Katsaras & Balourdos Geneology

I had the most wonderful event happened. I learned more about my geneology thanks to this blog page. I know a lot about my father's side, and less about my mother's side, which is why it is so fantastic to get email like this. I am going to share it with everyone hoping there are more connections out there. It is amaziing the the more I learn about my geneology, the more I learn about myself and I feel more of a connection with the world. I am very proud of my roots, and that is another reason I am sharing this. In many eastern religions, they believe that we are connected with our ancestors, and they pray to their ancestors. That reasoning makes this that much more special. As for the second letter here, it is a response from the email I forwarded. It is also strong with geneology.

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Hello,

My name is Arthur (Artistdes) Balourdos. I found an
article you wrote in the
Habanero Heat. You mentioned the name Balourdos in
your story so Google
picked it up and I was able to get your email address.


As you may assume I am an Greek-American born and
living in Chicago. My
father was named Michael and his brother, my uncle, is
Steve. My Grandfather was
from Asia Minor when he and his family was forced to
leave by the Turks. My
Grandfather had several brothers and sister including
a George and a Manoli. I
can get further information on his siblings is you
wish to further this. My
Great Grandfathers name was Soterios and was from
Agina.

Hope there is a connection.

Sincererly,
Arthur Balourdos
Chicago

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Doxa si O theos! Hello Dear arthur, Wonderful! you
found me. It has ben a long time that I originally
started the web quest and the original quest
officially sarted in the late 70's although I have
been wondering about Why have my grandfathers nickname
was Balourdos and Why I was called Balourdaki by the
old family friends for as long as I can remember. Some
of the old timers never used the name Katsaras but
only used Balordos. I am 62 now. I know that we have
family links originating from Asia Minor also, We also
have relatives in Rhodes and Symi. My guess, based on
what I have already know about this matter, is that my
great grandfather Spiros was married to a Balourdos
woman that may have been his first wife and the mother
of my Grandfather George but then his father, Spiros
married again 2 more times because each of his wives
died, some of the children were then referred to by
their mothers maiden names. I have a feeling that some
of the children continued their mother's maiden names
but my Grandfather George, used the katsaras name of
his father spiros, after he Came to the USA in the
late 19 teens. George would be 100+ years old if he
were still alive. In his late teens he was a pirate
bucaneer fighting for Greece aginst the turks who
were backed by the Germans. During that time he was
known as capt Balourdos. They used small very fast
sail boats which they built on Symi. These sail boats
were very silent and were shallow draft which allowed
Them to slip into shallow bays and lagoons to escape
larger steam powered vessels at night. the Germans put
a high price reward on George's head because he raided
the German freighters that were shipping arms and
munitions to turks. George's pirates would take the
rifles to greece to fight the turks. There is a lot
more to this story but I have errands to run now. I
have a few questions for you, can you get the dob and
or death and any other info of your Dad and
grandparents and others. There are Balourdos family in
New york and on Symi And a girl from Symi that is in
college in Athens. do you know any of them. How old
are you?
My father was named Spiros after his grandfather he
died a few years ago at the age of 86.
Do you know any of the katsarases in Chicago? Most
likely all are related if they spell the name Katsaras
or Katzaras. but not K....os. My PC is being repaired
but I will send you more photos in the near future I
would like to know if you see any resemblences. I hope
to hear from you soon.
the attached photo is george and Eileen from Miami, FL
we live here now for the last 35 years but were both
born in ohio. Sincerely George Katsaras