John Michael Cocoris , in 1905, became the founder of in the New World , bringing from Greece to Tarpon Springs ( Pinellas ) traditional methods of catching these animals in the Aegean Sea [1] , which ultimately led to the development of a highly profitable sponge industry USA [2] . The first Greek, who settled in Tarpon Springs, the founder of the Greek community of this city [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] .
| John Kokoris | |
|---|---|
| Greek Γιάννης Κόκκορης English John cocoris | |
 Plaque to John Kokoris, who founded the Sponge Diving Industry in Tarpon Springs in 1905 | |
| Birth name | Greek Γιάννης Μιχάλης Κόκκορης |
| Date of Birth | September 17, 1877 |
| Place of Birth | Leonidio , Arcadia , Peloponnese , Greece |
| Date of death | 1944 |
| A place of death | Duval , Florida , USA |
| Citizenship |  USA |
| Occupation | businessman |
| Father | Michalis Kokkoris |
| Mother | Stamatina Coccouris |
| Children | son Michalis daughter of stamatina |
| Miscellaneous | founder of sponge diving in the New World and the Greek community of Tarpon Springs |
Biography
Born September 17, 1877 in the village of Leonidio ( Arcadia , Peloponnese , Greece ) in the family of Michalis and Stamatina Kokokrisov. The Kokokrisov family was famous in the field of sponge fishing and trade [8] .
In 1895, he immigrated to the United States to trade in sponges, settling in New York , where he worked for the sponge merchant Lembesis [9] .
In 1896, he traveled to Tarpon Springs, Florida, where he worked with , the first local sponge merchant.
In 1898, his brother Yorgos came to the USA, and later, in 1900, his second brother Ilias, who worked with him [3] .
In 1901 he returned to Greece, where he married [7] .
Before John Kokoris appeared in Tarpon Springs, locals, mostly Native Indians , used sponges or hooks in shallow water to collect sponges, which often led to their deterioration. They looked for animals on the surface of the water with the help of the so-called “glass”, which was a tin cylinder with a glass bottom, which some fishermen still use today to harbor octopuses in small places [3] .
John Cheney, being a wealthy banker, seeing sponge-catchers sailing from boats across the Gulf of Mexico to Tarpon Springs, and after catching back home, he immediately realized that this place could become the center of the American sponge industry. So, together with Ernest Meres, they built storage rooms and cages, and initially transported sponges to New York on carts. Thus, the American sponge industry was born [3] .
In 1903, Kokoris briefly went to Greece for divers from the Dodecanese Islands , and upon returning to the United States, he also brought with him special equipment and a diving suit, which until now were not known in America .
In 1905, he founded sponge diving (sponge mining) in Tarpon Springs, which contributed to the development of the sponge industry, and as a consequence of the city itself. The first boat bought by John Kokoris with Spyros Vuteris for $ 180 was the Pandora, which they christened Hope [9] . Gradually, the fleet increased, and the gifts of the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico, where the man’s foot first stepped, filled John Cheney’s warehouses. The first Greek diver to see the Gulf of Mexico was a native of the Dodecanese, Dimosthenis Kavasilas, and the second was the Aeginian, Stylianos Besis [3] .
The news of the success of Kokoris reached Greece, where from the Dodecanese islands Spetses , Idra , Aegina , Symi , Kalymnos and Halki in their boats went to the United States a lot of sponge catchers. Among them, the only woman was the wife of John Kokoris, who arrived with their son Michalis. In 1906, the couple had a daughter, Stamatina, who became the first Greek child to be born in Tarpon Springs [3] .
In 1907, 800 Greeks (mostly men) already lived in Tarpon Springs, of whom 500 were experienced sponge catchers. In the same year, under the leadership of a native of Aegina Nicholas Peppas, the Greek community raised $ 3,500, for which the first was built [4] , accommodating up to 250 people. In 1925, 200 students studied at a local Greek school [3] .
By the 1930s, the sponge industry of Tarpon Springs had become a very lucrative business, generating millions of dollars a year.
He died in 1944 in Duval [3] .
Notes
- ↑ Τάρπον Σπρινγκς: Ξενάγηση στο θρυλικό ελληνικό 'νησί' των ΗΠΑ unspecified . news247 (Απριλίου 30, 2016).
- ↑ Μπενάκης, Βενιζέλος, Γονατάς και τα Θεοφάνια από την Αττική ως τη Φλόριδα . CYtoday (12/31/2016).
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 O Γιάννη Κόκκορης και το Tarpon Springs .
- ↑ 1 2 Εορτασμός Θεοφανίων στο Τάρπον Σπρινγκς unspecified . Greek News - Greek-American Weekly Newspaper (January 6, 2004).
- ↑ Η “Κάλυμνος των ΗΠΑ” έχει Ελληηνα δήμαρχο . AlfaVita (Μάρτιος 19, 2016).
- ↑ Sponge fishing in Key West and Tarpon Springs . DivingHeritage.
- ↑ 1 2 Bernard, H. Russel. Greek Sponge Boats in Florida . The George Washington University Institute for Ethnographic Research (1965).
- ↑ Louca, Zanetos. Όταν η Αστόρια ήταν άγνωστη, υπήρχε το Τάρπον Σπρίνγκς - Του Χρίστου Κυριάκου unspecified . Vantage Magazine (April 15, 2014).
- ↑ 1 2 Η θρυλική παροικία των ελλήνων σφουγγαράδων στο Τάρπον Σπρινγκς στη Φλόριντα. Έγιναν φίλοι με τους μαύρους και τους προστάτευσαν από την Κου Κλουξ опλαν . Μηχανή του Χρόνου (03/08/2015).