Hibbing Candy Kitchen Virginia Candy Kitchen ORIGINS OF A DELICIOUS LEGACY: CANDY KITCHENS & THE CANELAKES' JOURNEY By Jim Froemming Published in The National Herald July 24, 2021   The National Herald has given HellenicGenealogyGeek.com permission to post articles that are of interest to our group --------------------------------------------  Starting around 1890, many Greeks, mainly single men, and many in their teens, left their villages in the Peloponnese region of Greece to find opportunity in America. They were poor farmers and shepherds, and America needed laborers at its railroads, mines, and mills for its growing economy. This is a story about four Greek brothers who came to America from the village of Sykea and decided to become confectioners (candy makers) instead.  The Canelake brothers came to America from a poor village in Greece as teenagers and soon became successful confectionery merchants on the Iron Range of Minnesota. They opened the Virg...

GROWING UP IN ASTORIA: RECOLLECTIONS OF A GREEK-AMERICAN YOUTH  By Peter Nicolelis published in The National Herald  Jan 9, 2021   The National Herald has given HellenicGenealogyGeek.com permission to post articles that are of interest to our group. -------------------------------------------- I lived my formative years in the mid 30’s and 40’s with my parents and my sister Vasilea in a three-story, six-unit apartment building. Our unit was the front two-bedroom apartment on the third floor. The apartment rented for $40 per month.  My best friends were all Greek-American boys, each of whose parents had migrated from Greece or from Asia Minor. All of our parents became American citizens, first generation Greek-Americans.  The meeting place for me and my best friends was the Saint Demetrios Church on 31st Street in Astoria. Going to church and meeting after the Liturgy was a Sunday ritual. During those years I believe that the Astoria community was the largest par...

  A QUEST FOR CLOSURE:  THE JOURNEY TO PERGAMOS By Peter Nicolelis published in The National Herald November 28, 2020  The National Herald has given HellenicGenealogyGeek.com permission to post articles that are of interest to our group. -------------------------------------------- My father, Nicholas HatziNicolelis, was born in Pergamos in 1882. It was a time when Turkey was governed by the Ottomans. Under their mandates, all Christian males were required to serve in the Turkish army upon reaching age 20. Rather than risk providing training and weapons to the recruited Christian youths, the Turks assigned them to their infamous labor battalions. As such, the Christian youths were packed into boxcars and railroaded into the easternmost provinces of Turkey. These men were forced to work on labor gangs as manual laborers. They were brutally treated and few, if any, survived to tell their story. The reputation of the labor camps had become common knowledge to the Christ...

  FamilySearch.org has a new FREE database titled " New Jersey, Naturalization records from various counties, 1905-1944 ".  It includes 757 people listed as being born in Greece and an additional 181 born in Turkey. This collection contains naturalization records from the counties of Newark, Trenton, and Camden counties in the state of New Jersey. The federal records are originally housed at The National Archives office in New York. Detailed information on these records can be found on the FamilySearch.org Wiki -  https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/United_States,_New_Jersey,_Naturalization_Records_From_Various_Counties_-_FamiySearch_Historical_Records

  A CHILD'S REMEMBRANCE OF LIVING THROUGH WWII By Leonidas Petrakis published in The National Herald February 8, 2020 The National Herald has given HellenicGenealogyGeek.com permission to post articles that are of interest to our group. -------------------------------------------- It is well documented that the Nazis committed many horrific acts of violence against the civilians in occupied Greece during World War II. The ferocity and brutality of the German occupiers intensified greatly as the Resistance was strengthening in1943, and the capitulation of Italy forced them to assume sole responsibility for the Occupation. In their open warfare against the civilians they had the eager participation of Greek collaborators. Kalavryta, Kandanos, Distomo are well documented and known cases of the Nazi brutality, but the atrocity against the Spartiates in the Fall of 1943, although extensively documented is less well known.  The intent of this article is not to retell that atrocity a...