Part 8 When Adam Bought the Farm 1922

Gaegler Farm

By the early 1920s, the Cokinos Brothers candy stores had generated enough revenue to allow Adam and Pete to buy their own homes and start thinking about other investments. A small article in the Washington Post in 1922 reported a total of six candy shops in total. That same year, Adam bought a 40 acre farm waaaay out in the country, about ten miles from DC on the corner of Montrose Road and the Rockville Pike. Developers now call it Pike and Rose, and you can take your dog over there for a happy hour.

Adam planned to set up some sort of farm-to-table enterprise for restaurants, but that vision never became a reality. Here's a bit of the property's history.

The Gaegler family first built a house here on 72 acres in 1865 using rammed earth and stone. Later the family ran a store called "Montrose" on the corner of the Rockville Pike and Old Georgetown Road. In 1914, Mary Gaegler sold the house and 53 acres to Dwight Scott who founded the National Vaccine and Antitoxin Institute. He made serums for farm animals. When Mr. Scott went bankrupt in 1920, the property was sold at auction. Leonard Nicholson bought it for $30,000 and flipped the property to Adam Cokinos in 1922 for about $40,000. (The internet rocks for information like this. I found a Park service document describing this historic property, but it has since disappeared from the web.)

Adam never did live on the farm. He hired a caretaker to look after the property. In 1924, he sold eight acres including the Gaegler house. Later that year, he sold the rest of the property.

The caretaker moved to an outbuilding. My father’s takeaway story was that the caretaker smoked in bed and burned down the farm which turned out to have a grain of truth. The real story is far more harrowing. I found this article in the “suburban” section of the Washington Post in 1925:

 “Jesse Cooley. 35 years old died in a Washington hospital yesterday as a result of burns sustained when a coal oil stove exploded in the kitchen of the home he and his father, John Cooley occupied on the farm of Adam Cokinos. Cooley was pumping oil into the stove when the explosion occurred. His clothing immediately ignited.” 

Poor Jesse. He ran to a nearby creek to save himself. A passing motorist picked him up, but he died at the hospital.

I think the explosion was the last straw for the farm idea. I know my uncle Nick used to have the original poster which announced the farm would be auctioned, but I can’t find a record of this online. For many years, the property was referred to as the "Cokinos tract." 

In 1926, Adam decided to pull up stakes. He sold his store at 12th and K to the Vilanos family. Adam, Katy and their girls Jean, Mary and Thetis left for his wife’s hometown of Philadelphia where he started a coffee company. Here is a photo of them from around that time.

Here is a little hep wanted ad from 1925

and here is a photo of the building on South Fifth Street.

The family stayed in Philadelphia for the rest of their lives. I remember my father George talking about them, and making trips up there to attend important family events. He always stayed in touch with our extended family- even after his Uncle Adam died in 1958.

Part 7: New Beginnings Together 1914-1924

Pete and Pota were married in August 1914 in Elizabeth, NJ. Pota's brother-in -law Sophocles was a witness. Pete brought his bride back to DC to live above the Cokinos Brothers candy shop on H Street NE. Their first child, Catherine was born in April 1915, a discreet nine months after their marriage the previous summer. Her Greek baptismal name was for he rnother- Panayota, but I imagine her parents thought an English name would be a better fit for life in America.  

By 1916, another child was on the way. Pete bought a new three bedroom row house two blocks from his brother Adam at 909 11th Street N.E. The house had a mansard style tin roof and a kitchen in the basement which was typical at the time. My father George recalled that Pete liked the “Greek” columns holding up the porch roof.  George was born here-in this house.

The 11th Street house is still standing today. Below is a photo from about 1919 and another from about 70 years later.

As a first born male, George was named to honor his paternal grandfather and his own father. This was the Greek way of doing things and why so many names repeat in Hellenic families. Here is a photo of Pota with Catherine on her left and George on right, Not sure who the other children are.

1918.

George and Catherine c 1920

The census of 1920 finds Pete, and his brothers Adam and Alec all living near or above the H Street candy store. Alec drifted between the brothers, but my father remembered his uncle living with them most of the time. William, the brother who popped up in 1910 census seems to have gone back to Greece.

