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During a recent visit to the traditional village of Vatoussa in Lesvos, Greece, the Hellenic Historical and Genealogical Association (HHGA) was pleased to present to town officials and elders of the village a set of fully restored antique town registries (dimotologia). The physical state of these records had deteriorated over time, with the records nearly lost due to their age and climatic conditions. The ledgers included family entries for the entire village, dating back to the mid-1800's, constituting important historical, sociological, and genealogical information, as well as serving as the official civil archives for local citizenry. Persons of Hellenic descent living abroad, with ancestral ties to this village, would also be affected by a loss of these registries, since they help to document lineage, a critical element in preparing an application for Greek citizenship.
The restoration was a two-phase project extending over one year. In the first stage, the original registry, in extremely poor and fragile condition, was pieced together and then copied by hand, line-by-line, into two new ledgers. For the second phase, the two-volume ledger set was transported to the U.S. by special courier and turned over to one of the country's finest archival restoration companies in the Boston area for preservation. The entries were copied and reproduced as museum-quality facsimiles and rebound into one embossed leather volume.
(From left) Mr. Haralambos Kountoutzikos, board member of the Christos and Mary Papoutsy Foundation for the Revitalization of Vatoussa, Lesvos; Mr. Christos Stavrakoglou, President of the foundation board; Mr. Avel Spanellis, Secretary; Mrs. Irene Kallontzis, Treasurer; Mrs. Mary Papoutsy; Rev. Evangelos Ververis, Parish Priest of Koimisis tis Theotokou Church (Dormition of the Virgin Mary) of Vatoussa, and foundation board member; Mr. Demetrios Paptsas, foundation board member.
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For genealogical enquiries, the dimotologion presents a treasury of information about family history, some of which cannot be found elsewhere in Greece. Family data fills this registry, arranged alphabetically by surname. Under the entry for each family there appear the given names of all persons residing in the same house, their years of birth, the patronymic (or father's given) name, the wife's maiden surname, occupation, and current residence. In the 1980s, when the Greece underwent governmental centralization and downsizing of rural offices, many small villages transferred current town registries (dimotologia) to regional municipal offices (dimarcheia).
The restored ledger and hand-copied set were presented to officials of the village (pictured from left to right in the photograph above) by Christos and Mary Papoutsy, jointly representing the Christos and Mary Papoutsy Charitable Foundation and the Hellenic Historical and Genealogical Association: Mr. Haralambos Kountoutzikos, board member of the Christos and Mary Papoutsy Foundation for the Revitalization of Vatoussa, Lesvos; Mr. Christos Stavrakoglou, President of the foundation board; Mr. Avel Spanellis, Secretary; Mrs. Irene Kallontzis, Treasurer; Mrs. Mary Papoutsy; Rev. Evangelos Ververis, Parish Priest of Koimisis tis Theotokou Church (Dormition of the Virgin Mary) of Vatoussa, and foundation board member; Mr. Demetrios Paptsas, foundation board member.
(Posted 10 April 2004; reformatted 26 February 2007)
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