This is by far the coolest thing I have ever seen in a looooong time. So theres a long family history on my mothers side about a deceased relative. This man is my Great, Great Grandfather. His name was Spiro Bennett. Formerly Spiro Bennetatto from Greece. These pictures are circa 1870 - 1875. Read on and you will find out more..... :) For many years theres been a family legend shared that a distant relative on my mothers side who was a Greek man (whom I know know was named Spiro....) The story goes that Spiro was a doctor in Greece back in the mid-late 1800s. He had a wife and 18 children at the time. One night he was in a bar and got involved in a bar fight, eventuating in Spiro murdering this man. Sprio was said to be well into his 50s at the time of the event. Spiro fled Greece, abandoning his wife and plenty-o-kids and came to Sydney, Australia. Spiro changed his name from Bennetatto to Spiro Bennett (nothing too obvious or anything....LOL). (Fast forward to 2014 - my mothers maiden name is Bennett and I am directly related to him via my mothers father). He found a young 18 year old opera singer named Anne in Sydney and married her, they settled in Gulgong, NSW - not far from Sydney, and Sprio and his wife set up a shop. Spiro had yet more children with his new wife Anne. In these pictures below you can see Spiro and his wife in front of their shop, aptly named SPIRO BENNETT (you can just make this out on the facia of the building in both pictures). Its assumed by the pictures his trade was Fresh produce, however very little is actually known. The coolest part is that I just received an email today from my mother sharing a copy of the picture of Spiro and Anne. I did some further research on Google and found some more pictures and info. Until today, I did not know that there were even pictures in existence and I did not know his first name of the original Greek spelling of the surname. I am so utterly fascinated with this its not funny! These pictures confirm the existence of my Great, Great Grandfather Spiro Bennetatto. Although why he admitted to future generations he was a murderer is beyond me..... This story has now been passed down 5 generations as follows: (1) - Sprio -> Spiros son (my Great Grandfather) (2) - My G Grandfather -> His son (My Grandfather Charles Bennett) (3) - Charles Bennett -> Jill Bennett (My mother) (4) - Jill Bennett (now Jill Gray) -> (5) - Me! Fun fact - Charles Bennett (RIP) was one of 13 children, and in the 13 children, there were 2 sets of (identical to the best of my knowledge) twins. Charles was of the older set of twins. Only one child of the 13 remains these days to my knowledge. Our lovely Uncle Allan Bennett. Allan was a twin from the other set - I hope you can keep up! - and is well into his 80s or 90s (not sure exactly), but still lives life to the fullest. Bless his little cotton socks. So God only knows how many kids Spiro had with Anne, and how many kids their kids had too! So in summary, if Spiro had not murdered a man in cold blood and fled Greece in the 1800s, I would not be here today sharing this story with you! Oh yeah and I have Greek heritage as a result - and theres gotta be a whole lotta Bennetattos in Greece that we are related to - and they probably dont even know it. :D HOW FLIPPIN AWESOME IS THAT!!! P.S. I see the family resemblance to Pop (Charles) Bennett here - although after that I dont know where the Greek DNA went. Coz my butt is white as. LOL
Posted on: Sat, 29 Nov 2014 06:57:41 +0000
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