Vafiadis Family :
The story of Vafiadis Family has been started in 1850s - as we've discovered until now - when our grand ancestor Ioannis Vafiadis was born in famous Greek Island, Chios. The son of Ioannis, Stavros Vafiadis, was born in 1871 in Chios too. But after, what happened we don't know if it was political or just a decision, Stavros Vafiadis migrated to Istanbul in early 1880s. Most probably it was because of the earthquake in Chios. Unfortunately we don't have any photograph of Ioannis Vafiadis, but we are still searching.
Stavros Vafiadis was a carpenter and he worked in Mahmutpasa, Sandalyeciler Street which means 'Street of Chair Manufacturers', Istanbul. He has married with Efrossini who was from Trilye, a small town of Roums in Bursa. They had 9 children, one of them was Hurmuzios Vafiadis ,the great grandfather of us and the father of Aleko whose name will be spelled a lot on photo galleries.
​
Hurmuzios Vafiadis was a hardworking man, he spent most of his life on carpentry. One of his important works was to manufacture all the chairs of the famous theater ' Milli Sinema' in Sehzadebasi, Istanbul. By time, he succeed and became one of the popular gentleman in Roum society. He owned all of the Küçük Yeni Han - the Old Inn in Mahmutpasa - a big house with a huge garden ( Garden of German M.Koch ) in Ortaköy. He became a collector of antiques and also exotic animals. As we know he had 2 gorillas (named them as Hitler and Mussolini ), one bear, two horses and a parrot.
​
Hurmuzios Vafiadis married with Armenian lady Ashen Mıgırdician . Ashen was born in Kınalıada, the smallest of Prince Islands in 1900. They've lived together in a room of Küçük Yeni Han, after Ortaköy and after Kefelikoy. From their marriage they had a son, Aleko Vafiadis and a step-daughter Eleni. Vafiadis family had to live all political difficulties against in 1940s and 1955, but they've survived.
​
Aleko Vafiadis was a lucky man, as he grew up in a rich family with many advantages. He travelled nearly all Europe in an early age. Sometimes helped his father in workshop. On 1956, he has been married with Italian lady Giuseppina Sanzoni. With this marriage they had three children : Stavros, Haris & Grigoris
​
​