Shakespeare said:
"all that came before is prologue".
This book, in effect, is prologue. It does not promise that the details of every person and event are one hundred percent accurate. The records to verify such details are not available and much of what is to be found in this book is primarily based on the sometimes all too human memories of the people who were involved.
I have tried to keep personal feelings to a minimum and tried to maintain as honest and factual an account as possible with the information that has been available to me. In some cases, I rely completely on the memories of people who were not directly involved at the time the events were taking place, but learned of them after the fact. Also, I want to stress that nothing written in this book is meant to hurt anyone. Where issues are emotional, I will try to keep it brief, and factual.
This book is intended to give a sense of history and understanding of our past, before our past is lost to us completely. I have tried to write with compassion and humour about those that came before us, with respect and love for those with us now, and with sincere good wishes and much hope for those who will follow. I only hope that you will grow to appreciate, as much as I did, this thing we call our family.
I have included charts with birthdays, dates or marriage, etc. You will notice that there is space in the charts for updated information to be added as time progresses. This page is intended to be carried on now while memories of the present are fresh and current in our minds, so that someday, perhaps a hundred years from now, when a Liakos grandchild asks "Tell me about our family", there will be something to tell.
Forward:
"that you may fear the LORD your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments which I command you, you and your son and your grandson, all the days of your life, and that your days may be prolonged.
Deuteronomy 6:2
Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. "Honour your father and mother," which is the first commandment with promise: "that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth. And you fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.
Ephesians 6:1
ABOUT THE NAME
During the early 1940's, Greece began the registration process of its population. During World War II, many of the records accumulated were destroyed, and the process began again in the late 1940's and early 1950's. Before that time, no formal records were kept of family names by the government, and the "family names" or "last names' changed frequently, and often with each generation. For example, a son might become known as "Yiannis, Giorgio's son", and in time might become known as Yiannis Giorgios. His son, in turn might become known as Mihali, Yianni's son, or Mihali Yiannis, or a variation of Yiannis, such as Yantsis. And so on. Names would change with no direct record of who was related to whom.
An example of this is the common prefix "Papa" before many names. A man's father might be a priest, or a "Papas" and that man may become known as Yiannis, Papa Theodorou's son", or Yiannis Papatheodorou", or have the last name of one of the many other "Papa" names such as Papachristou, Papadimitriou, Papaeliou, Papaevangeliou, Papayiannis, and so forth.
The name LIAKOS, or "Lako" was a popular first name. Somewhere in the history of our family was a~ man names Liakos. Unfortunately, we are unsure of how far back, or who his son was. For argument's sake, and because there seems to be no record of who Vasilio's father was, let us assume for a moment that Liakos was the father of Vasilios. Vasilios became known as Vasilios, Liakos' son, and the name became our family name.
NIKOLAS GIORGIOS LIAKOS
Nikolas Giorgios Liakos was born in Proti in 1893. He was one of four children, and the only son. His sisters were Tothora, Angeliki, and Katina. He grew up in Proti, near Florina, Greece and emigrated to the U.S.A. in 1908 at the age of 15. He joined his father, Giorgios, in Michigan to work, and planned to eventually bring the rest of the family. Giorgios, however, decided to return to Greece. Nikolas remained in America to make his fortune. He lived in Detroit. (Apartment over bakery?)
When he reached the age where he was considering marriage, Nikolas wrote to his parents to find and send a bride to America. Unseen and unknown, his bride arrived and for a brief while, lived with Nikolas. Nikolas was persuaded not to marry this woman by his uncles (his mother's brothers) with whom he resided because she was "unsuitable".
When she returned to Greece, she was pregnant and eventually bore Nikolas a daughter. The whereabouts of this daughter are unknown, and in fact, it is unknown whether she survived the war.
Nikolas married a beautiful Macedonian-Yugoslavian woman named Sirma. From all accounts, she was unmatched in household duties, but she was raised in the city of Bitola and was unfamiliar with farm life. Her lack of experience brought on the displeasure of her mother-in-law and father-in-law and she was teased and tormented by members of the family.
