Photo courtesy of Marian Verkerk
‘Line’s Villa’, the Missir home at Boudjah, Smyrna.
Photo courtesy of Marian Verkerk
part of the Missir family:
2nd from left Julia Missir, 4th from left her daughter Winnie, 2nd from right her daughter Hilda, 4th from right her daughter Elsie,
seated: Charles Missir and his mother Eleonora Marie Missir née Guidici.
This house shown in the Forbes family album (possibly it belonged to that family initially?) around 1890?
Photo courtesy of Marian Verkerk
interior views of this house: entrance hall also below.
Photo courtesy of Marian Verkerk
Photo courtesy of Marian Verkerk
kitchen with cook.
Photo courtesy of Marian Verkerk
dining room.
Photo courtesy of Marian Verkerk
bedroom with Julia Missir and her sister Hulda.
Photo courtesy of Marian Verkerk
bedroom.
Photo courtesy of Marian Verkerk
billiard room.
Photo courtesy of Marian Verkerk
breakfast room.
Photo courtesy of Marian Verkerk
bedroom with Julia Missir in night gear.
Photo courtesy of Marian Verkerk
Julia Missir at dressing table.
Photo courtesy of Marian Verkerk
bathroom.
Photo courtesy of Marian Verkerk
photo of Charles Missir at his desk in New York dated Feb 1890 addressed to his mother.
Photo courtesy of Marian Verkerk
The ruinous state of this house in 2010, (117 sokak, central Buca).
Photo courtesy of Marian Verkerk
Photo courtesy of Marian Verkerk
Photo courtesy of Marian Verkerk
The former dining room.
Photo courtesy of t.tberanek
The post 2014 fire state of this house.
Photo courtesy of Marian Verkerk
L to R: Winnie, Elsie and Hilda (Marian Verkerk’s mother) with their mother Julia Missir née Heller taken ca. 1910.
There is a Levantine poem about Smyrna ladies, in Latin-script Greek (Frangochiotika), recorded by Livio Missir in vol. 12 of “Mikrasiatika Chronika” (1965).

Thimunte akoma i Smirnii dhio omorfes ghinekes
Hulda ke Giulia leghonde, afrates san tsourekes.
Ke san ikatevenane kati gia na psounisoun,
pos na mi se trelanoune? Pos na mi se sastisoun?
Sto Frango-mahalla, ihanes ta miala...


A free translation follows:

The Smyrniots still remember two beautiful ladies
called Hulda and Giulia, fluffy like Easter pastry.
And when they went downtown for shopping,
they would drive you crazy, you’d be baffled!
In Franco-mahalla, you could lose your mind...

Hulda & Gulia (The German version of Hilda and Julia) were the daughters of Hermann Heller & Ida Jubelin. Hulda married Emilio Rossi de Giustiniani & Giulia married Charles Missir. They were renowned for their beauty.
Research courtesy of George Poulimenos and Anne Marie Marandet.
Photo courtesy of Marian Verkerk
The man standing next to the racehorse mounted by a jockey is NOT Charles Missir. Maybe a friend whose horse won a race at the Paradise [Şirinyer] racecourse?.
Photo courtesy of Marian Verkerk
Charles Missir standing proudly with his racehorse.
Photo courtesy of Marian Verkerk
Julia Missir seated in centre (July 4?).
Photo courtesy of Marian Verkerk
Possibly taken at the Boudjah tennis club, pre-1922. Julia is shown with a racquet while Charles Missir reclines on a deck chair. Charles’ father James on deck chair seated next to Julia’s father Herman Heller Sr. on his left.
Photo courtesy of Marian Verkerk
Photo courtesy of Marian Verkerk
L. to R. Hilda, Winnie and Elsie Missir at boarding school in France ca. 1920.
Photo courtesy of Marian Verkerk
Julia Missir (centre) at the Races (at Paradise?).
Photo courtesy of Marian Verkerk
entrance ticket to Smyrna Theatre.
Photo courtesy of Marian Verkerk
figs advert for Charles’ business.
Photo courtesy of Marian Verkerk
invitation card.
Photo courtesy of Marian Verkerk
photo of Julia and Charles with note from Julia on reverse.
Photo courtesy of Marian Verkerk
Charles Missir.
Photo courtesy of Marian Verkerk
Ida Heller née Jubelin, mother of Julia Missir.
Photo courtesy of Marian Verkerk
Charles Missir, and a friend, in his box at the Smyrna Theatre which he owned, which was burnt to the ground in the Great Fire of 1922.
Photo courtesy of Marian Verkerk
business card
Photo courtesy of Marian Verkerk
part of the Missir clan now in America post-1922. The couple on the left are William ‘Parky’ Parkinson with his wife Winnie née Missir (photo probably taken in English park).
click here to return to the memoirs of Dora Crowley | Charles Missir story