1. Birth – Family

Konstantinos Veinoglou, the eldest son of Manolakis Veinoglou and Evanthia Christoforidi, was born in Kuşadası on October 29, 1857. He was the great-grandson of the alleged founder of the Christian community of the city, Manolakis Benli Oğlu.

2. Career

According to the information provided by Konstantinos in the history of his family, his father retired from his professional activities at the age of sixty-four. He then left Domatia, where his business was, and settled in Kuşadası, thus leaving his business to his sons, Konstantinos and Ioannis.¹ Unfortunately, there is little information on the business career of Konstantinos. According to another source, he was a landowner as well as a scholar and a polyglot.² Finally, a third source reports that in 1897 he was the president of the ‘Musical Club’ based in Kuşadası.³

Konstantinos Veinoglou got married in Kuşadası to Evrydiki Andradi, born in 1868 in Samos. They had a son, Manolakis, and two daughters, Iris and Ivi.

In 1916, along with his younger brother, Dimitrakis, he played a leading part in the relief of the refugees of Kuşadası, who escaped to Sokya after their expatriation. After the 1922 events, he went to Athens along with his family. He was a member of the Committee for the Compensation of Greek Subjects.

3. The History of the Veinoglou Family

Konstantinos Veinoglou wrote the history of the Veinoglou family, which covers the period between the mid-18th century, when the founder of the community of Kuşadası, Manolakis Benli Oğlu, was active, and 1888, when the writer’s father, Manolakis, died. The manuscript signed by Konstantinos was completed on March 10, 1889, at Domatia. Part of the text was published in 1965 in the journal Mikrasiatika Chronika (Μικρασιατικά Χρονικά).⁴ The work provides significant information about the Christian community of Kuşadası, its foundation myth and, finally, the Veinoglou family, a notable family of merchants and community potentates from Kuşadası.