Thursday 31 January 2013

The cousin who married a Greek/Turkish/Canadian

As you know, I am a sucker for an interesting name, so when looking at marriages of my mother-in-law's cousins on scotlandspeople, one jumped out at me.

Margaret McFedries McInnes married Earnest (sic) Raicos in Crosshill, Ayrshire in 1919.

I googled the name Raicos and results suggested he would be Greek. What on earth was he doing in rural Ayrshire in 1919?

I found his army enlistments dated 11 Nov 1917 (he wasn't to know the war was almost over) - he was with the Canadian Expeditionary Force.
http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/
and it gives his birth on the 15th May 1890 in Constantinople, Turkey.
It also gives his occupation: cook and his address of the Central Hotel, New Westminster, British Columbia.

His next of kin was his brother Nick Raicos of the Paris Cafe, Edmonton, Alberta.

Is this the same Ernest Raicos?   I shelled out for Scottish marriage certificate - not a lot of money, just over £1.

His address was Kilkerran Camp and he was a cook. His age tallied as well. Margaret was a housekeeper at Kilkerran Cottages. Both his parents were deceased. The names look like Tomos Raicos storekeeper and Marca (Maria?) Paepis. The date of the marriage was March 1919.

Canadians were based in Kilkerran as foresters http://www.maybole.org/

I looked on the ancestry site for any evidence of him. I found him on the Saturnia in September 1919 returning to Canada with the troops. Did he leave his wife behind? I looked for her separately and she was on the same ship, just under a separate list from the troops. She was heading to Edmonton, Alberta.

I can't find much evidence of them in Canada except their deaths in the 1940s in Edmonton. The brother Nick appears in the 1911 census in New Westminster and in the electoral rolls in Edmonton with a wife, variously described as a storekeeper, restaurateur, candy maker, confectioner. Their naturalisation records from 1925 are here (click will download). The brothers are from Turkey (Greece). Nick's wife is Marie.

There are still Raicos in Edmonton.


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