Koulurgioti & Koskeri Families :
The story of Koulurgioti family, starts with Stefanos Koulurgiotis, from the Island Samothraki in Aegean Sea. After the death of his first wife, he decided to leave Samothraki and came to Imbros, now known as Gökçeada. Stefanos known as Diamandara in Imbros, as he was a very helpful gentleman and the islanders gave him this name which means 'Diamond'.
Stefanos married with Golfo, a Roum lady from Imbros Island. They had 5 children: Zaharo, Dimitri, Niko, Strato, Ana. Dimitri was born in 1937 and left the island in a very small age - 8 - to work and he came to Istanbul. As we've learned his family told him that he is old enough to work. In Istanbul he has worked in taverns, after when he was old enough he started to work in ships. He met with Maria Antoinette Koskeri in Sarıyer, a beautiful city located at the beginning of Bosphorus. Sarıyer is one of the oldest places in Istanbul which had a population of Roums, Armenians and Turks.
Maria Antoinette was an Italian-Roum lady who was born in 1943. Her father was Nicholas Koskeri an Italian-Roum gentleman from Sariyer, and her mother was Theodora. Unfortunately we have limited information about Nicholas Koskeri and his parents Vincentzo and Stamatia (Nina). But we learnt that Vincentzo was his step father and the real surname of Nicholas was Triandafilidis. As he raised up by Vincentzo, Niko loved him like his own father.
After Maria Antoinette re-baptised and became an Orthodox, she has married with Dimitri. They've lived in Sariyer until 1968 then migrated to Athens.
In Koulurgioti family there is an important lady who is the cousin of Theodora (mother of Maria Antoinette), Sofia Cakiroglu. Her role was too important for the family as she was raised Maria Antoinette, her daughter Theodora Koulurgioti, baptised the sister of Maria and Dimitri Vafiadis. We are going to introduce her in 'People to Remember'.
For photos of Koulurgioti, Koskeri and Cakiroglu families please click here