Hi Armenag, et al.
My granmother,
Florence Eomurian, was born in Marsovan, in 1908. She narrowly escaped in April of 1915 the genocide in June of that year at the age of 7, thanks to her parents, grandparents and aunts and uncles, who sent her on a journey all the way to Oakland, California. Unfortunately most in her family who stayed behind were killed along with the 1.5-2.5 million other Armenians & Greeks in Anatolia. Marsovan itself suffered casualties of 12,000-13,000.
I've been researching the town's
history and geography, and I have concluded the rest of her family stayed behind because they believed and felt they were not in any jeopardy (even though the uprisings started around 1875) on account of their status in society (her grandfather
Garabed Eomurian was the
Marsovan tax collector and her father had a
grain storage & shoemaking business in Marsovan), and also it appears the family had very long ties to the land, which is unprovable, because the land ownership records were conveniently destroyed. After all, the tax collector would have had "detailed files."
My family today still has many photgraphs taken of the Eomurian family circa 1890-1915 by the
Marsovan photographer of that time, Aram Dildilian, whose stamp on the reverse of each photograph confirms this. I've emailed back & forth his great nephew,
Armen Marsoobian, whose email address I can share with you. He has many stories to tell.
I've amassed a great deal of information from the internet (old newspaper clippings, books.google.com and other websites with relatives from Marsovan) and books from libraries throughout California. As you said below, however, the information from Marsovan itself is limited, because the "American College" in Marsovan was gutted and mostly destroyed, with only a shell of the main building remaining to this day.
Since this is Memorial Day, 2011, I'd like to take this opportunity to thank the founders & original members of the
Anatolia College or "
American College of Marsovan" or "
Marsovan College," which just happened to be right next door to the Dildilian House where his Photo Studio was located. It was a co-educational high school established 1881-1924 (became Anatolia college in 1886, first graduates in July, 1887) and directed by American missionaries. There were others such as Euphrates College, etc throughout Anatolia. It was forced to close by the Turks in 1921 and moved 800 miles away to Thessaloniki (Salonica), Macedonian Greece. Perhaps they have some historical material. The book,
Survival Against All Odds - The First Hundred Years of Anatolia College, 1986, paints a vivid picture of the school's history. Without this school, my grandmother would not have made it to California in my opinion; in fact, she would have either been killed or enslaved into a harem. It started with the vision from
Cyrus Hamlin and the ABCFM (
The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions). It first started as a Church, called the
Marsovan Station first occupied in June, 1852 by
Reverends P.O. Powers, E.E. Bliss and Joseph W. Sutphen and their wives. The Church numbered 10 members as of May 1853, and was headed until 1863 by
Reverend and Mrs. J.Y. Leonard, when it was made the educational center of the mission and
Rev. and Mrs. E.M. Dodd from Smyrna and
Rev and Mrs. J.F. Smith and long with Miss Fritcher, newly from America.
Like many other towns and villages during the genocide, Marsovan's Armenian population was subjected to massacres, deportations & enslavement: This
http://www.cilicia.com/armo10c-nyt19151006a.html tells us an account in October 1915 of a Dr. Xenides that 12,000 or 13,000 Armenians in Marsovan were all killed or driven away including the 73 teachers and their families at the Anatolia college and the 63 girl students were seized by the Turks and taken into their harems.
Such would have been the fate of my grandmother had she not been sent away in April of 1915.
As a final note, I have read and agree with the belief that remnants of legends and stereotypes survive to this day attesting to the hostility to islam in Christian culture since medieval times. I don't feel this way just because of 9/11, but because as a Christian I perceive that Islam has always been a mortal threat throughout these past 1373 years, as evidenced by their recurring jihad killings of us infidels.
However, I must add that Marsovan, Anatolia is no stranger to affliction and bloodshed. I have read that the Armenians here have been at war with others in the area throughout the 3,900 years of recorded history. The proto-Armenian Hurrians (Horites of the Bible), in which Hur/Hurri means "Fire/Divine Spark," mentioned by Assyrian and Armenic Sumerian sources dating from the end of the third millenium BC, fought the Egytpians, Assyrians, and onwards throughout time.
If one keeps digging into the past, you will find that archaeologists today believe the Armenian ancestors were the Iron Age Hittites, whose capital is approx 74 southwest of Marsovan at Hattusah (Khattu-sas, 'The Hitite city' -since the word Khattu signified 'silver' in Proto-Hittite - we get in essence "city of Silver"), who had fought the Egyptians, Persians, Assyrians. The Hittites date back in this area to approx 7500 B.C. and maintained a continued flourishing culture to 2500 B.C. as evidenced by pottery and other artifacts.
And before the Hittites, as you will read in the current issue of National Geographic, "Gobekli Tepe: The World’s First Temple?," Anatolia was inhabited to at least 9589 BC as evidenced by this dig 6 miles from Urfa, which is Armenia's
Harran (modern Sanliurfa/Urfa/Justinopolis/Edessa), about 310 miles southeast of Marsovan.
I look forward to discovering new pieces of the puzzle which was Marsovan, Ancient Armenian, Armenia Minor, the Fertile Crescent, which has been described at the
shimmering waters and the waves of grain that made this their "Voski Dasht" or Golden Plain.
Ciao
Armenag wrote:Thanks to those who answered my first message here, I am trying to keep in touch with them and I am sure some others will join us in our research. I made some progress but the story is long and very complex as far it seems still impossible to get informations from there which would be the key.
What I learned from my parents file for french citizenship (constituted in 1948 and recently allowed to be opened) is that my grandfather was born in Marsovan in 1860, his name was Dikran Mahmourian. He likely died in 1915, april, june or some weeks or months later.
My grandmother was also born in Marsovan in year 1873, may be 1867. Her first name was Aghavnie (Barsamian), she survived all this tragedy, I dont know how, before to move to France, likely from Istanbul.
The book "Marsovan 1915" from Bertha Morley is very helpful to understand what was this unbelievebly sad period.
My father Hagop, was born in 1899, left Marsovan in year 1916 for three years to escape, came back in 1919 at the end of the first world war and then served three years in an military hospital in Erzinjan. He moved in 1922, probably to Istanbul with my grandmother, travelling alone to France in 1923 before her to come in the early 19thirties.
I would be very gratefull to exchange with anybody who knows a similar story from this period and city,
I am also very keen in exchanges with people from same family, close connections or similar origins.