What does a genealogist do on vacation? More genealogy! Last summer, my niece’s boyfriend Charlie said he’d love to know more about his Greek roots. Charlie is from California, so I didn’t expect what came next - his grandmother’s grandparents lived in Newburyport in the 1920s and 1930s! Bethany’s “Newburyport is the center of the universe!” was looking to be true once again. 

Read the title story following event announcements!

We Need Your Help!

We rely on volunteers and donors to keep us afloat, especially as we prepare for the 45th Annual Old Newbury Garden Tour! While there are many ways to be part of our crew here, we especially need the following:

• Donations of plants for the Garden Tour Plant Sale! Are you dividing and conquering? Have more seedlings than you need? Bring us your extras and they will make someone's day. Drop-off labelled plants at the Museum of Old Newbury, 98 High Street, Newburyport anytime from June 1-7, and let us know if you would like an official donation receipt by calling 978-462-2681.

• Gardening volunteers - spend a couple of hours with experienced gardeners planting, weeding, mulching, and generally keeping the garden in ship-shape. Call 978-462-2681 and we'll tell you more.

• Docents! Do you enjoy sharing this community's history with locals and visitors alike? Volunteer three hours a week and get to know our remarkable museum. Training and support are provided, of course. Email Shelley@NewburyHistory.org for more information.  

Upcoming Museum Events

Parasols, Fans, and Handkerchiefs: The Secret Language of Flirtation

Thursday, May 16, 2024, 6:30 PM

45th Old Newbury Garden Tour

Saturday, June 8 and Sunday June 9, 2024 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM

A Greek Tragedy: Newburyport's Comas Boys, May 1922

...by Kristen Fehlhaber, professional genealogist

Marigo and Pieros Kakakos aka Mary and Peter Comas.

What does a genealogist do on vacation? More genealogy! Last summer, my niece’s boyfriend Charlie said he’d love to know more about his Greek roots. We were up at a family cottage in Vermont, so I popped open my laptop and quickly got to work. Charlie is from California, so I didn’t expect what came next - his grandmother’s grandparents lived in Newburyport in the 1920s and 1930s! Bethany’s “Newburyport is the center of the universe!” was looking to be true once again. So here is the story of the Kakakos/Comas family of Newburyport and the events that happened in May 1922, just over 100 years ago.  

Pieros Kakakos (1881-1950) arrived in Boston on the ship Canopic in January, 1907. The ship manifest says he was age 25, had $9, and was headed to a cousin in Biddeford, Maine. His town of origin was Neo Hori/ Neo Chorio, near Gythio in ancient Sparta. 

We next find him living in Dover, New Hampshire in 1908, listed as the destination of his wife, Marigo Stellianakos (1886-1977), who arrived in New York from Agios Stratos, a village in the hills west of Gythio near her husband’s hometown.  

The 1910 census shows Pieros and Marigo - now going by Peter and Mary - both working in a cotton mill 20 miles north of Dover in Somersworth, NH and living with a Greek family who run a restaurant. 

A few months later, they moved to Lewiston, Maine. Peter was working as a baker, his profession back in Greece, when his son George was born in 1911. George was their second child (the first child died young). In total, Mary and Peter would have 12 children.  

On George’s birth record, the family had already started using the name Comas (similar to a Greek word for baker) instead of Kakakos. They would use both names until they legally changed their name in 1930. A note about names: when they come from a language with a different alphabet, be prepared to be flexible when looking for records. I kept a list for this family and found records under Cacacos, Cakakos, Cacaos, Camos, Comes, Komas, etc. 

By September 1918, Peter had moved to Haverhill, MA to work for the Ducacaros Bakery on Walnut Street, next door to the Greek Orthodox church. For a while, Mary stayed in Lewiston but soon joined him in Haverhill. Between 1919 and 1921, three more children were born in Haverhill. 

In March 1922, Peter took over a bakery at 128 Merrimac Street in Newburyport, just west of the bridge to Salisbury. Leary’s was in business then, just down the block.  

Merrimack Street, looking west, 1933. The bakery and home was beyond the railroad bridge in this photo, on the right/waterside. Image courtesy NPL Archival Center.  

The Comas children would grow and thrive in Newburyport. They appeared frequently in the newspapers: at the Kelley School, George was mentioned multiple times for being excellent at drawing while James and Lillian excelled at spelling. In years to come, Sammy, Poppy and Helene were mentioned for their singing while Emily was secretary of the Kelley School Garden Club.  

Sammy graduated from Newburyport High in 1935. Courtesy NPL Archival Center.  

Nothing hints at the events that took place in May 1922, shortly after they arrived in the city. Mary was three months pregnant with her 12^th child and more than likely, the older children were put in charge of the younger ones. At around 7pm on Saturday, May 27, 6-year-old Alexander and 4-year-old John wandered away from the house. They lived on the waterfront and the family desperately looked for them and reported them missing to the police.  

This headline appeared on page 1 on Monday, May 29

May 29, 1922 headline, page 1, Newburyport Daily News and Herald.  

“Grave fears are entertained for the safety of Alexander Comas, aged 6, and John Comas, aged 4; sons of Peter Comas, 128 Merrimac Street, who have been missing since about 8 o’clock Saturday evening. There is a theory that they may have fallen into the river.”

“It was learned that the two boys had been driven away from the Newburyport bridge about 7 Saturday evening and it was later they had been seen playing on the wharves. The lads both wore overalls and were hatless. One wore shoes and the other sneakers.” 

