An Armenian Family
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(For other family histories
please visit http://www.cilicia.com/armo10b.html.)
"... 'family' is
not just great, it is a monument or memorial in cyberspace for all
Armenian families, who have experienced unbelievable sufferings during
genocide." From Sam, in Yerevan.
Family history submitted by Karen in Massachusetts
From left to right:
Minas Mechigian,
my grandmother's oldest brother. He was in this country when the picture
was taken. Before the massacres, he returned to Armenia to be with
his wife, who is the woman next to him, and their son,
in front of Minas' wife. The fate of the wife and child is unknown,
but my grandmother never knew them to leave Armenia. She always presumed
them dead. My grandmother witnessed Minas' murder by the Turks in
1915.
Gooltana
Mechigian, my grandmother's oldest sister, stands next to Minas'
wife in the back row. Her face is covered, as was the custom of all
married women at that time, but she is almost totally revealed. My
grandmother saw her die during deportation.
Next to Gooltana,
in the back row, is my grandmother's great aunt. Nothing more
is known about her. She did not survive to come to the United States.
Next to the
great aunt is a young girl named Tourvanda. She is unmarried
and is the youngest Mechigian sister. She died during deportation.
Next to Tourvanda
Mechigian is my grandmother's aunt. Nothing further is known
about her except she didn't live through deportation.
Next to the aunt
is my grandmother, Altoon Mechigian. She is married at this
time, and her husband, Bedros Krikorian is in America during the time
this photo was taken. My grandmother survived deportation to arrive
finally in Worcester, MA. From the desert, she came to Smyrna and
was given passage to France via Greece. Once in France, the British
Red Cross accepted her into a displaced person's camp. They were the
ones who finally located my grandfather in Worcester, and prepared
her for passage to this country.
Next to my grandmother
is the wife of her cousin, Sarkis Mechigian, who sits in the
front. Notice his dress: western coat, Turkish tunic. She has her
hand on this shoulder. Sarkis was one of the survivors in this photo.
His wife did not survive. Sarkis lived to come to California (probably
in Fowler, near Fresno). He died sometime this century from food poisoning
he received at a church picnic. Several people died along with him,
including other Mechigian cousins who survived deportations.
There is another Mechigian brother
who is not pictured here. His name was Avedis (Good News in Armenian),
but did not survive the massacre. My grandmother saw him murdered
by the Turks when Minas was killed.
The youngest Mechigian
child, Khoren, is the young boy with the bullets across his
chest. My grandmother saw him murdered by the Turks at the time her
other brothers were killed.
The boy sitting
in the front, right-hand corner of the photo is the orphan adopted
by grandmother's family. His name is Sarkis Kazarian, and is
a first cousin to my grandmother.
The three people
in the middle of the photo are my grandmother's father, Donabed
Mechigian, and his second wife, name unknown. Their child
sits in front of them, at the stepmother's feet. Donabed Mechigian
was the "Hayrabed" or Mayor of the village of Korpe. He owned property
in Korpe for farming, and he also raised silk worms. He was the first
man murdered by the Turks in Korpe when the village was invaded. Neither
his wife, nor his child survived deportation.
Three people in this photo survived:
Altoon neč Mechigian Krikorian Simonian, Sarkis Mechigian, and Sarkis
Kazarian.
