FamilySearch.org  has a  FREE  database titled  " United States, GenealogyBank Obituaries, 1980-2014 "  which  includes 161 people born in Greece that were in Obituaries in the state of Alabama. This collection is created in partnership with www.GenealogyBank.com.   You will be able to view FREE indexed information that was created by FamilySearch.org.  There is a link to view the original obituary on GenealogyBank.com where fees may apply.

KONSTANTINOS GANIAS' LATEST BOOK  CONTINUES HIS COMPELLING IMMIGRANT STORY by Eleni Sakellis Published in The National Herald - Nov 16, 2019 ------------------------------ I am excited that  The National Herald  has given Hellenic Genealogy Geek the right to reprint articles that may be of interest to our group.  ------------------------------ In his first book, Kostas, My Story: The Gathering of the Children-Pethomazoma, An Unforgettable Civil War 1946- 1949, A Mother’s Anguish to Save Her Children, Konstantinos N. Ganias offered an eyewitness account to the very little discussed events of the Greek Civil War and its aftermath. The gathering of the children or pethomazoma mentioned in the subtitle may bring to mind the practice of blood tax during the Ottoman Empire when Christian boys, ages 8 to 18, were taken from their families, converted to Islam, and sent to train for service to the empire, often as Janissaries, the Sultan’s el...

FamilySearch.org  has a new  FREE  database titled  "Idaho Naturalization Records, 1892-1990"  which  includes 155 people born in Greece and an additional 9 people born in Turkey. What’s Included in this Database: This collection contains naturalization records from the state of Idaho. Information that may be provided in the original records includes: Name Birth Date Birth Place Immigration Year Place of Residence Occupation Date of Departure Place of Departure Place of Arrival Spouse's Name, Birth Date, and Residence Number of Children Each child's Name, Birth Date, Birth Place, and Residen ce Introduction to Naturalization Records: The act and procedure of becoming a citizen of a country is called naturalization. In the U.S.,  naturalization  is a judicial procedure that flows from Congressional legislation. From the time the first naturalization act was passed in 1790 until 1906, there were no uniform standa...

BOOKS ON GENOCIDE AND THE SMYRNA CATASTROPHE by Eleni Sakellis Published in The National Herald - October 5, 2019 ------------------------------ I am excited that  The National Herald  has given Hellenic Genealogy Geek the right to reprint articles that may be of interest to our group.  ------------------------------ During the month of September, events were held commemorating the Smyrna Catastrophe of 1922 and many scholars who gave presentations referred to various sources and books on the topic. For those who missed the presentations but would still like to learn more about the event that so dramatically affected the course of history not only in Greece, but worldwide, the following books are a good place to start.  Professor Ismini Lamb, Director of the Modern Greek Program in the Department of Classics at Georgetown University is currently working on a book about George Horton, the American diplomat best known for writing The B...

JOHN THE GREEK IN THE WILD WEST by John Sitilides Published in The National Herald - October 26, 2019 ------------------------------ I am excited that  The National Herald  has given Hellenic Genealogy Geek the right to reprint articles that may be of interest to our group.  ------------------------------ Earlier this year, my koumbaro and dear friend Angelo K. Tsakopoulos drove me to Duke’s Diner in Olivehurst, CA, about 35 miles north of the state capital region of Sacramento where Angelo has achieved so much in shaping over the past half century. We stopped for a 6:30 AM breakfast en route to a tour of Angelo’s growing complex of walnut orchards in one of the most beautiful farm regions in the country.  We sat down for an eye-popping breakfast of eggs, corned beef hash, grits and fresh-baked biscuits seeping with thick, creamy gravy. But even more enticing than the sumptuous meal before us was the story that was shared by the resta...

MAKRONISSOS DIGITAL MUSEUM -  https://www.makronissos.org/en/ From 1947 until 1961 the island of Makronissos was used as a space of confinement and exile for over 40.000 Greek citizens who were discriminated by the anti-communist State for their political beliefs. The ASKI Digital Museum offers a unique insight in the exile experience illustrating the everyday conditions, the politics of repression, and the traumatic legacies of this important  chapter in the lenghty history of state-organized persecution. The establishment and operation of a military compound on Makronissos marked an upturn in conditions of exile existing at the time: an uninhabited area would be “settled” exclusively by exiles, citizens and soldiers, to be “rehabilitated” through an unprecedented programme of propaganda, psychological warfare, and physical and mental torture. The plan had two aims – the professed goal of reinstating the prisoners to the “healthy national body” a...

CANDY JIM'S PALACE OF SWEETS by Steve Frangos Published in The National Herald - August 17, 2019 ------------------------------ I am excited that  The National Herald  has given Hellenic Genealogy Geek the right to reprint articles that may be of interest to our group.  ------------------------------ CHICAGO - For fifty-six years, Candy Jim's Palace of Sweets was located at various locations along Taylor Texas' Main Street. When Candy Jim, a.k.a. James Arthur Athas retired in 1955, newspapers from New York, Indiana, Illinois, Washington, Wisconsin, Texas, and elsewhere carried the news of his retirement under the headline, Sweet Success. Athas should be remembered not only as the much beloved small town Greek immigrant candyman but also for bringing the latest in developing cultural art forms to his rural Texas community. Candy Jim Athas is nothing less than one of the very first pioneering movie theater proprietors in North America.  ...

THE DILOPOULO BROTHERS  AND EARLY AMERICAN ENTERTAINMENT by Steve Frangos Published in The National Herald - August 24, 2019 ------------------------------ I am excited that  The National Herald  has given Hellenic Genealogy Geek the right to reprint articles that may be of interest to our group.  ------------------------------ Among the various Greek performers and promoters of the 1890s and 1900s, George and Alexander Dilopoulo regularly appeared on stages all across North America and beyond. Consequently, these two brothers have exceedingly complicated histories. Both men could speak a number of languages and through marriage were affiliated with merchants who attended the flurry of world fairs that took place between 1893 through at least 1933. Yet unlike the majority of newly arriving Greeks to American shores the Dilopoulo family did not hail from the Peloponnese or one of the many Greek islands. Various news accounts and census ...

DEMETRIOS IS NOW JIMMY  Problems and Pitfalls Translating Proper Names by Basil Zafiriou Published in The National Herald September 2, 2019 ------------------------------ I am excited that  The National Herald  has given Hellenic Genealogy Geek the right to reprint articles that may be of interest to our group.  ------------------------------ Demetrios Is Now Jimmy is the title of a book by Lazar Odzak that traces the experience of Greek immigrants in the Southern United States during the early 1900s. The desire to adapt to and be accepted by the dominant society led many of these early immigrants to Americanize their names. Hence the title of the book. At the time, it was common to change surnames as well as first names. That is now rare, but anglicizing first names is still the norm. The way this is done leads often to odd results. Consider the mutation of Demetrios to Jimmy. Jimmy is a diminutive form of James, which in...