The second formal stage of Lazaros’s naturalization — the Petition for Citizenship, the document that follows the 1924 Declaration of Intention and precedes the actual oath of allegiance. The petition is dated and signed on January 9, 1931, with witnesses’ affidavits and the formal sworn declaration that all the answers on the form are true.
Key facts on the document
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Filed | May 1, 1930; signed and witnessed January 9, 1931 |
| Court | US District Court, Southern District of New York |
| Petition No. | 176166 / 2270 |
| Filer | Lazaros Yannopoulos |
| Personal residence | 906 Eagle Av., Bronx, NY |
| Occupation | Doctor |
| Born | Soma, Turkey, April 2, 1874 |
| Arrived | New York, April 13, 1924, on SS Themistocles |
| Married | April 15, 1905 (per the document — to Eftichia) |
| Wife | Eftichia — born Pergamos, Turkey, January 1885 |
| Children listed | Seven children, all residing at 906 Eagle Ave with their parents: Takis (b. Dec 18, 1911, Soma — likely a re-recording of his Nov 18, 1911 birth); a child b. April 14, 1912 in Turkey; a child b. June 10, 1915 at Turkey; a child b. July 14, 1917 at Soma; Achilles b. March 5, 1920 at Smyrna; and Rhea b. October 1, 1924 at New York City |
| Last foreign residence | Mytilene Island, Greece |
| Witnesses | John Antonio Lazaros (pharmacist, of New Bowery, NY) and Panagiotis Michael Costopoulos (doctor, of 21 New Bowery, NY) |
What the petition resolves about the family timeline
Lazaros’s naturalization was 1931, not 1928. A previous draft of this site recorded his naturalization as September 10, 1928. That date was incorrect — the actual completion was January 9, 1931, with certificate #3421529 (the same cert # referenced in his 1937 sworn affidavit). His intent to naturalize was filed in April 1924; the formal petition was prepared in May 1930; the petition was signed and entered in January 1931. The roughly seven-year arc was standard for interwar US naturalization.
Eftyhia’s birth year is now triple-sourced — and three different answers. The family record now carries three different birth years for Eftyhia from three independent documents:
| Document | Stated birth year | Eftyhia’s age then |
|---|---|---|
| 1923 Greek passport #2555 (Dec 1923) | ~1874 | 50 (passport stated) |
| 1930-1931 Petition for Citizenship (this document) | ~1885 | 46 |
| 1968 NY death record | ~1881 | 87 (at death) |
The Petition’s 1885 date sits within plausible range — the 1923 passport likely inflated her age (a common pattern in interwar matronly records), and the 1968 death record carried whatever the family told the bureaucracy. The contemporaneous Petition, sworn by Lazaros under oath in 1931, is the document most likely to reflect what he actually believed her birth year to be. The discrepancy remains open.
The marriage date is now anchored: April 15, 1905. Lazaros and Eftyhia married in April 1905 — Lazaros was 31, Eftyhia (per the Petition’s 1885 birth) was 20. This is the first time the marriage date has appeared in primary-source documentation.
The Bronx address at the time of petition is 906 Eagle Avenue — consistent with the 1930 US Census placing the family in the Bronx that year. The family had moved from 138 W 28th St (Chelsea, 1924 intent address) to 130 W 28th St (1925 runaway-appeal address) to 906 Eagle Ave (Bronx, 1930-31) — a steady move northward through Manhattan and into the Bronx.
The witnesses
A 1930s naturalization petition required two US-citizen witnesses who had personally known the petitioner for the qualifying-residency period (continuously for at least five years, in this case). Lazaros’s witnesses were two Greek-American professionals:
- John Antonio Lazaros, a pharmacist of New Bowery, NY
- Panagiotis Michael Costopoulos, a doctor of 21 New Bowery, NY
Both witnesses lived in the New Bowery / Lower East Side area — the dense Greek immigrant neighborhood of 1920s NYC. They were Lazaros’s professional and community circle when he was still building his US practice. Their names — preserved verbatim on the petition — are a window into the Greek-American medical-pharmaceutical network of the period that adopted him.
