time to write to me about your family. I am trying to understand everything a little bit at a time. I have lots of questions and things could get confusing for both of us. If you are willing, I think it would be best if we worked through one family at a time -- is this okay with you?
I have figured out how we are related -- Mihail Aridas (no dates) is our common ancestor. The parents of my grandmother, Hariklia Aridas were Georgios Aridas (died 1960) and Afroditi Lerikou. Georgios' father was Mihail Aridas.
 
I have attached 4 documents-- two of them are copies of the Town Register that I received for Mihail(there is a page 1 and a page 2). It lists the information differently than the one from Mistra that you sent me.
One is a family group sheet from my genealogy program that shows the information I have for Mihail & Eleni Lopakos. If you read the notes on page 2, it will show you where I got my information.
The last is a copy of Mihail's family as it is listed on the Family Trees of Southern Parnon website.I believe this is information that you had sent in.
 
Looking at all these documents and the Town Register that you emailed to me, there are some discrepancies. I was so happy to get your email today, as it helped me understand some of the records. You are right -- the records are very messed up!
 
I have a very big question --why are both Eleni's listed in this record? Was this like a census record that lists everyone in a household? Or is it a record of a man's family, which includes spouses who have died? It has left out children, as you said below!
If you look at the attached Town Register, page 1 & 2, it shows:
Mihail born 1867
Eleni Lopakos (born 1866) --her father is Demetrios Lopakos
Christos born 1900. You said that this placement in the record indicates that Christos is the son of Eleni Lopakos & Mihail. This corresponds with the information I have.
You also said that the the mother of the following children, who are listed after Eleni Karteroulis would be her children, not Eleni Lopakos'. Please verify that this is correct, and I will change the information in my database.
Eleni Karteroulis (born 1877)
Vasilios born 1905. Panagiotis born 1910 (do you agree that this is the correct name)? You have his birth year as 1909 - both registers show it as 1910. Do you have a different source that shows 1909?
I'm confused about the next name:  Konstantinos Mihalakakos. Who is this? Is he the Konstantinos that you have as Mihail & Eleni K.'s son?
Anastasia born 1918.
 
Now to address some other notes in your email below:
1.  Katina and Golfo are children of Eleni Lopakos & Mihail? This makes sense, as Golfo is the grandmother's name. I wonder who Katina was named after? (Unless the godparents didn't follow the naming tradition)
 
2.  You are saying that Michail C. & Eleni Karteroulis both died in 1959.
 
3.  I learned from a Greek genealogist that the"death dates" on the Dimotologion are not the actual dates of death,but the dates that the deaths were physically recorded in the register. Thatexplains why the same date appears over and over again for different people.Sometimes those dates are many years after the actual event occurred. However,if I don't have an exact death date, I will use the date on the Dimotologion soas to show that the person was deceased.
 
One last comment. I received many "Male Registers" from the Archives. As you know, it lists a man and his father. However, it lists the first and last names only, not the middle names. So of course there is confusion as to which man is the father of which son! Some of my records may have the wrong people connected if I made an error using the Male Register to try to put together a family.                                               
 
Maybe between the two of us,we can make sure that we have the correct information in our records.
 
I am happy to hear that George Aridas called you recently. He and his family are such wonderful people.Did he tell you the names of his son, Aris' wife and his children?
 
Best wishes,
Carol
 
 
October 8, 2009
Dear Carol,
 
Thanks very much for copiesof the Dimotologion.  I couldn't reach my
cousin Lester, but after reading the Dimotologion you sent I have deduced
that Lopakos has been misinterpreted.  It should be Leakakos orLiakakos.
 Lester had told me that he and his sister Maxine visited their Mother's
relatives in Athens yearsago  and it was Leakakos orLiakakos.  I
remember I had asked cousin Lester if Mike Liakakos from Dayton was
related to him and he hadsaid no.  When I get Lester on the phoneI'll
verify the spelling.  The person entering the data on theDimotologion
had an odd way of writing kappa.  If you look at  Γκολφο the κ in the
name below appears twice.  I don't know how Panagiotis’birth became 1909.
I believe 1910 is correct.  Stelios Hagias may have gotten that from the
ship's manifest when grandfather and Panagiotis came to Springfield with
Golfo.  As for Kosta Mihalakakos,  that is Kosta Aridas.  My uncle wrote
my mother back in the late 1940's that he had uncovered the real name for
Aridas as Mihalakakos.  He said that one of the ancestors had long legs
which is what Aridas translates to from arida (leg). It was a nickname
(παπατσουκλι) that stuck.  So, there for a while we were saying that mom
was a Mihalakakos.  It didn't take long for that to disappear.  I think
my uncle Kosta had that put in.  Maybe the note after his name references
that.  I can't make out what it says.
 
