Family Group Sheet
Family Group Sheet
NameGeorge (Ioannis) Zarifi, G Grandson
Birth6 Sep 1807, Mega Revma/Arnavutköy, Bosphorus, Turkey
MemoOther sources say born 1806 or 1810.
Death27 Mar 1884, Pera/Stavrodromi, Constantinople, Turkey
MemoSturdza says 6 Apr 1884 at Constantinople.
BurialSisli Greek Orthodox Cemetery, Constantinople, Turkey
Memo“The funeral cortège headed first to the church of the Virgin Mary, where-Patriarch Joachim was waiting to perform the burial of his friend and patron.-Thereafter the congregation arrived at the cemetery in carriages.” - GZ
Residence1846, Pera/Stavrodromi, Constantinople, Turkey
MemoMoved from the Balat, Cibali Phanar quarter to Western and diplomatic quater behind Galata. His first house there was opposite that of the French merchant Jacques Alléon.
ResidenceTepebaşı Street, Pera/Stavrodromi, Constantinople, Turkey
MemoThe grand house he had built for himself. ‘Mnimatakia’ Street to the Greeks, ‘Petits-Champs’ to the Levantines. Today it is called Meşrutiyet Caddesi.
Residencebef 1863, Pera/Stavrodromi, Constantinople, Turkey
MemoFollowing a fire, “he rented a much bigger house owned by a famous Armenian saraf (that was still the-word for banker) named Douzoglou. The house was stone-built and stood near the British Embassy.” - GZ
ResidenceTherapeia (Tarabya), Bosphorus, Constantinople, Turkey
MemoThe family’s holiday house on the Bosphorus.
Residencebef 1840, Tzoubali/Cibali, Phanar, Constantinople, Turkey
MemoAt his parents’ house.
Residenceabt 1840, Balat, Constantinople, Turkey
Residence1841, Tzoubali/Cibali, Phanar, Constantinople, Turkey
MemoThe new house was directly opposite the church of St Nicholas and the Holy Waters of St. Athanasius.
OccupationFounder in Constantinople the vast bank and trading house of Zafiropoulo & Zarifi (Z&Z) with his father-in-law Dimitrios Zafiropoulo and brother-in-law Stephanos, with branches in London, Marseille, Danube and Odessa.
EducationTsar Alexander l gave him free entry to the Lycée Richelieu (Lyceum Richelowski), Odessa.
OriginConstantinople. Greek nationality during the Revolution and Turkish nationality afterwards. Confirmed his Greek nationality in 1840.
Note 1Returned to Constantinople in 1831 despairing of the chaos in Greece. Entered Dimitrios Zafiropoulo’s cereal trading house, married Z’s daughter and took over as partner. Great benefactor of Greek Communities in Constantinople and Philippoupolis.
Note 2He and Stephanos Zafiropoulo founded Turkey’s most important banking and commercial company which, as Z&Z, extended to Marseilles, London, Odessa and Romania. Spoke Greek, French, Russian and passable Turkish (not having lived there until adulthood).
Note 3Looked after the Constantinople headquarters for 40 years while Stepanos Zafiropoulo developed the Marseilles branch and Zarifi brothers developed other branches.
Note 4Banker to his friend Prince Abdul Hamid who unexpectedly became Sultan of the Ottoman Empire when his brother went mad. Established the Ottoman Debt Company to relieve himself of the Sultan’s financial demands.
Note 4The Sultan gave him 150,000 acres on the Mesopotamian River in Baghdad and as collateral for loans granted him the customs duties in many Turkish ports. George refused membership of parliament as he would have had to renounce his Greek nationality.
Note 4He was a patron and benefactor on a colossal scale of innumerable Greeks and Greek institutions throughout the Ottoman Empire - his reputation was world-wide and rehearsed in The Globe (16-04-1881) and in his obituary in The New York Herald (1884).
Note 5In 1955 his grave was vandalised by a mob during the anti-Greek Istanbul Pogrom.
Note 5“[His] first [estate] was in Thessaly, which soon became part of Greece. It was called ‘Sofades’, near Karditsa, and comprised a great deal of land.” - GZ
Note 5“The second estate was much bigger, near Pyrgos in eastern Thrace, and comprised a whole district. I don’t remember how many villages, rivers, forests, meadows, reed beds and mills the estate contained.” - GZ
Note 5“My grandfather’s third estate was not in Europe but in the depths of Asia, in distant Mesopotamia, near Baghdad. It was called Veled Rouz and comprised 60,000 hectares.” - GZ
Note 5After the Greek Revolution he found employment as secretary to the Greek Governor, Kapodistrias, based at Karytaina.
FlagsConstantinople, Kaplanoglou, Turkey, Zarifi
FatherTselebis Ioannis ‘Ianko’ (Zarifis) Zarifi (1780-ca1850)
MotherKokona Tarsitsa ‘Tarsi’ (Iordanaki) Kaplanoglou (~1780-1850)
MarriageDec 1839, Tzoubali/Cibali, Phanar, Constantinople, Turkey
Married Memo1839 is the date suggested by George L Zarifi after an engagement in 1836.
SpouseEleni (Dimitrios) Zafiropoulo
Birth7 Jul 1817, Tzoubali/Cibali, Phanar, Constantinople, Turkey
MemoA Zarifi record says 1813. The French obituary published in Simeonoglou says she was born 1813. George L Zarifi repeatedly implies she was born in 1817. Sturdza says 1820.
Death18 May 1910, Constantinople, Turkey
MemoObituary published on 20 May 1910.
