Musa Dagh - Migration

Author: Vahram L. Shemmassian 10/09/24 (Last modified 10/09/24)

Rampant impoverishment, coupled with unsettling social-political factors, compelled a number of Musa Daghtsis to seek better living conditions elsewhere. George Filian, an early settler in Antioch, became “a banker and merchant....  Millions of dollars passed through his hands, and he was considered one of the wealthiest men in the city. A common saying was, ‘If you can drain the Mediterranean dry, you can drain Filian’s money dry’.” But the inconceivable happened as he ultimately “lost all his money through the failure of others, became hopelessly bankrupt, and was too old to regain his position, and sank into a poor and broken-hearted old man: his Mediterranean was not inexhaustible.” [1] As for the first known migratory wave, it took place during the 1860s, when a group of forty-five persons from Bitias relocated to Antioch. [2] Other tiny Musa Dagh colonies took root in Iskenderun, Payas, Urfa, Aleppo, Ethiopia, and elsewhere. [3]

Interestingly, between 1909 and 1912 the Capuchin missionaries sent some twenty-four young girls from their Kheder Beg, Yoghun Oluk, and Vakef constituencies to Lebanon to work as domestics or helpers in Arab Christian and European families/businesses, and some to become nuns. The age of these girls in 1911 varied between 8 and 20 averaging 13.8, and in 1912 between 8 and 13 averaging 10.8. [4] Only a few girls returned home before the outbreak of World War I in 1914, one escaped from the host family, and the fate of the majority remains unknown. [5] Légion d’Orient volunteers Hapet Taslakian and his cousin Hagop Taslakian during their deployment to Cilicia in late 1918 or early 1919 searched for their sisters at a nuns’ convent in Beirut. Mary, Hapet’s sibling, who had been sent to Beirut in 1912 to become a nun, returned to Musa Dagh with him. Information is lacking about the fate of Hagop’s two sisters. [6]

The following cases give an idea about the amount and method of payment that these girls received. Elmaz (Elmast) earned from a certain Miss Douget 1.5 mejidiye per month during 1911-12, and 2 mejidiyes per month from 1912 through February 1913, for a total of 56 mejidiyes (237.70 French francs). [7] Iranouhi (Yeranuhi), who worked for Ibrahim and Emilie Yared for thirty-one-and-a-half months, from October 24, 1911 till her departure on June 15, 1914, obtained 50 francs directly at leaving her job, while an additional 220 francs was deposited in her name at St. Anne (an unspecified religious institution). [8] And a man from Kheder Beg on August 21, 1914, asked that he be paid 25 liras (“livres”) urgently against his sister Iscoui’s (Isguhi) services rendered to a certain Mr. Croizat, but Iscoui declined to comply with her brother’s demand heeding her employer’s advice. [9]

Emigration to the Americas from Antioch district before the 1900s was very sporadic. The earliest immigrant may have been Harootune/Harutiun George Filian, who arrived in New York on July 4, 1878, to further his education. “In 1879 he matriculated at Oberlin College; in 1880 he entered the Union Theological Seminary in New York. He studied the Bible there, and then continued as a student in the Chicago Theological Seminary; and was graduated in 1882, after which he was ordained a preacher of the Congregational ministry and lectured in the states of the East and Middle West.” He returned to the Ottoman Empire five times to evangelize, establish a church at Marsovan, and get married. In the United States, he published two books: Armenia and Her People; Or the Story of Armenia by an Armenian (1896) and Yergnayin luyser (Heavenly Lights, 1931). After shifting allegiance from the Congregational to the Presbyterian denomination, he built the First Armenian Presbyterian Church in Fresno, California, in 1900.  Three years later he settled on a ranch in nearby Parlier and devoted himself to farming. [10]

Levon Barkev Phillian, Harootune’s nephew, fled the Ottoman Empire during the Hamidian massacres of the mid-1890s and, with the help of sympathizers in England, crossed the Atlantic to get to New York. [11] He arrived at Ellis Island aboard the Majestic on October 14, 1896, [12] and shortly thereafter found work at “the Reeves Pulley Co., the National Tin Plate Co. at Anderson, and then with Reeves & Co. here” in Columbus, Indiana. [13] At the same time he promoted Armenian issues among Americans. For example, on July 31, 1897, he spoke at a Christian Women’s Board of Missions gathering “on supporting the Armenian cause against the Ottoman Turks.” [14] He eventually enrolled at the Bible School in Lexington, Kentucky, to become a minister. As such, he “preached in nearly every city in Indiana.” [15]

