I know little about my great-grandparents besides their first names, but in a more general way, there’s a wealth of information on my Greek family. The name James Bolheres was an Americanized version of his Greek name, Demitrios Bouloucheris. He came from a village called Apidia (sometimes spelled Apidea or Apedia), which was located on the Peloponnese peninsula near Sparta. It’s interesting that the grandparents of David and Amy Sedaris were from the very same village, and in fact one of their great uncles was married to one of my great aunts. Apidia is one of many tiny communities tucked into the foothills of the southern Parnon mountains; before 1900, such places were only accessible by foot or by donkey. The men of the villages were primarily shepherds, goatherds, and farmers. Life centered around the church and the town square, where people engaged in many cultural traditions, including celebrations of holidays on the religious calendar.
Families were very important to the people in the Sparta region, and it’s easy to get a sense that in the network of villages, everybody knew each other. Marriages were arranged between the father of a bride and the father of a groom, and often spouses had to be found in neighboring towns. My closest Greek DNA matches seem to prove this since they rarely have Apidia as a place of origin on their family trees. Instead they show ancestors from towns such as Geraki, Gouves and Richea. My closest DNA match is a man born in a village near Apidia called Alepochori.
Map showing villages where my ancestors lived.
My Greek ancestors had a substantially harder existence than the ones who were living in America. Ancient rivalries with the Turks caused never-ending conflicts, and the people always had to be on guard. Being in the hills made their homes easier to protect, but sometimes it made little difference. Perhaps the most important event in modern Greek history happened during the time of my 3G grandparents — the Greek War of Independence. Turks had ruled over the people of the Greece for most of the years since the 15th century, and several other attempts had been made to oust them, but in March of 1821, an organized effort began that was ultimately successful.
The war itself was brutal, and it took almost nine years to play out. After some initial victories won by the Greeks, Turkish forces terrorized the whole country. In September 1825, an Egyptian named Ibrahim Pasha waged a campaign in the Peloponnese that targeted the south Parnon mountains, and villages were attacked and burned. The enemy forces slaughtered men, women and children without inhibition. They also captured people, hauling them off into slavery in Egypt, never to be heard from again. No doubt some of these victims were my blood relatives, and the people on my pedigree must have experienced the horror of this time.
Fighting the Turks in the Greek War of Independence.
While there are some records of people in the Sparta region who lived through the war and beyond, there aren’t enough details to find the lines of my family. Women were rarely mentioned on documents except for their own marriages, and identifying parent-child relationships is nearly impossible. Also, record-keeping was sloppy, and many parish register books didn’t survive. The only records of my family I’ve found are my grandfather’s name on a list of boys born in Apidia, the marriage license of a great-aunt, and an 1868 list of voters which shows two men who have the same name as my great-grandfather.
The reality is that the Greek branch of my pedigree will likely never be filled in. I must accept that fact, and take heart that they add variety to my heritage and had a very ancient history. My Greek ancestors are special to me even if I will never know them by name.
