Nearly everyone owns their unique handwriting. It's really hard to find very similar handwritings. Also there is a field of study named Graphology which is the analysis of the physical characteristics and patterns of handwriting claiming to be able to identify the writer, indicating the psychological state at the time of writing, or evaluating personality characteristics. As 2mi3museum, we feel lucky that we have many handwritings of our ancestors from different times. Especially photos were the main places where they put their notes behind. But sometimes we also find their letters, or their notebooks. Honestly we didn't check them together with a grapholog because we are only running after their contents - for the moment. Here on this article, we would like to share with you some examples of those handwritings, their content, the details in them and their translations.
Liborio Sanzoni: A Letter to Tambosco, 24 May 1914 - Karaagac, Edirne
The Letter of Liborio Sanzoni to Tambosco - 24 May 1914, Karaagac
We mentioned this letter on one of our previous articles 'The Sanzoni: From Palermo to Karaagac'. We knew that Liborio Sanzoni had a role in Karaagac Train Station but there weren't any documents and photos but the told stories. One day during our routine researches, we found the letter of Liborio Sanzoni in Governmental Archives. Firstly we showed this letter to the daughter of Liborio, Giuseppina Sanzoni, but she couldn't read his fathers handwriting. We also shared this letter on our Instagram account and Mrs.Esra Yaman read and translated it for us ( thanks to her so much for her precious support ). We learnt that, Liborio really had a role in Karaagac Train Station. Below we share the letter in it's original language ( Italian ) and it's translation in English.
Liborio Sanzoni, 1910s
Caragatch-Adrianopolis
24 Maggio 1914
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Carissimo Tambosco,
Disgraziatamente lunedì ho ricevuto la tua cartolina e non hopotuto risponderti prima di oggi domenica perché come sai la domenica si vuole vedere qualcheduno interessato per lavori. Così ieri sera è arrivato Giuseppe (Daboit/Debois/Dubois?) egli ho fatto parlare all’architetto che fa la nuova stazione e questo ha accettato di occuparti. La giornata è di 40 piastre argento al giorno e questa paga si trova pure dalla Società francese dove pure vi sono due o tre squadre di operai italiani. Intanto il lavoro te la assicuro in un posto ma una volta che sarai qui, potrai andare dove ti pare. Però sei sicuro che a spasso non resterai. Nel caso che avresti bisogno di qualche cosa, avvertimi.
Salutandoti con tutta la tua famiglia.
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Arrivederci!
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Tuo amico,
Liborio Sanzoni
Karaagac - Adrianopolis
24 May 1914
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Dear Tambosco,
Unfortunately i received your postcard on Monday, and today, after Sunday, I didn't have the opportunity to answer you, as you know with people who are interested in business, we discuss on Sundays. In short, last night Giuseppe (Daboit / Debois / Dubois?) came and I had him talk to the architect who built the new station. The architect has agreed to take care of you. Forty silver coins per diary, also the French company which has two-three Italian workers team pays the same. To sum up, I guarantee you a fixed place job, but when you get here, you can go wherever you want. Do you still have the same opinion about staying there rather than going elsewhere? If you need anything, let me know.
I greet your family and you.
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Goodbye!
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Your friend,
Liborio Sanzoni
So from this letter, we feel that Liborio had good relations with the architect of Karaagac Train Station. Also we learn that, there were different companies which participated in the building of train station. The French Company had also Italian workers and we think that it's an advantage for Tambosco according to Liborio's words. And finally, who was the architect that Liborio spoke with? While we were talking about this letter with our friend Mr.Kutalmıs Bayraktar, he informed us that, most probably it was famous Turkish architect Ahmed Kemaleddin (known as Mimar Kemaleddin). Because the new train station in Karaagac which has been built in 1914 was one of the important works of him. We would like to thank Mr.Kutalmıs Bayraktar a lot for this very precious information.
Mimar Kemaleddin
As we told about 'Mimar' Kemaleddin , let's give a short information about him. Mimar Kemaleddin was born in 1870 in Kadıköy, Istanbul. As an architect few examples for his famous works are Edirne (Karaagac) Train Station (as mentioned above), Plovdiv Train Station, Bebek Mosque, Tomb of Mahmud Sevket Pasha, Tomb of Sultan Resad, Library of Istanbul University. To honour his memory, the reverse side of the 20-lira banknote which went into circulation in 2009 depicts Mimar Kemalettin, together with one of his major works, the rectorate building of Gazi University in Ankara.