My sister Lula (Ζαχαρουλα) wasthe first of the children in our family to
visit Agios Ioannis in the1950's and meet my grandparents.  My mother
also went over in 1949 to visit her parents for the first time since her
marriage in 1929.  I may be mistaken as to the death in the family at my
mother's wedding.  It could have been Panagiotis and not Vasilis after
seeing the Dimotologion.  It lists his residence as Agios Ioannis.  If
that is true, then he returned to Greece with grandfather when they left
Golfo in Springfield.  I had always assumed that he stayed on with Golfo,
which may account why I can't find a death certificate for him in Ohio. 
 
When I called Lester's number, I got a message that the number has been
disconnected.  When I get in touch with him, I'll ask who his mother was
named after.
George
 
October 13:
I finally reached my cousin Lester.  He changed his phone number because
he was getting all kinds of solicitations from girls in Africa that
wanted to marry and come to America.  He doesn't know how his telephone
number wound up in Africa.  He is in his early eightys.  He told me that
his grandmother's last name was Leakakos and he doesn't know why his
mother Katina was named Aikaterini.  He is a little hazy about time
lines.  His mother came to Springfield when she was 16 with her aunt
Dimitroula Vlahos and uncle Kostas Vlahos and married Louis Vlahos in
Springfield.  I did some research and found her death certificate. She
was born April 19, 1899 and died December 2, 1990.  I also found the ship
manifest for S.S. Themistokles in 1913.  I am attaching a copy.  She is
listed as Caterina Aridacos on line 9 and is 14 if I read it correctly.
Wonder of wonders is that your grandmother Chariklia Aridas on line 16?
Also on line 21 there is a Petros Papagianacos from Agios Ioannis. I
wonder if he's of the same family that lived in the back side of the
Aridas homestead.  If I find anything else I'll send it.
George

October 16, 2009
 
Dear Carol,

Thanks for the news.  If I knew beforehand that you were coming to Ohio,
I would have invited you to stop by.  I'm not sure what part of Ohio,
Belmont County is in.  I live in Middletown, Ohio between Cincinnati and
Dayton.  I-75 passes by our city.

Now to answer your questions.  You probably have George Aridas wife's
name correctly.  I always new her as Mantoula or Matoula. That's what my
aunt Tasia and George called her, so I guess it was a nickname.

As for Christos Aridas,  the story that I had was that the uncle that he
stayed with when Christos went to Russia was wealthy and the family
returned to Greece after losing all their property to the Communists.  I
don't recall their name, but supposedly, they claimed,  that Christos
reported them to the Communists and they lost everything.

Evangelis, according to my mother was the oldest child and she never new
him.  He died before she was born or soon after.

Kosta never married.  He went to Athens to study and became a theologian.
 In his youth, he was a pole vaulter and won a cup for placing first in
Sparta.  He contracted tuberculoses while in Athens and died there.

Anastasia married late in life and never had any children with Spiros
Pantazou.  Spiros, originally from Agios Ioannis, lived in Toronto,
Canada through World War II and returned to Greece after the war and
married my aunt.  I don't know the year.  They came for a visit inthe
1960's I believe.  They also visited his sister in Toronto.  The planwas
for him to live in Canada for a year to be eligible for the Canadian
Veterans pension while my aunt would return to Greece for the harvesting
of the oranges.  Uncle Spiro turned down the opportunity for the pension
and returned to Greece with my aunt.

Your mention of Lerikou is interesting.  They ran a mini gas station
close to my aunt's house.  As you were coming into Agios Ioannis the road
took a jog left and right.  On the left side of the jog was a house with
a swimming pool.  I forget the family that owned it.  At the rightjog on
the right were two pumps and a little store.  The Aridas homestead was up
the road a little on the left.  Then just past the George Aridas house
the road took a right and left jog.  At the left jog was a small grocery
run by the Bouzoukou family.  From there the road went straight to the
Agios Ioannis platea.  On that stretch lived a Kostakos family.  You see,
I married Soula Geroulakos that lived across from George Aridas in the
church in Agios Ioannis in 1973.  So I am familiar with Agios Ioannis.
My ex was friends with the wife of the young Kostakos that lived there.
I divorced my wife in 1985 for being unfaithful and she returned to
Greece with her two children. 

