My Father's Grandmother was Ellene Kalafatis. The family came from the Gallipoli peninsula in the Ottoman Empire (today Turkey). My Father's Father was Demitrios Tsoukalidis. He was born in Thessalonika. Is there anyone who can help with more details of the family?

Hi

My grandfather was a very interesting individual. My email is roberts_eleanor@hotmail.com

Do you happen to know any more facts about your father's grandmother? Things like siblings, time frames. I think the thrust of these posts is to find links to Chrysostomos Kalafatis, the Metropolitan Bishop. But your great-grandmother's last name does suggest a link. Chrysostomos was born in Triglia, which is next to Moudania. Triglia is about 120 miles from Gelibolou which is the coastal city right across the strait.

My Father did not speak much about his family. However, there were two Kalaftis men who came to Australia to live before WWI named Theo and Peter. Whether they were brothers to my Great-Grandmother, I do not know. They were only ever referred to as Uncle. Given that my Father was born in 1920, Great-Grandmother's birth must date back to about the middle of the 19th C.

Hi everyone -

I notice there are quite a few people looking at the Kalafatis name. I am not sure this response will reach everyone, but I am replying to the last message in the thread - hope it works.

This information may be of interest to some of you.

The following Kalafatis names are mentioned in the book "Diaspora Merchants in the Black Sea - The Greeks in Southern Russia 1775-1861" by Vassilis Kardasis - published 2001 by Lexington Books, Lanham, Maryland, U.S.

Ch. Kalafatis
Demet. Kalafatis
Evstath Kalafatis
Steph. Kalafatis

I have found that local libraries are very helpful and can probably get the book for you through the inter-library loan service.

Good luck to all of you with your Greek family genealogy research.

Georgia Keilman
http://HellenicGenealogyGeek.com
Check out my website for more resources on Greek genealogy research.