Nick Balamaci
Forum Replies Created
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Welcome to the Society, Nashu — glad to have you as a member! I am related to the Mushi family by marriage, but other Society members are even more closely related, I am sure they’ll be in touch with you as soon as they see your post. I hope you enjoy this site and also our Society Farsharotu Facebook page. –Nick
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Hello and welcome! I agree with Elissa, DNA/ancestry research and family tree building are probably the best way to find out such details about your family. Several books in English (“Roumeli” by Patrick Leigh Fermor, for example) mention the Karagouni and there is a famous Greek song and dance by that name. It means “black-capes” (in Turkish, I believe) and was used until recently as as an alternative name for Vlachs from the region of modern Albania. Aromanian shepherds traditionally wore heavy black woolen capes to protect them from mountain weather — in our language they are called “tambari” — you can see a photo of a shepherd with his crook (“carligu”) and cape in an article by Tim Salmon on this site at https://farsharotu.org/the-unwritten-places/. As you suggested, the suffixes –ov, –ich, and –ovich are simply added to the original Vlach name in Slavic countries. Good luck in your research, let us know what you find!
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Second, an exhibition of the photographs of Iani & Milton Manakia — the first cinematographers of the Balkans — will open tomorrow February 15, 2023 in Thessaloniki and continue thru December 31. The announcement by the Vlach Society of Athens includes a link https://www.facebook.com/groups/268915336877997/permalink/1607665806336270/ to a newspaper article that unfortunately continues the nonsensical debate about whether the Manakia brothers were Greek or North Macedonian or Romanian or Vlach or some combination thereof, but at least it has useful information on when and where to see the exhibition. I hope you can get to Greece and see the incredible work of these pioneering brothers!
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Hello Maria, did your grandmother come to America? There are several members who know a lot about genealogy research and might be able to help you learn more about her background.
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Alexis, I just happened to run across your post and was floored, you’ve done a lot of research and it seems you’ve just scratched the surface. We have 2 terrific genealogists as members, Elissa Mondschein and Arabella J. (A.J.) Liuba, may I suggest that you message them, share your post, and ask if they have any ideas about where to proceed from here? A.J. is realy a wizard at this and has found ways to work out of seeming dead ends.
At any rate, it is good to have you as a member, please let me know if you have any questions about the Society or would like to help in any way — we have a digital advisory group that advises us about our web site and we’re contemplating the launch of a new series of Newsletters. Best regards, Nick Balamaci
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Thanks, Arabella — I thought that was your papu Vasile Mushi, plus you’ve identified a few others. Anyone following this thread should also know that this photo is available for download from Our Community page (https://farsharotu.org/our-community/).
That still leaves several people still unidentified… Let us know if any of them look familiar! Thanks.
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To George’s right, Spiro Vasilescu
In front of Spiro, Pandu Talabac
To Pandu’s right, Louis Cipu
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I just noticed you mentioned you were in NC, so skip that question!
Most of our meetings are on Zoom, so no worries.
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Terrific — if you’ll send me your email address, we’ll include you on the invite for future meetings and discussion about the Society and its web site and newsletter, etc.
What part of the country are you located in?