I have been to Anavreti a couple of times for their church holiday.  I
never stayed there but my mother and my youngest brother Charlie
(deceased) were invited to someone's home there.  My mother related that
years ago and I've forgotten the name.  Unfortunately, with my mother's
memory loss, I can't get any information from her.

I hope you had success on your road trip through Ohio, Indiana and
Illinois.

George

On Tue, 13 Oct 2009 17:20:11 -0400 Carol & Gary Petranek
  Hi George,
  Icouldn't believe my eyes when I looked at this ship manifest! You
  are
  right -- it IS my grandmother, Chariklia, online 16! There are also
  
  several other people on that same page whom weare related to so
  there
  was a whole gang that came over on the sameboat. Now we know that
  my
  grandmother's family must have known theVlachos family quite well,
  as
  they all came together.
  Line 8 - Nikolaos Laricos -- Afroditi Lerikouis the mother of my
  grandmother, Chariklia. Afroditi's father was Panagiotis. Now I will  
  trace this Nikolaos.
  Lines 19&20 - Morfogenis - this family isfrom Anavriti (just over
  the
  mountain from Ag. Ioan.) Athanasia Morfogen married Demetrios
  Papagiannakos - not a bloodline to me, but a relationship through
  marriage.
  
  This ship manifest is a treasure to me --thank you for sending it.
  
  I am working my way through your emails and entering information
  into   the database on my computer. I have a couple of questions about the
  first email you sent me on Oct 5:
  
  1.  You mentioned that George Aridas(from the bus company) married
  Mantoula. I spent some time with them when Ivisited Greece, and I
  have   her name as Adamadia Attilakou. Would Mantoula be a nickname?
  
  2.  Christos Aridas who went to Russia --there is a family story
  that   my grandfather's half-brother (he was aKostakos) went to Russia and
  was   never heard from again. Christos went to see an Uncle in Russia. I
  wonder if it could possibly be this same person?
  
  3.  Michael Aridas & Eleni Kartroulis:
       a. Their son, Evangelis who died as a youth - I assume that
  was in  Ag. Ioannis? Any idea of his age, or if he was oldest or youngest or
  in   the middle of the kids?
      b.  Kosta who died in 1950's from TB - did he live in Ag.   Ioannis or  the US? Did he marry? Any children?
      c. Anastasia Pantazos - did she have any children?
  
  Thank you for answering these questions. Myhusband, Gary and I are
  leaving tomorrow to go on a genealogy trip toBelmont County, Ohio.
  His
  mother's side of the family traveled westthrough Ohio and Illinois,
  and
  we are trying to find Gary's great-great grandfather.We will be
  gone
  until Saturday.
  
  Have a good week and I will "talk"to you when I return.
  
  Again, thank you---
  Carol
 

Birth	1840	Agios Ioannis, Sparta, Lakonia, Greece
Marriage	Abt 1862	Of Agios Ioannis, Sparta, Lakonia, Greece - Gkolfo
Contract	30 Dec 1863	Sparta, Lakonia, Greece
Residence	1872	Agios Ioannis, Sparta, Lakonia, Greece
Election Register	1872	Agios Ioannis, Sparta, Lakonia, Greece
Occupation	1872	landowner - Agios Ioannis, Sparta, Lakonia, Greece
Residence	1875	Agios Ioannis, Sparta, Lakonia, Greece
Alt name		Christos Aridakos
Alt name		Michalakakos
Alt name		Χρηστος Αριδακος / Αριδάς
FamilySearch ID		L8WZ-Y9C
Death		Of Agios Ioannis, Sparta, Lakonia, Greece

Spouse	Gkolfo (1847 - )
Child	Marigo C. Michalakakos (1863 - )
Child	Michail Christos Aridas Michalakakos (1867 - 1959)
Child	Alexis Christos Aridas (1869 - )
Child	Konstantinos Christos Aridas (1875 - )
Child	Anastasoula C. Aridas Michalakakos (1879 - )

Father	Michail Christos Aridas (1799 - )
Mother	Stamatina (1818 - )
Sibling	Aikaterini M. Aridas (1838 - )
Sibling	Efthymios Michail Aridas Michalakakos (1842 - )
Sibling	Georgios Michail Aridas (1850 - 1912)

Webtags

Notes