Tselebis Ioannis ‘Ianko’ (Zarifis) Zarifi & Kokona Tarsitsa ‘Tarsi’ (Iordanaki) Kaplanoglou

Family Group Sheet

NameTselebis Ioannis ‘Ianko’ (Zarifis) Zarifi, Son

Birth1780, Megalo Rheuma

MemoAnother source says ca. 1770

Deathca 1850, Prinkipos, Sea of Marmara

MemoSoon after 1850 according to George L. Zarifi.

BurialChurch of the Panagia, Pera, Constantinople, Turkey/Byzantium

ResidenceArnaout-Keuï (Megalo Rema), Bosphorus, Turkey

ResidencePhanar, Constantinople, Turkey/Byzantium

OccupationTraded in wine in Odessa and Constantinople.

Note 1Tselebis/Tselebi/Tchelebi is the Turkish title of the son (or grandson?) of a Bey and of the great grandson of a Hospodar. In the later Ottoman period Tselebis was generally used as an honorific title. According to George L Zarifi Ianko was an only child

Note 2He built two homes for his family: at Phanar and Megalo Rema (today Arnaoutkoi). In 1821, as a financial supporter of the Philiki Etairia, he fled Constantinople for Odessa, with family and friends in a chartered ship, where Tsar Alexander l welcomed him.

Note 3He owned vineyards on the island of Avlonia (today Pachalimani) along the coast of the Cyzique peninsula in the Sea of Marmara, established himself as a wine merchant first at Arnaoutkeuy (Arnavutkoy) on the Bosphorus and then at Phanar in Constantinople.

Note 4Left Constantinople in the Greek exodus the day after it was clear that his name was known to be on a list of secret financial backers of the Philiki Eteriae. Found a caïque at Galata port bound for Odessa and the family left with what they could carry.

Flags***, Zarifi

FatherGeorge ZARIFI (1750-?)

MotherSultana ‘Sultanitsa’ [Zarifi] (?-?)

Marriageabt 1805

SpouseKokona Tarsitsa ‘Tarsi’ (Iordanaki) Kaplanoglou

Birthabt 1780

Death1850, Prinkipos, Sea of Marmara

BurialChurch of the Panagia, Pera, Constantinople, Turkey/Byzantium

MemoThe tomb disappeared during restorations.

Note 1Kokona (Ottoman title). According to Boysie Zarifi's notes (found 1999), Tarsi Kaplanoglou received as a dowry a house at Therapia.

Note 2Her son’s memoirs recount her despair at having to throw overboard a beautiful hare-skin coat when fleeing Constantinople in 1821; the sailors apparently regarded it as an ill omen.

Flags***, Kaplanoglou

FatherTselebis Iordanis ‘Iordanaki’ KAPLANOGLOU (?-<1825)

Children