[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 177 (Tuesday, November 6, 2018)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1498]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     HONORING IOANNIS GIANNOPOULOS

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. GUS M. BILIRAKIS

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, November 6, 2018

  Mr. BILIRAKIS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commemorate the important 
mark that Ioannis Giannopoulos had on American society, as the original 
founder of one of the oldest known wooden school house in the country. 
In order to fully understand the cultural motivation to establish this 
historic treasure, one must examine Giannopoulos's early life. A 
carpenter by trade, Ioannis Giannopoulos was the son of George and 
Maria-Canelas and hailed from the Petalidi area in Messinia that was 
then known as ``Koroni'' (the village of Skoutari, Mani). He was known 
by the Spanish as Juan Genopoly. Giannopoulos--at the age of 13--was 
one of a group of indentured laborers brought to the New World by 
Andrew Tumbull to work an indigo plantation at New Smyrna. This group 
of 1,403 Minorcans, Greeks and Italians suffered mistreatment, 
starvation and overextended servitudes at Turnbull's plantation. The 
people were reduced to slavery, and treated with great cruelty by 
Trumbull, whose partner in the enterprise was the English Governor of 
the territory, who kept the colonists in subjection with English 
troops. This slavery lasted nine years, during which time nearly two-
thirds of these colonists perished; but large crops of indigo were 
raised for the company--one year 30,000 lbs. it is stated.
  In 1776, a new Governor having arrived, the petitions of these people 
for relief were listened to, and they were released from the tyranny of 
their master. One year later six hundred refugees, led by Ioannis 
Giannopoulos, Francisco Pellicer and Antonio Llambias, walked to St 
Augustine and were granted asylum by Governor Tonyn. They became the 
largest group of immigrants to settle in America in one group at one 
time. Collectively called ``Minorcans'', they were an important part of 
the fabric of St Augustine history. It was on Saint George Street where 
the survivors of the New Smyrna Colony first settled after their 
escape. Since that time, this area of Old St Augustine has been called 
``the Greek Quarter'' and alternately ``the Minorcan Quarter.''
  Ioannis Giannopoulos built a little house out of red cedar and 
cypress and put it together with wooden pegs and handmade nails, 
sometime around 1800. This building was a home first but, as early as 
1811, members of the Genopoly family taught the children of other 
Minorcan families in the first floor ``schoolroom'' of this building. 
As the story goes, Genopoly, in typical Greek fashion, was worried his 
children would grow up without an education. Genopoly and his daughter 
Maria Manuela Barbara ``Mary'' Genopoly Darling were the first 
teachers. Then Genopoly hired a school teacher, and generations of 
children from St. Augustine went to school in this building. Juan 
Genopoly died in 1820.
  Today, this preserved building is recognized as one of the oldest 
schoolhouses in North America. It has become the symbol of their hard 
work and perseverance. It's now the main attraction of the historical 
precinct in St. George Street, Saint Augustine, Florida. John 
Giannopoulos left a deep imprint in the educational history of St. 
Augustine by establishing a school in his house. Now restored, it 
stands as one of the oldest school buildings in the United States.

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