Genealogy

Of the Greek Family name "Combis"

from the Island of Kythera (Ionian Islands)                      

This Greek family name resides almost exclusively on Kythera which is the southmost of the Ionian Islands. In a long period, (1363-1797) these Islands form part of the Venetian Republic. From 1797 to 1814 they change hands between the French and the Russians. From 1814 until 1864 under British protection. In 1864 annexed to Greece.

The last Will of 

Theodore Combis 1701-1771.

 

Apostolos-Athanassios-Theodore

Combis brothers

"Honoring the Greek Name 

in the USA..." c.1909

 

Panagiotis (Peter) Combis

in St Louis Missouri 1872

 

1829. Loan contract between

Theodore Combis 1772-1854

and John Combis 1777-1837

 

Paris 1914

Costas Combis 1893-1968

with friends

 

15-11-1800. 

Obituary to

Vretos Combis 1736-1800

 

St Louis1920, 

Consular Passport 

of John Combis 1853-1927

 

Dimitra Apostolides

in Brussa (Asia Minor)1897

 

An Introduction to

The Family Tree of Combis

Or a Voyage from Kythera...

Amongst the piles of papers my father left when he passed away, there was a bulky folder containing various old documents that looked like wills and deeds, of times long bygone.  The people mentioned in these documents carried our name and were undoubtedly ancestors. I knew that my father was proud of his family collection, but for some reason he had never attempted to show me these papers or get into details. There was a challenge for me now to search and establish the accurate line of relationship to them. This sparkle set me off to an expedition that ultimately took me much farther.

 

             Unlike most genealogists, I worked down instead of upwards, commencing from the oldest person of which I had already significant information in my hands. This individual was Theodore Combis.

 

             Theodore Combis was born in the year 1701 and died on the 13th of June 1771. Just to get an idea of the period, one should remember that this is  the time of reign of Louis XIV and Louis XV in France. As Kythera, the island where Theodore was born, was under Venetian rule, we can as well visualize the Doges of that period, like the illustrious Giovanni Corner or Aloisius Mocenigo.

 

              My exploration through archives, vital records, deeds and a wealth of Venetian documents provided the essential information to build an, accurate as possible, tree of the descendants of Theodore Combis to our days. In this process I have been tracking only the male members of the family, in other words I followed the name. View Root Tree

April 2003 

 

             In the five years since the above introduction was written, continuous research has yielded significant results. Not only new names were added to top the line of ancestors, but also the very first individual to be called "Combis" has been identified as Dimitri G Logothetis 1615-1680 and one could really say that the history of this name is complete now. 

            What has also been established through this research, is the parental relation of the name Logothetis to a plethora of other family names that made their appearance towards the end of 17th century in Logothetianika. The history of Logothetis Family therefore is associated not only with the genealogy of all those names that came after, but with the history of the area of Potamos and Kythera itself.

June 2008