Kytherian Society of California

The Kytherian Society of California hosted its 8th Global Zoom meeting on March 11/12, 2023.  71 participants from 8 countries attended the event, held in collaboration with the Kytherian Genealogy Project by Amalia Samios and Kalie Zervos.  The Zoom’s main topic was Sharing About Our Ancestors. By asking participants to pre-register and complete a brief survey, Amaia and Vikki were able to tailor the infomation presented to those who attended.

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KSOCA President Vikki Vrettos Fraioli welcomed the participants and offered a brief introduction of the Board Members. 

Focusing on family connections and genealogy, Amalia Samios noted how one can glean important information by looking at old photos. Photos may have been taken to commemorate a wedding, or to send to relatives who had emigrated to Australia or to the USA.  Clothing may indicate how well off or poor a family was. 

 
Amalia shared photos from the Fatseas Photo Collection to illustrate the nuances of photography detective work. 
Nina Conomos recognized relatives; Cynthia Cavalenes-Jarvis saw photos of her grandparents; and Georgia Marudas noted her mother and aunts were in one of the photos.  

Kalie pointed out that the Fatseas Photographic glass plate collection was preserved because of diligent work by Angelo Notaras and George Poulos. 

Helen Tzortzopoulos, FMK President, gave a brief update on the Migration Museum in Agia Pelagia, showing architectural drawings of the proposed building and noting that there is now an office in Potamos.

Vikki gave a brief update on the Migration Monument in Agia Pelagia,

George Souris from Saint Louis, MO was unable to attend the Zoom because he was celebrating his 100th birthday at a surprise party given by his family!  The Zoom participants wished him a happy birthday, and a video greeting was sent to him.

When Vikki visited Amalia in Sydney in 2019, she shared an Ancestry.com family tree of Alice Christofas Bogansky. Amalia was surprised when she realized there were photos of her great great grandparents on that tree! The sister of Kiriaki is Vikki’s great great grandmother! We are ALL connected.

Vikki noted that has collected and scanned photos from relatives and friends for many years. By sharing these on Kythera-family.net, Facebook and with others, she has been able to obtain identities of many of the previously unknown people in the photos.

  One photo, from the archives of Terry Chlentzos Panages , was of their common great-grandmother Efrosini Manoli Chlentzos (nee Venardos) with her daughters Marigitza Chlentzos Alfieris (Vikki’s grandmother) and Kirani Chlentzos Katsouli (grandmother of the famous photographer Manoli Sofios)  from approximately 1890. Many years ago, Vikki shared the photo with John Stathatos,  who wrote about it in one of his blog entries. The photo was featured in the National Geographic book Kythera.

Another photo Vikki shared was the wedding photo of Peter D. Leonsinis, grandfather of Alexis Paspalas Bante from Austin, TX. While studying photos from Auggie Conomos’ archive, emailed by Diane Homberg,  it was discovered that a couple in the Leontsinis  wedding photo was also in one of Auggie’s photos. Because this couple was flanking the bride and groom, we speculated that that they were possibly the Koumbaroi.

Vikki talked about the importance of collecting and scanning old photos, identifying the people in them, and ways to preserve and share photos using a camera or iPhone, emphasizing that as old photos are studied and scrutinized, faces become recognizable at different life states.  As we see these photos in groups with others, we can identify them and denote family relationships.

Other highlights of Vikki’s shared photos included one of the Galakatos family; one of Mary Cavacos Capsanes, who was the mother of Zoom attendee Panagiotitsa (Titsa) Capsanes Bronstein. 

 Interestingly, Titsa’s uncle was the famous sculptor Emmauel Cavacos, and Titsa shared several of his bronze sculptures.  

Eleni Venardos, from Athens, Greece, shared information about her family that was recently featured on the KPG Genealogy blog.  

The participants discussed various family connections, and Amalia offered information from the Kytherian Surnames book by Emmanuel Calligeros.  

Amalia shared photos of school testing results, noting the fine penmanship of students at the time.  Participant Laura Pavou-Muddie offered her expertise in graphology to decipher personality and characteristics. 

 Some of the participants shared their own family photos. 

Lisa Marentis, fom Brisbane, AU,  showed a photo of a sewing school in Kythera, with her grandmother Triantafilia Kontoleon.  

Julie Duveas (nee Stratigos) from Bayside, NY shared the famiy crest of the Stratigos family from Milopotamos.

Theodora Adigun, from Sydney, AU, shared a photograph of a furniture factory in Pireaus, Greece taken in 1903. It was owned by Nikolaos Samios, Theodora’s mothers maternal grandfather who was from Aloizianika.

First-time participant Robert Samios shared a photo of his father playing a Samios accordion.  Robert is planning his first trip to Kythera in a few weeks. 

The Global Kytherian Genealogy Zoom was a great success.  Participants enjoyed finding common roots, discussion of Kytherian topics, and meeting new friends (who are likely cousins).  We look forward to the next one!