Pete, Pota, Katy and Adam with little George @ Hains Point 1920

In 1921, St Sophia’s finally started having services in their own building at Eighth and L NW. The congregation included a robust Sunday school. Catherine is standing in the front row, second from the end.

In other family news, Pete's cousin and business partner, the ever adventurous James Cokinos, pulled up stakes in 1921 and moved his family to Red Oak, Iowa to open a candy store there. His brother Daniel Cokinos remained working and living on 8th Street SE. Daniel's first wife, Angelika died, probably during childbirth, with their second child. Daniel married again in June of that year and started a second family with Pota Kapsalis. Pete's brother Adam bought a house at 1217 11th Street NW. 

The candy business was booming.

That fall, George started kindergarten at Wheatley Elementary on Neal Street N.E. He remembered his older sister Catherine dragging him to school by the hand. He cried all the way. Once there, the teacher repeatedly asked George his name, and he kept telling her “Yorgo.” He was the only Greek boy in the class, and had to catch up quickly in the language department. The only friend George could recall from those early school days was Harry Chase who lived up the street and did scary shows in his basement. (Isn’t there always one?) Another boy named Paul used to chase George home from school every day and would beat him up when he could catch him. When Pota figured out what was happening, she somehow lured Paul into the house and gave him a good going over herself. That was the end of that. 

Nick Kendros, another relative from Agoulnitsa, was still living on 8th Street with his Uncle Daniel, Aunt Bertha and their four children. Nick's daughter Ruby later told me that he slept on a cot in the back of the candy shop. When Nick was almost thirty years old, my grandmother Pota decided to play matchmaker. She introduced Nick to Angelika, a girl from her home village, St John- near Sparta. "Kiki" was just out of high school and living in Annapolis with her parents Harry and Bertha Tagalos. 

Nick brought St Sophia's priest to Annapolis, and the two were married in September 1922 in the Oddfellows Hall. I'll bet our entire Cokinos family was there. Not only did my grandmother take credit for the match, but Alec Cokinos was one of the groomsmen. Nick, his wife and her parents Harry and Bertha Tagalos came to live at 808 K St NE, two blocks from Peter and Pota. Nick went on to own the Woodward Sandwich Shop at 1422 H Street NW, and our families were close for many years.

Nicholas Peter Cokinos. Pota and Peter's last child. came along in April of 1924. All of their children were born in April. Either my grandparents were feverishly patriotic or they religously celebrated their wedding anniversary which was also in July.

The Greek population was growing in DC, and our family was a part of that boom.

from left to right Pota (Daniel's wife), Nick Kendros, Kiki, Pota, Pete, Katy, unknown

Catherine Cokinos standing with bow, George P Cokinos

Penelope. Koula, Thelma, Mary ( Daniel's children) Bill Maofis with Nick Cokinos in lap,

Kiki's father Harry Tagalos with Ruby in lap- probably Hains Point 1925 or so.

Part 6: The Confectioner Takes a Bride 1910-1914

Pota Haralampakos

Greek women were a rare commodity in Washington in the early 1900s. An overwhelming number of Greek men came here solo, often with the intention of getting their economic acts together before returning to Greece. By 1911, the Cokinos brothers had created a successful chain of candy stores with their cousins James and Dan.

Ad from Washington Herald November 1911

Peter Cokinos became a naturalized citizen on November 3, 1913. Woodrow Wilson had been inaugurated, and legislation was in the works to deport and restrict immigrants - especially those from Southern Europe. At this point, no one in our family wanted to go back to Greece involuntarily. The men in our family were here to stay. 

Adam Cokinos found his bride Kalliope Condrackos in Philadelphia. He and “Katy” married there in 1912, and returned to Washington to raise their children. (Katy would introduce her sister Georgia to another Washington Greek, Steve Demas, and Steve gave George Cokinos a badly needed job in 1935, but that's another story.) In the meantime Adam and Katy added three girls to the Cokinos family: Jean, Mary and Thetis.

Being a patriarchal society, the Cokinos men were easier to trace than the maternal side of my family. My father had always stayed in touch with his family in Greece, but when I asked what my grandmother’s maiden name was, he shrugged. It had been so long since the subject came up, he wasn’t even sure how to pronounce her last name. “Haram- something,” he said, shrugging.  He did remember that she sometimes went by “Bertha Harris” which seemed wildly random to me. 