Hurmuzios Vafiadis : A Note from Twenty Conscription Classes, 25 June 1941 - Yozgat
The Note of Hurmuzios Vafiadis from Yozgat, 25.06.1941
This note of Hurmuzios has been written behind a photo and we mentioned about it on our article 'The Vafiadis: We Were Soldiers'. Hurmuzios Vafiadis was one of the soldiers who has been called to military in 1941 when he was 46 years old. This incident was also known as 'The Twenty Conscription Classes'. Even he was sick and one of the oldest soldiers in Yozgat, he always send good notes to his family. This note contains an interesting detail, which has been found by Mr. Anastas Yordanoglu when he read our article on Paros Magazine March 2020 issue. Below we share the note in it's original language as written by him ( Turkish ) and it's translation in English.
Hurmuzios Vafiadis, 1941
25/06/1941
93 Kilotan 98 kiloya çiktim. Bir Behlivan pültüm. Hergün güreÅŸ yapıyorum. alekoya soyle itman yapsın, gelirsam çim londos gibi yere alacağım, yaramazlıkta yaparsa söyle töveceÄŸim. Bayan Ashen’e Hususi Selamlar.
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Hürmüz DavranoÄŸlu*
25/06/1941
I became 98 from 93kg. Found a wrestler and everyday I wrestle with him. Tell Aleko to exercise, if I come back I will knock him down as cim londos on ground. And if he is mischievous I will beat him. Especial regards to Madam Ashen.
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Hürmüz DavranoÄŸlu*
From this note of Hurmuzios, we feel that he is trying to make his family unworried. And he tried to do that with a joke. Did you notice on his note, the part 'cim londos'? Actually, here he made a misspelling and he wrote 'cim londos' as he tried to say 'Jim Londos'. Maybe it's not a misspelling and he wrote as pronounced. Jim Londos was a very popular wrestler in 1930s and 1940s. It seems like he was one of the favourite sportsman of Hurmuzios.
Jim Londos
As we told about Jim Londos, let's give a short information about him. Jim Londos ( Τζίμ ΛÏŒντος ) was a Greek wrestler who lived in America, and he was known as 'Golden Greek'. His original name was Christos Theofilou. He was born in 1894 in Koutsopodi, Argos, Greece. Londos had a long career in wrestling and retired in 1953. He spent the rest of his life working for various charitable organizations . Londos was honored for his philanthropic work by the United States President Richard Nixon and also by the king of Greece, King Paul.
Gabriel ( Surname? ) - A Greek Rhyme behind the Photo, 27 January 1927 - France
Gabriel's Note behind his photo, 27 January, 1927, France
The final handwriting that we choose for this article belongs to Gabriel. Unfortunately we don't know his surname, but he was the husband of Anasto Akasi who was the aunt of Sofia Cakiroglu and Theodora Akasi. And we only have one photo of him with this note behind. This note doesn't have a story like the ones above. But it's really unique in our archive, as it's a Greek rhyme from 1920s. Not sure if it's a common rhyme, maybe it has been written by Gabriel. He wrote this rhyme in very small font behind his photo. The upper part of the photo has been cut, maybe just to fit into a frame. But from the words we can understand the rhym. Below we share the note in it's original language ( Greek ) and it's translation in English. We show with dots the parts that we couldn't read.
στÎλνω την φωτογραφία μου Κορμί ζωγραφισμÎνο
στήλε και συ απάντηση Γιατί θα περιμÎνω
Mov...la m....
27 Ιανουάριος 1927
....... Gabriel
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I send a photo of mine body painted
Send me an answer cause i'm waiting for
......
27 January 1927
....... Gabriel
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Seems like Gabriel missed his lover while he was away from her in France, and sent his photo with this note to remind himself and asked for a photo of her to see. Old days, they have no choice but to send photos to see each other. Maybe this photo is just an old photo for today, but think about how precious it was in 1920s.
On this article, we shared three different handwritings from three different families in 2mi3museum. There are a lot of photos in our family archive with notes but we would like to share with you the most interesting ones with different contents. As we find more handwritings which suits to the main purpose of this article we will update here.
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* The surname Vafiadis changed to Davranoglu ( then to Daravanoglu ) after Surname Law in 1934. But Vafiadis family used both surnames, and didn't forget 'Vafiadis' in time.
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Written by: 2mi3, October 2020
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Sources:
1- https://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mimar_Kemaleddin
2- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Londos
3- Special Thanks to, Mrs. Esra Yaman, Mr.Kutalmıs Bayraktar and Mr.Anastas Yordanoglu