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. 

Part 2: James and Pete Arrive in DC (1906)

The place where it happened still stands:  821 8th SE

My father always told me that Pete’s older brother Adam came first after opening a candy store on the corner of Ninth and K Street NW. I found both brothers listed in the 1910 census, but Adam reported that he got to the U.S. in 1908 on the 1920 census and his age was about a year younger than Pete.

But I also remembered my father saying that Pete eventually sold his H Street candy shop to his cousin James Cokinos. I scoured old newspapers for all things "Cokinos," and James’s very informative obituary popped up. James reportedly arrived in America in 1902 when he was twenty two years old, and first landed in Wilmington, Delaware to make his start in the candy business, not Washington DC. I could not find a ship's log for him, but I did find one for Panos "Koinos."

Like most Greek immigrants back then, all of our family came through Ellis Island. The Ellis Island Foundation offers ship manifests with basic information.  “Panos Koinos” came on the steamship Georgia on October 7, 1905.  This information was promising, but I had to look at the original document to view possible transcription errors.

I took this clue back to the Ancestry site where I could look up a ship’s manifest by its date and go through the records page by page. It was worth it. I found my Panos, and a trove of little details about his journey. First off- the bad handwriting did look more like Panos Kokinos than the “Koinos” as someone else had transcribed. Also this Panos reported his last residence as Agulnitsa which gave me reassurance that this was indeed my grandfather.

I learned from the ship’s log that Panos came with a friend named Giovanni, and that their destination was not Washington, DC but Wilmington, Delaware- exactly where James Cokinos had started life in America.

Coincidence? I think not.

Other details were more confusing than enlightening. Panos was going to live with his “son in law” Andrea with an illegible last name (Chenfrotis?) on Market Street in Wilmington. Panos, who listed his age as 27, seemed a tad young to have a son-in-law.  Giovanni, also from Agulnitsa, was going to live with Andrea, too. He listed Andrea as a friend in the manifest.  Both men were listed as pastry cooks.  

I pored over Wilmington’s street directories, and couldn’t find any listings for Cokinos, but I did see a lot of Greek confectioners listed in Wilmington in the early 1900s. Greek owned candy shops were definitely a thing.

I am not sure why James moved to DC, but I found a tiny announcement in the Washington Post on July 28, 1906 stating that Louis Pappas Paleologos was selling his candy business at 721 8th Street to James Cokinos. Wow. This is the oldest record showing our family’s arrival in Washington and the new spelling of Kokinos with a "C."

Pete does not appear in the street directory until 1908, but I have to imagine they pulled up stakes and moved from Wilmington together since were both working in and living above the same shop on 8th Street. And surprise - Pete's brother Adam was living there, too. It may have been a tight squeeze for three men in a small apartment, but these guys were just getting started.

Part 1: Minutia Tells The Story

 

Researching the Greek side of the family has always daunted me.  Thanks to my father George and his siblings, our family is rich in oral, though sometimes, mythical history, and short on documented facts. Tracing a Hellenic background is rough going. First there’s a different alphabet leading to every spelling variation under the Sun because who is to say what is the right translation for a Greek letter that doesn’t exist in English?  Once the name was translated, inevitable variations of spelling, nicknames, or the option of full blown Anglo choices popped into play. I had to dig deep into the few factual details I already had and look directly at things like street directories and ship’s logs. After I realized this, I was finally able to cobble together my grandparents’ story. 

Pota, Pete, and friend Hain's Point 1919

Kicking off this ball of confusion, my grandmother and grandfather had the same first name. He was christened Panayoti, and she was Panayiota. Both literally translate into “all holy, ’the Greek name for  Mary as in mother of Jesus. My Yiya could have been a rock star ahead of her time if she had gone with Madonna, but she defaulted to Mary in the 1920 census and was listed as “Porter” in 1930 which may have been a census taker error. I’ve also found old documents where she tried on Pauline and the unfathomable Bertha before finally sticking with Pota.  

My grandfather came to this country as Panos Kokinos and to the end of his life celebrated August 15th as his and his wife’s name day even though he chose Peter as his American name which is a translation for Petros not Panayota. 

My grandparents, like many immigrants, had a deep distrust of the government.

Their birth year often depended on who was mining the information. Pete gave different answers to the tax collector, the insurance agent, and the census taker.  Using the ten year variation option in Ancestry’s search engine was a must for me.  

Why the family adopted Cokinos instead of Kokkinos is lost to time. The letter "c" is not found in the Greek alphabet, but immigrants wanted to fit in, not stand out in their new country. Perhaps Cokinos with a C looked more American, but this is just a guess.

I started my research with my father’s stories. There were seven boys and three girls in the Cokinos family.  They were all born in a large house in a tiny village, spelled Agulnitsa or Agoulanitsa- near Olympia in the Peloponnese. Their names were: Dionysios, Agamemnon, Vassilios, Adam, Andreas, Panos and Alekos. 

The girls were  Chryssa, Tessia and Evinia. According to my father, four of the brothers stayed and farmed the olive groves while three, Peter, Aleck, and Adam went to college in Athens.  I am not sure about Alec, but my father thought Pete went to confectionary school. In any case, all of the young men had to complete two years of mandatory military service by their twentieth birthdays. Here is a photo of Pete and Alec taken around 1900 in Greece. It's the second oldest photo we have of Pete.

Possibly Andreas, Pete and Aleck 

I decided to stick with the age listed on Pete's military papers. I figured the earlier documents had to be more accurate than later ones. He was a sergeant in the Greek army in 1898, and a passport from 1927 both confirmed his birthdate as 1877. Here is the oldest photo of Pete - probably taken around 1896.

Panos Kokinos c1896

My father thought that each of the Cokinos children inherited a room in their family home in Agulnitsa which is now known as Epitalion. The name was changed to reflect Greek heritage, not former conquests.

It was a large house, but the village was small. At least four of the Cokinos brothers came to America, one sending for the next, as prospects grew better - just like the Russian brothers in the movie “Avalon.”  Like that family and most immigrant communities, they were a close knit group holding tightly to traditions and relying heavily on each other. Many planned to make their fortunes and return home again.  

I always imagined my grandfather and his brothers packing a rucksack and riding out of Agoulanitsa on a donkey or perhaps trudging on foot over the hills to the port of Patras. Singing might have been involved in my imagination. In my mind, they looked like this guy.

But this image of my grandfather is more likely.

I later came to realize the village had its own train station in 1905.  It's the size of a bus stop, but still a station nevertheless. This is what it looked like when I visited in 2004.

No donkeys. My grandfather most likely took a train to the ship that would bring him to America.