Family History
My first cousin once removed in Greece (he's the son of my grandfather's half brother) sent a package that we got in the mail yesterday after we sent them a Christmas card. We received a lot in return. A lot of pictures and information, primarily.
So, I learned that my great-great grandfather, Christos Athanasiou (a priest, from whom my family name Papachristou, is derived) was born in 1826, only 5 years after Greece had broken away from the Ottoman Empire and were still fighting for their independence from Sultan Mahmud II. Christos lived until 1917, witnessing in his life the continued battles of Greece against the Ottoman Empire and almost witnessing the end of the first World War.
His son, Vasileiros Papachristou, was born in 1864 and he died in 1959. When he was a child and well into his adulthood, travel was limited to foot, on the back of an animal, in a carriage, maybe riding a train, and ship. By the end of his life, though, travel by car and airplane was commonplace, and we had begun our first tentative steps into space.
And I'm also probably going to start a fairly frequent correspondence with my family in Greece. My great uncle currently lives in the paternal house of our family that the family has owned for centuries.
It just sort of boggles my mind, since I now have pictures of both those men and it is kind of weird to think I am descended of them.
So, I learned that my great-great grandfather, Christos Athanasiou (a priest, from whom my family name Papachristou, is derived) was born in 1826, only 5 years after Greece had broken away from the Ottoman Empire and were still fighting for their independence from Sultan Mahmud II. Christos lived until 1917, witnessing in his life the continued battles of Greece against the Ottoman Empire and almost witnessing the end of the first World War.
His son, Vasileiros Papachristou, was born in 1864 and he died in 1959. When he was a child and well into his adulthood, travel was limited to foot, on the back of an animal, in a carriage, maybe riding a train, and ship. By the end of his life, though, travel by car and airplane was commonplace, and we had begun our first tentative steps into space.
And I'm also probably going to start a fairly frequent correspondence with my family in Greece. My great uncle currently lives in the paternal house of our family that the family has owned for centuries.
It just sort of boggles my mind, since I now have pictures of both those men and it is kind of weird to think I am descended of them.