Greek family passport No. 2555 — Lazaros, Eftyhia, and all five children at Mytilene (December 29, 1923)

The single most consequential Greek-state document in the family archive — the Greek family passport No. 2555 of the Kingdom of Greece, issued at Mytilene on December 29, 1923, by order of the Minister for Foreign Affairs and signed by the Prefect of Lesbos. It names — by name and by age — the entire Jeannopoulos family in Greek state language at the moment they prepared to leave Greece for the United States.

What the document records

Greek-language section (left):

ΕΝ ΟΝΟΜΑΤΙ ΤΗΣ ΚΥΒΕΡΝΗΣΕΩΣ ΤΟΥ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΙΟΥ ΤΗΣ ΕΛΛΑΔΟΣ (In the name of the Government of the Kingdom of Greece)

No. 2555

Bearer: Λάζαρος Παναγιώτου Γιαννόπουλος (Lazaros, son of Panagiotis, Yannopoulos) Δήμος (Municipality): Μυτιλήνη (Mytilene) Διαμονή (Residence): Μυτιλήνη Age: 50 · Height: regular · Hair: gray · Eyes: chestnut · Nose: regular

Issued at Μυτιλήνη on 29 December 1923 — κατ’ εντολή του επί των Εξωτερικών Υπουργού (by order of the Minister for Foreign Affairs). Signature: Ο Νομάρχης (Prefect of Lesbos) · Νομαρχία Λέσβου seal. Signature of bearer: Λάζαρος Γιαννόπουλος

French-language section (right) — diplomatic laissez-passer / international travel request:

“Réquerons tous les officiers, civiles et militaires, du Royaume de Grèce, et prions ceux des pays amis de laisser passer librement Monsieur Lazare Panagiotou Jeannopoulos, docteur, avec sa femme Eftychie âgée de 40 ans et ses enfants Panagiotis [Takis], Jean, Marie, Constantin et Achille, se rendant en Amérique pour ses affaires sans qu’il soit empêché ni molesté par personne, et de lui prêter aide et protection, en cas de besoin.”

(We require all officers, civil and military, of the Kingdom of Greece, and beg those of friendly countries, to let pass freely Mr. Lazare son of Panagiotis Jeannopoulos, doctor, with his wife Eftychie aged 40 and his children Panagiotis, Jean, Marie, Constantin and Achille, going to America for his business, without let or hindrance, and to lend him aid and protection if needed.)

Issued at Metelin, 29 Décembre 1923, Par autorisation du Ministre des Affaires Étrangères — signed Le Préfet de Lesbos.

American Consular Service overlay (upper right):

AMERICAN CONSULAR SERVICE — ATHENS, GREECE — 15 JAN 1924 “RECEIVED OF Lazare Panagiotou Jeannopoulos the sum of ONE DOLLAR for preparing Alien’s Declaration and administering oath thereto, as prescribed by regulations of the Department of State.” Fee No. 47. Signed by the American Consul at Athens.

Why this document is the keystone of the Greek-citizenship case

This is Greek-state recognition, in the Greek state’s own language and over the Prefect of Lesbos’s signature and seal, of every member of the family as Greek nationals at the moment they emigrated:

1. Lazaros — bearer, named in Greek (Λάζαρος Παναγιώτου Γιαννόπουλος) and French (Lazare Panagiotou Jeannopoulos); registered municipality Mytilene, residence Mytilene.
2. Eftyhia — “sa femme Eftychie âgée de 40 ans” — his wife, age 40.
3. Panagiotis (Takis) — eldest son, then ~12 (b. November 18, 1911 — see his Mytilene school notebook).
4. Jean (John Lazare) — recorded as ~10 on the passport, which reflects the altered date Eftyhia was already using. His actual birth was March 17, 1911 per the 1931 Kontogeorgos certificate, making him ~12 at the time of the passport; the falsified 1913 date that produces “age 10” here is the same alteration that Eftyhia continued to apply on all US records to keep him from military conscription. See the twin-or-near-twin discussion on John’s page — the eight-month spacing between his March 1911 and Takis’s November 1911 dates is biologically impossible and points to John actually being born earlier than 1911.
5. Marie (Mary) — daughter, then ~9.
6. Constantin (Constantine) — fourth child, then age 7 (b. June 21, 1916 — see his Mytilene baptismal certificate). This is the first preserved Greek-state document on which the child Constantine is named as a Greek national.
7. Achille (Achilles) — youngest, ~3 (b. January 20, 1920 — confirmed via his anglicized US obituary as Alfred A. Johnson).

For the Greek citizenship case, this single sheet — together with the 1923 Mytilene baptismal certificate, the 1957 Mitroon Arrenon re-issue, and the 1955 Mitroon Arrenon deletion file — completes the jus sanguinis documentary chain from Lazaros’s Greek registration in Mytilene through Constantine’s place in that registration, on through to Peter (Constantine’s son), Alex (Peter’s son), and Mia (Alex’s daughter).

The timeline this passport anchors

The full emigration was executed in roughly four months from the issuance of this passport — December 1923 to April 1924. Lazaros was 50; Eftyhia 40; the five children together spanned ages 3 to 12. The passport’s French clause — “se rendant en Amérique pour ses affaires” — frames the move not as displacement but as business travel; the formal language of Lesbos prefecture covering the fact that the Anatolian-Greek family was effectively a refugee household out of Soma a year earlier.

Why “Yannopoulos” appears in Greek and “Jeannopoulos” in French

The Greek-language signature is Γιαννόπουλος (Yannopoulos, with initial gamma); the French-language transliteration on the same document is Jeannopoulos. The Greek surname Γιαννόπουλος (Yannopoulos / Giannopoulos) is the underlying Greek form; Jeannopoulos is the French/Latin-script rendering that Lazaros and his sons would carry into American records — including the 1937 NY sworn affidavit, the 1924 Declaration of Intention, and Constantine’s 1947 Certificate of US Citizenship. This passport is the single document where both spellings appear together, side by side, in the family’s own Greek-state record.