Fortunately I found a wedding announcement in an old photo album which told me the name was Pota Haralampakos. The first two syllables indicate light and joy, and the last -“akos”-refers to being from Laconia which is where Sparta is located. This detail was reassuring since we do know Pota was from that region of Greece.

My father remembered that when Pota first came to this country, she lived with her brother Tom and his family in New Jersey. Dad thought that Tom's wife Christine was less than thrilled by her sister-in-law's arrival. I think this photo was taken in 1912 - possibly just after Pota moved in with the couple and their son George who was about two years old.

I tried to find out something about Tom Haralampakos on Ancestry, but came up disappointed. Then I remembered what Dad said about Harris so I went with “Tom Harris” in New Jersey and got way too many possibilities. Finally I plugged in the name “Harris,” his estimated birth year and checked the box for his country of origin as “exactly Greece.”  

Bingo. 

Up popped “Thohas Harris” from Sparta, living in Elizabeth, New Jersey. with his wife Christina and children in both the 1920 and 1930 censuses. 

Tom "Harris" and daughter

A 1915 New Jersey census listed Thomas as a 28 year old man, married with two children. His wife is named Christina and the children are George who is 4 and Anna who is 2. Both children were born in the US. His birth date was listed as 1887, and this stays true throughout the censuses. I have since found a Greek record of his birth confirming this date. By 1920, Tom owns his own home and candy store and has three children.

At a lunch with our cousin Ruby Pelecanos, I happened to learn that the Haralampakos family wasn’t actually from Sparta.  Ruby said that her father Nick Kendros first met his wife, Kiki (Alice Tagalos), through my grandmother. Curious, I asked Ruby how Pota knew Kiki who lived in Annapolis, Maryland—nearly an hour from Washington, DC.

Ruby seemed surprised that I didn’t know. She told me both Kiki and Pota were from St John (Agios Ioannis) a small village near Sparta. Ruby told me it's like saying you were from DC when you're really from a suburb like Bethesda.

This tiny scrap of information was thrilling to a history nerd like me, and served as an important reminder to talk to older relatives and family friends. The photo below shows our extended family on the front porch of 909 11th Street, The photo may have been taken by Ruby's father, Nick Kendros who is not in the picture. (Ruby remembered that he had a camera. )

L-R seated : Nick Cokinos, Pota Cokinos, Ruby Kendros (baby in lap of her grandmother ) Kiki Kendros and Louis Mandris  a friend. not sure about the two kids in front. Kiki's parents,  Grandfather Harry Tagalos  in the back. 

My father’s only maternal Greek origin story was a vague tale featuring a man mowed down by a stray bullet in his own yard around 1911. This was my father's explanation of how his mother came to live with her older brother Tom in the U.S.   I found this old photo in Yiya's album, and it seems to corroborate the story as her mother is wearing the traditional black garb of a widow.

Possibly Tom,  Stephi and Pota Haralampakos

According to Greek tradition, marriages were arranged by the parents, and romance wasn’t necessarily a factor. The potential groom might be consulted on the deal, but girls had little or no say in the matter. If the girl’s father died before she was married, responsibility shifted to an uncle or a brother. This is why I think Pota was shipped off to America to live with Tom and Christine. 

When trying to figure out when Pota arrived,  I used Ellis Island’s search engine. The closest match was “Panayota Haralambacon.” The ship sailed from Gythio which is the closest port to Sparta, and the date was the same year of arrival that Pota gave to a census taker in 1920; July 8, 1912.

 . 

Back on Ancestry, I plugged “Panayota Haralambacon and the ship’s date and found a digital version of the ship’s original messy document. The first name is almost illegible; and the last name does look like "Haramlambacon." Her home was listed as St John, (thank you, Ruby) and her destination was Elizabeth, New Jersey where she was to live with her brother. She was described as a 22 year old single woman with black hair and brown eyes, occupation “servant.” She was traveling with her brother-in-law, Sophocles Karas. She listed "Dem" Karas -his wife and her sister as her closest living relative in Greece. 

