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.