A Glimpse of the Greek Electoral Census of 1914

[Bill77]

There are many with the name Vasilovski

#51 to 65
AND
#70 to 77
AND
#79 to 80

Bill do you have a specific first name I can look for?

Thanks Niko
the names Vasil, Filko, stefo are my forefarthers in that order then came Vasil again my father. These names still exist in todays generations ie: sons, nephews.....

it was my great grandfather Filko, who packed his bags and family then left Bouf which was around 1906, who head to a city and chose Bitola. This was the time when Macedonia were still under Ottoman rule.

The story goes, they arrived at a fork in the road. Left was Bitola, right was Lerin. There was no real plan so it was a case of flip a coin. talk about spear of destiny, if Lerin was chosen, i could have easily been Helenised and today believing my forefathers were related to the ancient Greeks

[Niko777]

Thanks Niko
the names Vasil, Filko, stefo my forefarthers in that order then came Vasil again my father. These names still exist in todays generations ie: sons, nephews.....

it was my great grandfather Filko, who packed his bags and family then left Bouf 1906 to hed to a city and chose Bitola. This was the time when Macedonia were still under Ottoman rule.

I can't find a "Filko son of Vasil" on the list, if he left Bouf in 1906 he wouldn't be on the list because the census was taken in 1914.
BUT I did find "Vasil son of Bozhin" born 1862 (#55).
Vasil's son Nedelko is listed on line 56, born 1887
Is it possible Nedelko and Filko's are brothers?

[Bill77]

I can't find a "Filko son of Vasil" on the list, if he left Bouf in 1906 he wouldn't be on the list because the census was taken in 1914.
BUT I did find "Vasil son of Bozhin" born 1862 (#55).
Vasil's son Nedelko is listed on line 56, born 1887
Is it possible Nedelko and Filko's are brothers?

Yes makes sense. Filko left but other Vasilovski family members remained till recently who migrated to Canada. That must have been Nedelko (Filko's brother) that remained. Vasil is burried in Lazec Bitola. So Filko must have taken his father Vasil with him.

Thank you heaps mate.

[Bill77]

Just to confirm, My Great great grandfather Vasil, who is buried in Lazec Bitola, has his name Vasil Bozinovic on his tombstone. At one stage Serbs did to its Macedonians as what the Greeks did with names, mainly surname. So obviously Vasil would have been given his fathers name with a "IC" added to the end, before my family reverted back to Vasilovski.

Next riddle is, Bozin Vasilovski..... how did he get Vasilovski? possibly his father or grandfather were also "Vasil"

i wish to also add Bozin and Vasil have religious connections to their names. Mabe, they were a devout Christian family which i must admit pleases me

[Bill77]

Niko, sorry to do this to you, but apparently we went under the name of Shapaz where there is a list of them. And by that surname, we have many with the names of Vasil, Filko, Georgi, and so on. if you could please give me some sort of list in order under Shapaz

[Karposh]

Hi Bill, I didn't realise that your roots are from Buf. No doubt, you, like many other Bufchani are well aware of Buf's heroic past as described by Georgi Petrov himself when he visited this village over a century ago. I was so impressed by Petrov's account that I had to mention it on another Buf-specific thread on this forum.

I think the following information about Buf deserves a mention on this thread. Apparently, the village Buf served as a leader and protector of all the nearby Macedonian villages, which often came under attack by Turks and Albanian marauders. Christians were not allowed to carry weapons during Ottoman days, however, everyone knew that Bufchani were armed and whenever a person (male or female) from the surrounding Christian villages was being threatened, followed or harassed by the Turks, they were immediately sent to Buf to stay with host families for protection until the unwanted attention went away.

On receipt of news that there was an imminent danger of attack on a nearby village, Bufchani had a signal, whereby three gun shots would be fired and all the men were obliged to gather in the village square, armed and ready to go at a moment's notice. There is the story of how Bufchani rescued the nearby Macedonian village of Rakovo from a Turkish attack. Some of the neighbouring Turkish villages had united with the intention of raiding Rakovo. However, Bufchani had caught wind of their intentions and were waiting for them before the Turks managed to reach the village. Many of the Turks were shot dead and the village was spared, while the rest of the Turks were sent scurrying away.

Speaking of Rakovo (Krateron, in Greek), if there ever was such a thing as a Judas village then this is it. The inhabitants of this village have always been 100% Macedonian and yet, somehow, all of its inhabitants have convinced themselves that they are really Greeks. Sad.

The sacrifices that Buf made during Ilinden and the Greek civil war are also a testament to this heroic Macedonian village. There were more than 250 fighters from Buf alone making up the ranks of the Greek Democratic Army, 120 of which gave their life fighting for Macedonian human rights during the Greek civil war. Bufchani should be rightly proud of their village.

