Earlier this year, I wrote an article for the Armenian Weekly about the Georgetown girls, and the experiences of my grandmother and great-grandmother in that episode of Armenian immigrant history. Here, I wish to detail another part of my family history, that of
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What an interesting article, with your story, you did not only trace your ancestor you made us/me think about my own, and how far we can go to find our family tree and the sad, sad story of our people, how hard their lives were and how they survived and tried to help others and Now we are here reading, searching and hopefully someday taking back our STOLEN lands.. Good job and thank you George and Khatchig. Hilda Avedissian-Tokatli
Interesting article. Never thought it possible to findrecords of family ancestors in Armenia. My aunt was married to a family with the name DerManuelian. This was very interesting because of this tie. This was my aunt on my grandmothers side….she had the last namee Boyagian.
I am fortunate in having my Maternal Grandfather Sarkis Kal Artinian from Evereg (now called Develi, Turkey) had the family tree down to 1760 for the Artinians living there. My Maternal Grandmother Horoup Semarjian/Semerjian Artinian also was born and raised in Evereg. Thanks to my cousin Mariam in Australia, I have the family tree back to back to my grandmother’s mother and father(1850s-1860s). One puzzling thing I wish I could find out is about my grandmother’s oldest sibling and sister Ecksah who had a husband with the last name of Mesropian. She had two children. The story was she perished with her children in the desert. Now I have been told her daughter Shousanig could have survived and had married an Odar (non-Armenian). I would love to find a way to see if this is true.
George writes that he “had come to believe it near impossible and never imagined I would be so fortunate as to trace my family across nearly 200 years.”
His “Georgetown Girls” narrative is further evidence that George always finds a way to take the locks off sealed documents no matter where they are, or how tightly sealed, or for how long they have been inaccessible. This is just another example of his astonishing ability to research, and bring the most obscure information into the light. And as Hilda Avedissian has written above, you have given us all hope and courage to continue in the search. Bravo, George, for taking your daughter with you. It is up to all of us to hand the torch to the next generation.
Fascinating story! I remember reading Georgetown girls article George wrote. Thank you. By the way where Palu was located? I never heard of it before.
George – that is so amazing – you are so lucky to have found these ancestors – persistence pays off. As you well know so many Armenians, including myself, can’t go beyond great-grandparents !
This was a great story. Where can one get the records to check out their family?
Thank you for this wonderful article. Like you, I have a family of priests. I am lucky enough to have some information handed down by family members who were willing to talk about how we came to be in America. Like you, I also had a great-grandfather who came here to earn money for his family, but then went back and was killed along with his wife and some of his grandchildren. But, the family members who survived were resilient and proud. They kept the family going, and kept the history going so that we would never forget!
Very interesting story writen by Mr.Aghjayan. I was fasinated because my heritage is also from Palu. I am a 1st generation Armenian-American, my Father Martin, & Grandfather Artin both from Palu; leaving only to escape the “draft” into the Ottoman army. Co-incedentally that would possibly place my Great-Great Grandfather Garabed at age 32 in 1840 as the “Garabed” in your list of males (#68)???????
Dear George:
Thank you for this amazing article!! My grandmother Aznive Vosganian & my Grandfather, Manoug Boranian were from Palu. Aznive’s father was also a priest. I only recently learned where exactly “Palou-Havov” is. Your article gives me some new hope to find some information about him. I know he was among the first killed in the village. Thank you again.
George, Very interesting read as always from you. Your passion and desire to learn as much as is humanly possible about your forefathers is inspiring. Next time we speak in person, I will share with you my personal story doing research on the Sarafian side of my mother’s family who were from Huessing, Kharpet. 1.5 million is quite a large number. Each one had a story of their own to tell. It’s our job to make sure we never give up our fight. Keep the faith.
All interesting, but when you think of the family name, shouldn’t there be a ‘Manuel’, or more properly, a ‘der Manvel’ somewhere in that list of der hayr’s? Just wondering.
Anne Marie Boranian;
If your grandfather was a priest in Havav, he would most likely have first been taken to Palou and placed in the Palou jail. They would have wanted to extract information from him before killing him. The following is primary documentation that I hold copyright to. Here is what the jail in Palou was like.
“A horrible stench greeted us when հe opened the door. Thirty-five to forty men were in a cell that barely had space for fifteen people. Many of them, not having room to sit, were standing up. Another cell was even more unbearable. It was even darker, even more humid and filthy.”
Here is where the bodies are. They were all axed to death. Remember, this is primary documentation.
“I left and went to the valley behind the government building. From there, I climbed to the top of a small hill. The Armenian cemetery lay beyond that point, but I did not need to go any further. All the Armenian prisoners lay murdered in front of the hill, their clothing removed, their naked bodies thrown on top of each other.”
If anyone has a relative from the Havav – Palou area whose name was Onnig and who had been at sea earlier in his life, contact me, I have a lot of information for you. He was held in this jail in Palou.
The only Manoug I have information about in that area in 1915 is:
Masnou Manoug, son of Gosdo, who was a villager of Husunovan.
For a map of Palou and the surrounding Armenian villages, Sakrat included, go to Houshamadyan.org (http://www.houshamadyan.org/en/mapottomanempire/vilayetdiyarbekir/palu.html) Sakrat was in a cluster of villages north of the Aradzani River (Eastern Euphrates), that flowed literally through Palou.
Hello George,
I’m Assyrian from Turkey/Mardin/Kerburan and now I live in Australia/Sydney. I’ve been working hard on collecting information for my family tree. From what I know my grandmother’s family had migrated from Palu to my village kerburan in Mardin sometimes around 1850’s I guess. Palu is a district of Siirt just north of the Tigris river. I wonder if Palu you are talking about is the same town or in different location of East Turkey?
Hello Gabriel!
I am also from Kerburan with ancestors from Palu. I would love to talk to you if that could be arranged. My email is danieldemir7@gmail.com
George, this article is very interesting, so I have printed it out for my children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren to learn of their heritage. I knew that there was a priest in the family some where, but could not find the connection. My in-laws were Avedis and Arshalooys DerManouelian. Keep up the good work!!
Hi George, I was Googling my maternal grandma ‘s name “Der Manuelyan of Adapazar” hoping to find something about her and family , then i found your article. Palu and Adapazari are opposite side of the country so I don’t know if there is any relation. Anyway Her name was Hayganush( 1898), her sister Agavni and brother Yervant Der Manuelyan. I don’t know anything else about her family.
Thank you, thank you George for all you do to share your knowledge and help to others who share the passion to link lost family members.