BurialSisli Greek Orthodox Cemetery, Constantinople, Turkey
ResidencePera/Stavrodromi, Constantinople, Turkey
ResidenceTherapeia (Tarabya), Bosphorus, Constantinople, Turkey
Residenceabt 1840, Balat, Constantinople, Turkey
Note 1“Not a beauty!” - GZ. Also known as ‘Kokona Elengaki’. She appears in a 1905 photograph with her daughters and daughter-in-law (Akylas Millas ‘E Prinkipos’ Athens 1988). She was astonished to find herself pregnant around the age of 50.
Note 2The Ottoman Sultan gave her a silver bidet and jug with matching bathroom accessories which all fitted into a mahogany case. Eleni never travelled without it and in 1994 it remains in the family!
Note 3Named ‘Mother of the Orphans’ by the Sultan because of the numerous homes she provided for them: e.g. The National Orphanage for Boys, Prinkipos (a vast and extraordinary timber structure) and the Central Girls’ School, Pera.
Note 4“Most of my photos show her old but upright amidst her progeny with a Victorian bonnet on her head... plain of face, tall, slim, impeccably attired, imposing and relaxed. Her husband George remained devoted to her all his life...”
Note 5Her marriage to George Zarifi created a banking dynasty which was completed in the next generation when members of the Vlasto family married Zarifi and or Zafiropoulo descendants.
Note 5Learned to read and write (as well as Greek and French) only as an adult. Unlike her younger sisters this had not seemed necessary when she was a child.
FlagsConstantinople, Turkey, Zafiropoulo
FatherTselebi Dimitrios ‘Dimitraki’ ZAFIROPOULO (~1770-1864)
MotherRallou ‘Rallouka’ (Constantine) Fenerlis ? (~1790-1880)
Children
1 MLeonidas (George) Zarifi, GG Grandson
Birth16 Dec 1840, Balat, Constantinople, Turkey
MemoSturdza says 1839.
Death1 Mar 1923, Kiphissia, Athens, Greece/Hellenes
MemoAnother source says died 1929.
SpouseEuphrosyne 'Phrosso' (George) Nicolopoulo (1856-1933)
Marriage13 Sep 1879, Prinkipos, Sea of Marmara
Married MemoOr 20 Sep 1879
ChildrenGeorge Leonidas (Leonidas) (1881-1943)
Eleni ‘Hélène’ (Leonidas) (1882-1976)
Léonidas Theodoros ‘Leon’ (Leonidas) (1884-1963)
Stephane (Leonidas) (1886-1971)
Constantine ‘Costas’ (Leonidas) (1891-1979)
2 MPericles George (George) Zarifi Ld’H, GG Grandson
Birth27 Mar 1844, Tzoubali/Cibali, Phanar, Constantinople, Turkey
MemoEaster Monday 8th April 1844. French records say 17 Mar 1844.
Death5 Jul 1927, Marseille, France
BurialMarseille, France
MemoHe is recorded on his own family's tomb in Marseilles.
SpouseFanny (Theodore) Rodocanachi (1849-1923)
Marriage24 Jan 1871, Marseille, France
Married MemoAccording to marriage certificate. Argenti says 24 Jan 1972.
ChildrenGeorges Pericles (Pericles) (1871-1910)
Théodore Pericles (Pericles) (1873-1949)
Olga P. (Pericles) (1876-1891)
Marie 'Marika' (Pericles) (1884-1980)
Nicolas Pericles (Pericles) (1885-1940)
3 FSophia (George) Zarifi, GG Granddaughter
Birth2 Apr 1848, Pera/Stavrodromi, Constantinople, Turkey
MemoSimeonoglou says she was born 24 March 1845.
Death7 Jun 1923, 106 Rue de la Faisanderie, Paris 16ème, France
Burial13 Jun 1923, Boulogne-Billancourt, Paris, France
SpouseUlysses 'Odysseus' (Zannis) Negroponte (1832-1914)
Marriage2 Jan 1869, Constantinople, Turkey
Married MemoOr 2 Jan 1864 in Constantinople.
ChildrenGeorge (Ulysses) (1871-1945)
Catherine ‘Catina’ (Ulysses) (1869-1924)
John (Ulysses) (1874-?)
Theodore (Ulysses) (1875-1878)
Eleni (Ulysses) (1881-1953)
4 FTheresa ‘Tarsi’ (George) Zarifi, GG Granddaughter
Birth26 Nov 1860, Constantinople, Turkey
MemoGeorge Zarifi says she was born 1863. Simeonoglou says she was born 1847.
Death27 Sep 1919, Mayence, France
MemoKilled in collision between her car and a tram. Argent says 26 Sep 1919.
Burial20 Oct 1919, Boulogne-Billancourt, Paris, France
MemoFuneral at Greek Church, Rue Georges Bizet, Paris. Mourners were her husband and sons and her brother and nephews Negroponte and Eugenidi. Attended by the Greek Foreign Affairs minister, M. Politis and M. A. Romanos.
SpouseAnton ‘Antoine’ Dimitri (Dimitri) Vlasto (1853-1942)
Marriage19 Jun 1881, Paris, France
Married MemoArgent says 27 Jun 1882, Paris.
ChildrenConstantin Georges Antoine Demetre ‘Kostia’ (Anton) (1883-1967)
Stéphane Antoine Démètre Georges (Anton) (1885-1960)
5 MStephanos ‘Stefanaki’ 'Etienne' George (George) Zarifi, GG Grandson
Birth27 Sep 1863, Constantinople, Turkey
Death1 Jan 1894, Monte Carlo, Monaco
MemoOf consumption after 3 years illness. Or Cannes according to Simeonoglou who says 1892.
BurialMarseille, France