All in all, I am thinking this was my grandmother despite the name variation. The Greek alphabet muddies many names in translation.

Two years later, possibly through the Greek confectioner’s version of match.com., Pete found his bride still living with her brother, Tom who also was a candy store proprietor. Though somewhat older, Pete was a handsome, successful bachelor who owned his own home and business.

This was probably an arranged marriage, settled on between the two men. Any record of a possible courtship is lost to the past, The wedding announcement that I found was concise and to the point. 

“Peter Cokinos and P. Haralampakos will be married on July 30, 1914 at 3 o’clock pm. At 103 First Street, Elizabeth, New Jersey and will leave for Washington the same day at 6 P.m.”

So much for a honeymoon.

Recently I requested their marriage certificate and discovered they were actually married on August 8, at 5 pm. The last name listed for Panagiota confirmed the information on the ship's manifest: "Haralambakon. Bonus clue: One of the wedding witnesses was her brother in law, Sophocles Karras, aka her traveling companion from the ship.

I was also able to learn the names of Pota's parents: George Nicholas Haralambakos and Antonia "Cavoor." Peter's mother's maiden name was revealed as well though also is a bit illegible. My best guess is Calliope Katseouple. Peter is listed as 32 and Pota as 24 years old.

Finally an WW2 alien register for Tom Harris revealed his true Greek name as Athanasins Haralampakos. Through this name I found a ship's manifest from 1925. He had gone to Greece to fetch his mother Antonia who was 65 years old. They both listed her brother George as their contact in St John, Greece so now I know her maiden name was actually Antonia Kavouris. She and her husband Georgios Charalampakos are listed in the village marriage register as being married on November 8, 1880 in St John.

I wish I could tell my dad.

Part 5: Cokinos Brothers' Parlors of Sweets 1910

Alec and Pete in front of the store at 1203 H St NE

By 1910, four enterprising Cokinos brothers were listed in the street directory. Panos, who had not yet fully adopted his American name Pete, was living at 1203 H Street NE with, surprise, his older brother Vassilios who was listed as William. I don't think my father ever knew that William tried out life in America. Panos' younger brother, Alec is also listed and I am guessing he came with William in 1909. 

The 1910 census lists Alec and Adam living at 909 4 1/2 Street SW above yet another candy shop that they’d added to the empire. The location was two blocks from Al Jolson’s home at 713 4 ½ Street. 

Al Jolson's home 41/2 St SW Library of Congress

At first I thought 4 1/2 Street was a typo, but a 1905 plan to further organize the city's numerical grid incorporated fractions. I guess it made sense at the time. After the Civil War, 4 1/2 Street traditionally divided free Blacks from immigrant populations. This whole neighborhood was wiped out in the 1950s in the name of “Urban Renewal,” but since its revival in 2018, a historic plaque popped up recognizing 4 ½ Street as a major shopping destination in its day.

Between the street directories and the census of 1910,  I see James and Daniel, both married and living above the 8th Street store with their wives Eva and Angelika. Eva’s brother Dionysios and seventeen year old Nick Kendrotis- listed as “Cokinos” were living there as well.

By the end of 1911, The Cokinos Brothers (and cousins) had added another store to their chain at 924 9th Street NW- near the corner of  K Street, one block from where the Greek community had just purchased land to build St Sophia’s. (Smart cookies, those Cokinos men.) An article in the Washington Post in 1922 refers to six shops in the chain, but I could only uncover 4 or 5 if we count James buying back the H Street Store.

Alec, Adam and Pete were all a part of this booming candy biz which was now affably called Cokinos Brothers Confectionaries.  With the opening of a fourth store, I’m guessing both Pete and Adam could finally afford to think about starting families. 

Part 4: The Boatload of 1909

On July 5, 1909 a large crew of our family arrived on the Laura. The ship’s manifest listed Dionisios Koutsandreas, Dionisios Kokinos, Angeliki Kokinos, Eurydice Kokinos, and Nick Kendrotis. All except Nick are in their twenties. (Nick fibbed and said he was 18 when he was actually 15.) An official penciled in their relationships which was helpful if not completely accurate.