I was hoping you could confirm the story of Bufchani coming to the aid of the nearby village of Rakovo when some of the surrounding Turkish villages decided to attack it. If true, then I am truly in awe of this proud Macedonian village and its courageous people.

And finally, a very Happy Easter to you and to all Bufchani wherever they may be residing in the world today.

[Niko777]

Niko, sorry to do this to you, but apparently we went under the name of Shapaz where there is a list of them. And by that surname, we have many with the names of Vasil, Filko, Georgi, and so on. if you could please give me some sort of list in order under Shapaz

Yes I found them.

#585 Filip son of Vasil, born 1881
#584 Vasil son of Atanas, born 1853

[Bill77]

Hi Bill, I didn't realise that your roots are from Buf. No doubt, you, like many other Bufchani are well aware of Buf's heroic past as described by Georgi Petrov himself when he visited this village over a century ago. I was so impressed by Petrov's account that I had to mention it on another Buf-specific thread on this forum.



I was hoping you could confirm the story of Bufchani coming to the aid of the nearby village of Rakovo when some of the surrounding Turkish villages decided to attack it. If true, then I am truly in awe of this proud Macedonian village and its courageous people.

And finally, a very Happy Easter to you and to all Bufchani wherever they may be residing in the world today.

Thanks Niko and Thank you heaps Karposh. Ive somehow missed your post in another specific thread. Mate you just gave me huge goose bumps reading your post. Thanks for sharing it.

1) Ive worked out my family was known as the Shapaz (Shapozov or Shapazovski). That surname was actually a prekar that parts of the clan adopted from Vasilovski. Story goes, (going by the names on the census) Atanas and Bozin were related either brothers or 1st cousins. Atanas's was a cattle farmer whos cows unfortunately at one stage caught some desiese called "Shapka" or something similar, which is why they were known as Shapazoi or Shapazov. Today, we are still divided, some of as are known as Vasilevski and some Shapazovski, yet we share the same great grandfather in Filko.

2) Re Bufcani and their actions during the Ottoman struggles.... something that caught my attention in your post and gave me shivers is this. I will never forget my Grandfathers story when i was a young boy. One story was that, He would have been around 4 years old at that time but 90 years later he still remembered vividly. He often woke up in the mornings with strange long-bearded men hiding under his bed. "Komiti". Reading your post about households in Bouf would hide to protect people from neighboring village, ties in and confirmed what my grandfather said (not that i doubted him).

i will one day post some images i took in 2004 (once i find them) of the Shapazoi household which has some type of signage painted on their house dating back from the early 1900 period. The text is in Macedonian. Some letters are faint but few words can be made out. i just haven't worked out the meaning of it.

[Amphipolis]

A drone video from the village, can you find your house?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERkyMteWjI0

... and a local documentary series (the episode about your village), drone videos here too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-aAWiLm2MQ

... and another drone video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JT3EMVT3gP0

===

[Amphipolis]

By the way, genealogies are interesting. I see at least six Sapas families as follows:

Helias and sons Lazaros (b 1866) and Dimitrios (b 1869)

Petros and son Pavlos (b 1863) and grandsons Nikolaos (b 1883) and Georgios (b 1886)

Anastasios and son Pantelis (b 1873)

Tertsis and son Ioannis (b 1849) and grandsons Christos (b 1873) and Euthymios (b 1877)

Traikos and son Euthymios (b 1829) and grandsons Velianis (b 1859) and Dimitrios (?) (b 1874). Velianis also has a son Bozinis (b 1886).

and lastly

Athanasios and sons Vasileios (b 1853) and Petkos (b 1864)
Vasileios had a son (Philippos, b 1884) and Petkos had one son (Yiannakis, b 1886)

[Bill77]

By the way, genealogies are interesting. I see at least six Sapas families as follows:

Helias and sons Lazaros (b 1866) and Dimitrios (b 1869)

Petros and son Pavlos (b 1863) and grandsons Nikolaos (b 1883) and Georgios (b 1886)

Anastasios and son Pantelis (b 1873)

Tertsis and son Ioannis (b 1849) and grandsons Christos (b 1873) and Euthymios (b 1877)

Traikos and son Euthymios (b 1829) and grandsons Velianis (b 1859) and Dimitrios (?) (b 1874). Velianis also has a son Bozinis (b 1886).

and lastly

Athanasios and sons Vasileios (b 1853) and Petkos (b 1864)
Vasileios had a son (Philippos, b 1884) and Petkos had one son (Yiannakis, b 1886)

It makes sense to think they were all related somehow. The conclusion is, ive came from the Atanas-Vasil-Filip branch. prior to this list, i only knew as far as Vasil. Now i can trace back 1 further Atanas and im delighted.