To: MulhollandDrive who wrote (194740 ) 4/3/2009 12:37:27 PM From: Elroy Jetson Read Replies (2) | Respond to of 306849 There's a good chance the farm house in Moldova is still standing, although no one has ever been back to see to the best of my knowledge. Typically homes like this became public purpose buildings such as hospitals, schools, or government offices. It unlikely to have been torn down as Moldova has become a very poor nation and the city of Kishinev has built out toward where this home was built. My Grandfather always said this outcome was more fair. Under the Czar, Moldova had became populated primarily with Greeks and Jews coming to invest in farmlands, formerly controlled by the Ottoman Empire and now offered to those with money to invest by the Czar. These groups each made up about 1/3 of the population. The remainder of the population were Russians and the pre-existing Romanian peasants. An interesting modern problem developed after Moldova opened it's borders. Under Greek law, all Greeks descendants have the right of return. As a consequence, Athens in particular received a large population of Greeks who typically spoke only Russian, or Russian and Romanian - neither of which made them highly employable in Greece - all in search of a way out of the poverty of Moldova. Why they did not leave when my family did before 1922 it hard to understand. My Great-great-grandfather from a Greek merchant family, Konstantin Zoti, was 6'3" and described as blond. Since he was not the oldest son in his family this meant he received money rather than the family business. He took advantage of the farms offered by the Czar, just as the family of his wife future wife, Anna Matthews, did. My Great-great-grandmother was likely either a nonreligious Jew or a convert to Christianity. This is another photo of my Great-great-grandfather Konstantin Zoti, wearing the light Greek-style cap, on one of his farms talking with his farm manager. Below that, a photo of him at a younger age taken in a Vienna photo studio.