Penciled notes assign Nick Kendros as Eurydyce’s nephew, and Dionisios Koutsandreas as her brother. Both Eurydice and Angeliki are listed as married. I am not sure what is going on here- perhaps it was a way to save money traveling as a couple. Just a few weeks later, James applied for a marriage license with his Greek name, Demetry, on July 26, and he and Eurydice married on July 28, 1909.

A few months after arriving in DC, Nick Kendrotis popped up in an article in the Evening Star. His father Andreas was demanding that he be sent back to Greece. Nick’s mother died when he was a baby, and Nick lived with his maternal grandmother until she died. In the article, Nick claimed he did not know his father, and that he did not want to go back to Greece. His uncle James won the day in court, and Nick stayed. Nick's daughter Ruby confirmed this story. She told me Nick slept on a cot in the back of the candy shop until he was married. 

Evening Star 9-16-1909

Another new arrival, Dionisios Kokinos went with “Daniel” as his American name rather than the more correct translation of Dennis. Daniel and Angeliki did not marry until February 1910. I wonder why they waited. Was there drama on the boat? I do know that baby Penelope showed up in March of 1910, eight months after that boat ride to America. 

Whatever the case, the relationship was cut short by Angeliki’s death less than two years later in November 1911. She was only 22.  Daniel then married Panyiota Kapsalis, another Greek girl in 1915. Panyiota, like my grandmother, also came from Sparta and also changed her name to Bertha which must have been a wildly popular name at the time.

 

Panyiota, aka Bertha, sailed here on the Athena in 1912. According to her obituary, she had an unusually eventful trip on the Athena, which was one of the first ships to reach the sinking Titanic. I also read that in 1934, she received cocoons from Greece so that she could carry on the family tradition of silk worm production. Later in life, she donated silk worm cocoons to high school science classes. 

Bertha and Daniel had five more children: Koula, Thelma, Economia, John, and Helen. 

abt 1923

John Cokinos grew up to own DC Vending with another Greek family, I remember people asking me if I was related to him or his children all my life. Our own family branch was so large by the time I came along that we didn't see each other except at weddings or other large occasions which would dwarf the cast of "Big Fat Greek Wedding." I do remember “Aunt” Thelma and Koula being funny, wild women. They were always together and laughing at family parties. 

A note from the small world category: John’s daughter Patty ended up owning a restaurant called The Boathouse on Macarthur Boulevard- a block away from where I lived in DC in the 1990s.

Part 3: James, Pete (and Adam) Cokinos Hang on 8th Street SE (1906-1908)

Inspection, Marine Barracks, Washington, D.C. Washington D.C, 1917 L. O. C.

Pete and his cousin James arrived the same year the Marine barracks were built on 8th St SE. They moved into a storefront/ townhouse, and lived above their candy shop. The building was built in the 1880s or earlier, and is the only Cokinos candy shop still standing in 2025.

721 8th St SE

Many of the older DC street directories list both a person’s occupation and address and also provide a gold mine of information in between censuses. The 1907 directory listed James Cokinos as a confectioner with a shop called “The Sugar  Bowl” at 721 8th Street SE. Back then a confectionary often included a soda fountain and served as a social hub open all day and part of the evening. James and Pete made their own ice cream in a basement which is still unfinished- and more like a cellar. They both worked hard, day and night- knowing they were paving the way for more family members. In 1920, I found a help wanted ad for a shop girl to work a shift from 4-11 pm at the 721 location. I also found one for shoe blacks, so I imagine this was a place to get your shoes shined, too. 

The Greek community here was pretty small at the time. Only a few hundred immigrants were listed in the 1900 census. Like many immigrant populations, they relied on each other to build community in their new world which usually focused on a church. Before they had a building of their own, the DC Greeks had already decided their church would be named for St Sophia in honor of the famous Hagia Sophia of Constantinople. The congregation first met with a traveling priest in 1904 in a space over a warehouse on Indiana Avenue. By 1908, the community had enough money to rent the upstairs room of Adas Israel synagogue at 6th and G NW for more formal services with a more permanent priest. I know our family was a big part of this early congregation as they moved from the synagogue to their own church on 8th and L in 1921 and finally to the cathedral on Massachusetts Avenue.