Varina’s Wharf, the current home to Michael’s Harborside restaurant, was named as the last place the boys were seen. One report said they were seen on the floating staging at the end of the wharf, accessible only by a rope mooring.  

Varina’s Wharf next to the auto bridge. Courtesy Newburyport Public Library Archival center.  

On the night they disappeared, the police went looking in the neighborhood for them. They had been known to play at the Chinese laundry across the street. “The (owner) had been very kind to them and there was no special reason to think that he knew of their whereabouts. But it was decided to investigate. The occupant failed to answer the raps of the officer, so the door was forced. A search failed to show anything wrong.”  

Chinese laundry at the corner of Boardman and Merrimac with the Comas’ bakery across the street. Composite of two 1914 Sanborn Fire Maps, Museum of Old Newbury collection.  

Two days later, on May 31, the newspaper reported that the boys were still missing. Additional reports had come in – they were also reported being seen on Boardman Street at 8:15pm and down on Parker St. on Sunday morning. Very small children roaming Newburyport on their own must have been a common sight. 

A day passed and on June 2, the newspaper reported that they still hadn’t been found, despite the efforts of the family, friends, and police out in multiple boats. “It is hard to determine how the boys could have dropped out of sight so suddenly and nobody have anything definite to offer that would furnish a clue.” “The drowning theory is most generally accepted” but “there are those who have suggested a kidnapping theory, but it has had few supporters.” “So far as known the parents have no enemies and no great wealth that would attract the cupidity of abductors.” 

June 2, 1922, page 12. Newburyport Daily News and Herald.

The next day, the story came to a sad close. The boys’ bodies were found, one under the wharf where they were last seen, one a bit further down river. Police stood guard over them until the undertaker arrived. Peter Comas worried that there had been foul play and requested autopsies; accidental drowning was found to be the cause of death.

On Sunday afternoon, June 4, the funeral was held at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, host to Greek worship services during this time before they had their own church. A Greek Orthodox priest from Ipswich came up to perform the funeral. “The chapel was filled with friends and both caskets were completely hidden with floral tributes which were given by loving friends.”  

Picture, if you can, over 100 people, walking from St. Paul’s up High Street, past Bartlet Mall, up past Old Hill Burying Ground, and into Highland Cemetery. They walked up over the hill to the very back, where the Greek section was located. 

Perhaps the community, struck by this tragedy, felt compelled to finally have their own place of worship. Soon after this event, Greek worshippers in Newburyport elected a board and adopted bylaws and began to fundraise. Within a year of the boys’ deaths, they’d hired their first priest. And by 1924, they purchased the former Presbyterian church on Harris Street and opened the Church of the Annunciation.  

The Comas family stayed in Newburyport until 1935, when they headed to South Portland, Maine, the location of Peter’s final bakery. Some children stayed in Maine while others scattered across the country, to California and Florida. At the time of her death in 1977, Mary Comas had 19 grandchildren and 28 great-grandchildren, a beloved “Yia- Yia” to many.  

The memorial at Highland Cemetery

Later in life: Emily, Poppy, Helene, Lillian, and George Comas in Kittery, Maine, 1992. 

This story was written with the help of Elizabeth Songster, Charlie’s “Yia-Yia” and daughter of Penelope (Poppy) Comas. Kristen Fehlhaber is a genealogist and the former Assistant Director at the Museum of Old Newbury. She can be reached at kfehlhaber@gmail.com

Upcoming Community Events

22nd Annual Newburyport PTO Kitchen Tour & Tasting

Saturday May 11, 2024 10:00 AM - 3:00 PM

Something Is Always Cooking...

Spanakopita

INGREDIENTS

For the Spinach and Feta Filling

16 oz frozen chopped spinach, thawed and well-drained

2 bunches flat-leaf parsley, stems trimmed, finely chopped

1 large yellow onion, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

4 eggs

10.5 oz quality feta cheese, crumbled

2 tsp dried dill weed

1/4 tsp fresh-ground nutmeg

Freshly-ground black pepper

For the Crust

1 16 oz package phyllo dough sheets, thawed

1 cup extra virgin olive oil, more if needed

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

• Before you begin mixing the filling, be sure the spinach is very well drained, and squeeze out any excess liquid by hand.

• To make the filling: In a mixing bowl, add the spinach and the remaining filling ingredients. Stir until all is well-combined.

• Unroll the phyllo sheets and place them between two slightly damp kitchen cloths.

• Prepare a 9 ½" X 13" baking dish. Brush the bottom and sides of the dish with olive oil.

• To assemble the spanakopita: Line the baking dish with two sheets of phyllo (fillo) letting them cover the sides of the dish. Brush with olive oil. Add two more sheets in the same manner, and brush them with olive oil. Repeat until two-thirds of the phyllo is used up.

• Now, evenly spread the spinach and feta filling over the phyllo crust. Top with two more sheets, and brush with olive oil.

• Continue to layer the phyllo sheets, two-at-a-time, brushing with olive oil, until you have used up all the sheets. Brush the very top layer with olive oil, and sprinkle with just a few drops of water.

• Fold the flaps or excess from the sides, you can crumble them a little. Brush the folded sides well with olive oil. Cut Spanakopita ONLY PART-WAY through into squares, or leave the cutting to later.

• Bake in the 325 degree oven for 1 hour, or until the phyllo crust is crisp and golden brown. Remove from the oven. Finish cutting into squares and serve. Enjoy!

Puzzle Me This...

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This detail is from a c. 1900 sampler of a map of Europe, part of the Museum of Old Newbury's collection