Nikolas's first and only son, Mihali, was born in October of 1920 to his wife, Sirma. Nikolas returned to American and could not, or would not, send for his wife and son.
Not long after Nikolas left for America, Sirma went insane and Mayi (witches) were believed to be the cause.
The much more likely truth is that Sirma had a nervous breakdown, but in rural Greece at that time, not enough was known about the condition and she was not treated properly. She left Nikolas and returned to Yugoslavia with her son.
It is unknown whether this marriage was ever dissolved, or whether it ended with Sirmas death. Several years later, it was learned that Sirma had been living with another man. Her mental condition had deteriorated and her "husband" eventually killed her.
Nikolas' final wife was a woman named Thomaii. She was widowed and had two daughters names Angeliki and Melpomeni from a previous marriage. Melpomeni died at the age of 7 years.
In 1927 Thomaii bore Nikolas a daughter they named Eleni. Eleni eventually married Danny Vassilios (1951) and emigrated to Windsor Ontario in 1956 where she raised her two sons, Chris and Louis. Louis married Judy, a French-Canadian woman, and raised two daughters, Adrienne and Janine.
Chris married Sandy, a divorced woman with two children from her previous marriage. Sandy bore Chris a son whom they named Nikolas after his great-grandfather. Chris and Sandy separated in the mid 1990's.
Nikolas Giorgios Liakos passed away in 1981 at the age of 85.
*Note: Who was Anastasia's mother? Was there another wife before Thomaii?
Memories:
"I remember when I was very young, before I started school when we lived in Syracuse. One day, I ran to answer the door expecting one of my uncles to be visiting. A very tall man (he seemed that way to me at the time) with white hair wanted me to let him in. I remember being frightened and shaking my head. He shook his hand at me as if to say "I'm going to spank you." I ran off in terror to find my parents. Needless to say, I overcame my fear quite quickly while he stayed with us. I remember a few years later, sitting outside on my parent's porch in the summertime with him while he patiently answered my questions. He always had time for great-grandchildren. He taught me to play "gin". It's still the only card game I know.
Eleni Liakos Markoulis
(Simeon Liakos)
Great-granddaughter
MIHALI NIKOLAS LIAKOS
Mihali was born in October in 1920 in Proti, Greece. Little is known about Mihali during the first few years of his life.
His mother, Sirma, left his father and returned with Mihali to her home country of Yugoslavia where her sister and other family lived. He was just seven years old when his mother died. Mihali was sent to live with his mother's sister, Dunava.
He was living a peasant's life: uneducated, improperly clothed and shoeless. He sold newspapers on a street corner to survive, and it was there that Mihali was finally reunited with his father.
Many years later, Nikolas was to recount how he found Mihali. His sister, Kata, who had married into the Mongopoulos family, had an in-law living in Bitola, Yugoslavia, and who had somehow kept track of Mihali.
When Mihali was approximately 12 years old, Nikolas returned to Europe. With the help of this family friend, Nikolas found his son in Yogoslavia. Nikolas clearly remembered that the name of the paper which Mihali was selling was "Extra", and that Mihali would call out the name of the paper to attract the attention of buyers. Mihali was not well-received and not wanted by Nikolas' family in Greece. his grandparents were adamantly opposed to having him in their household, however, his aunt Angeliki showed him compassion and helped him to adjust to his new life.
On August 12 (or 27), 1936, when he was 17 years old, Mihali married Anna Bozinis, who was one and a half years his senior.
The first of their children, Melpomeni, was born in 1937, then followed Christos in 1938, Vasilios in 1940, Simeon in 1942, Kostantinos in 1943, Thomas in 1946 and Pandelis in 1948.
On August 13, 1948, when he was just 28 years old and shortly after the birth of his last son, Mihali was tragically killed when he stepped on a land mine left over from the war. His wife Anna was left alone to raise seven children.