Maria (Matthew) Ziffo

Notes:

Her brother John wrote: "My sister Maria was the youngest but the gem of the family. She was good-looking, had lovely eyes, a wonderful memory and a lovely soprano voice. She could read half a page of poetry in French, German or Italian, and repeat it without a mistake. When only fourteen years of age she played at a charity concert the long and difficult Rhapsodie Hongroise of Litzt without music and in the papers next day they called her a prodigy. She married a charming and clever German-Austrian, then employed in the Post Office in Vienna. Two years after Maria's death he married again and the last I heard of him was that he had an important Government post."

Maria married Maurice Felizetti di Liebenfeld on 20 Aug 1883 in Trieste, Italy/Austria. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Residence: Athens; after 1851 Trieste.

According to his son, John (Matthew) Ziffo, his father "was born in the Island of Chios about 2 1/2 years before the Massacre. On that terrible day his Mother with her two daughters, and a young maid, carrying my Father, took to the mountains to cross the island; following a long trail of refugees and guided by shepherds over mule paths. The maid soon got tired, left the child on the mountain side and fled. A Mr Agelasto, [this would be Michael Pandely Agelasto] the father of John [Michael] Agelasto whose firm (Frangopulo Agelasto & Co of London and Liverpool) [Theodore (Matthew) Ziffo] joined when he came to London, was following and recognizing the child picked him up and took him to the island of Syra. By a fortunate coincidence his mother and sisters also landed in Syra. One can imagine her joy at being re-united with her boy whom she had feared lost."

He was brought up by relatives because his mother died when he was quite young. He was sent to Leghorn to complete his studies, then returned to Syros. By age 28 he held a "quite important social position being the only banker received at King Othon's court, the foreign embassies and in best society." Then came the financial crash and Crimean War. His bank guaranteed John Ralli, "his father-in-law for a substantial amount, in the hopes of saving him from bankruptcy but ultimately [both] were ruined." Then, "Ambrogio di Stefano Ralli of Trieste (who afterwards became Baron Ralli) offered him the post of manager...paying in full all his creditors." He lived for 52 years after the family moved to Trieste and "during all those years having to support a large family he never managed to accumulate more than £10,000 which gradually disappeared as the two [daughters] grew up and expenses increased with dowries to get them married. When he was about 70 Rallis pensioned him off." (John Matthew Ziffo)

Matheo Alexandre Ziffo, Trieste, Merchant invested in The Bank of Alexandria Limited (London Gazette 27 Sep 1873).

Matthew married Despina (Zannis) Ralli on 16 Nov 1842 in Athens, Attica, Greece. Despina (daughter of Zannis (Ambrouzis) Ralli and Cornelia (Dimitrios) Sevastopoulos) was born on 08 Sep 1824 in Athens, Attica, Greece; died on 03 Apr 1869 in Trieste, Italy/Austria. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

According to his grandson, John, "all his books and fortune were lost and his nice house ransacked and burnt, so that all our efforts to trace his family-tree were fruitless."

Alexander married Loula (Dimitrios) Petrocochino. Loula was born in 1796; died about 1825 in Syros, Cyclades Islands, Greece. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Her sibling included older brothers Michael, Emmanuel, and Nicolas and older sister Franga, all on the Negroponte-Agelasto tree.

Died:
John (Matthew) Ziffo wrote that her only child Theodore was quite young when she died, in Syros. Argenti says: 27 Jan 1845.

Notes:

According to his grandson John (Matthew) Ziffo, he was "the biggest shipowner in Greece [around 1850], owning about 20 sailing vessels, probably not larger than 600 or 700 tons each. They traded between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Adriatic ports: often venturing as far as London and Liverpool, carrying wheat, barley and other grain from Russia and Rumania, which countries were then the only ones that supplied, in large quantities, Western Europe with her requirements...Then the crash came; the Crimean War which on a smaller scale had the same disastrous after-effects as the Great War, and thousands were ruined, amongst others, John Ralli."

Residence: -1822 Chios; 1824 Athens; 1826-1828 Trieste; 1835-1845 Syros; 1854 Trieste.

Name:
Named Jean in his son Pandia's death certificate.

Zannis married Cornelia (Dimitrios) Sevastopoulos on 06 May 1823 in Trieste, Italy/Austria. Cornelia (daughter of Dimitrios (Emmanuel) Sevastopoulos and Maria (Constantine) Negroponte) was born in 1806 in Chios, Greece; died on 18 Apr 1841 in Trieste, Italy/Austria. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Name:
Called Cornelie Sevastopulo in her son Pandia's death certificate.

Died:
Argenti says 18 Mar 1851. The 1841 date is from John Ziffo, their grandson.

Notes:

For convenience sake Ambrose (George) Ziffo is also listed on the main Agelasto tree, where his brother Stephanos (George) Ziffo is an ancestor of the Agelasto bloodline.

Notes:

Two children of Stephanos Ralli & Marietta Mavrogordato -- Ambrouzis and his sister Marietta -- are on the Negroponte-Agelasto tree.

Birth:
1732, by Sturdza

Ambrouzis married Despina (Dimitrios) Maximo. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Argenti says her parents were Demitrios Perris Maximo and Vierou Vlasto; Sturdza says Antonios Maximo and Vierou Vlasto.

Notes:

Died:
Held hostage and hanged by the Turks in the Massacres of Chios "together with about 80 members of the richest and best families in the island." (His great-grandson John Ziffo)

Dimitrios married Maria (Constantine) Negroponte. Maria (daughter of Constantine (Zannis) Negroponte and Arghyro [Negroponte]) was born in 1779 in Chios, Greece; died on 28 Sep 1849 in Trieste, Italy/Austria. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]