One of the earliest and most prominent immigrants was Apraham G. Seklemian, born in Bitias in 1864. After attending the local Protestant school, he enrolled at the Central Turkey College in Aintab, graduating in 1885. That summer he was invited to assume the directorship of the Protestant high school for boys in Garin/Erzurum, Western (or Turkish) Armenia. In April 1888, while still principal, he was arrested on suspicion of seditious activity and thrown into a dungeon, where he suffered a terrible ordeal in solitary confinement. Thanks to the mediation of Protestant missionaries and the US ambassador, in February 1889 he was “exiled” to Constantinople, kept in jail till mid-May, and released but restricted to stay within city limits. Here he worked for the Bible House as a translator, editor, and corresponding secretary, and was involved in the activities of Robert College. He also got married, had two sons, and published three books. One dealt with an early Christian Church Father, John Chrysostom (c.349-407), whom Seklemian considered a fellow compatriot for having spent part of his life in Bitias. [16]

In 1896, the Seklemians emigrated to the United States. After a brief stay in New York, they moved to New Castle, Pennsylvania, where one of Apraham’s brothers, Samuel, had already settled and been running a photography and art studio on North Mill Street (another brother, Benjamin, lived in Butler, Pennsylvania). While in New Castle, Apraham wrote a book in English, titled The Golden Maiden and Other Folk Tales and Fairy Stories Told in Armenia. [17] He also gave lectures to American church audiences in Pennsylvania and Ohio to raise awareness about the plight of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire with appeals that elicited resolutions in their support. [18] In 1897, the Seklemians relocated to Chicago, Illinois, but unable to make a decent living and withstand the harsh weather, they finally settled in Fresno on July 13, 1898. [19]

The first four years in Fresno were not kind to the Seklemians financially. Apraham tried his hand at some odd jobs, but failed. One of his sons, Armen (b. 1896 in New Castle), wrote about a venture that had its antecedents in Musa Dagh:

“Father’s first business attempt was silk raising. As a boy in Bitias he had worked gathering mulberry leaves and feeding the silk worms. Seeing that Fresno’s weather was similar to that of his native area, he sought advice from the Chamber of Commerce and the State Board of Trade….

The next spring (1899) father did start silk culture by renting a two story vacant house at the edge of town and turning it into a cocoonery. He was so successful in raising the cocoons that he laid plans to start a factory, but unfortunately the company that was to finance him went bankrupt, and his plans collapsed. He lost all of his cocoons since he was unable to sell them at the time”. [20]

Fortunes began to improve gradually as Apraham became New York Life’s insurance and real estate agent for the Fresno district. His heart and mind, however, rested with his people. He got involved in community functions as a capable speaker, master of ceremonies, story teller, and fundraiser. Moreover, he assisted a growing number of Armenian immigrants with translations, notary procedures, and advice on employment opportunities. [21] He also dreamt of publishing a paper to satisfy the needs of an Armenian reading public. His wish came true when he cofounded and edited (August 14, 1908-January 6, 1913) the Asbarez (Arena) newspaper; it continues to be published in Los Angeles as the official mouthpiece of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation on the West Coast. [22] The paper included numerous articles on Musa Dagh, among others. Seklemian published a brief account of life in his birthplace together with a map, [23] which probably he himself drafted given his knowledge of cartography. [24] He also must have been one of the main, if not the main, moving forces behind a fundraising drive to assist cash-strapped and starving compatriots in the wake of the 1909 massacres in the Antioch district. The amounts raised were made public through the pages of Asbarez, as were letters sent by the editor’s Bitias acquaintances describing their tribulations. [25] Unfortunately, Seklemian’s journalistic career—and productive life in general—came to an abrupt end when he suffered a stroke on Armenian Christmas, January 6, 1913, and remained incapacitated until his death on December 12, 1920. [26]

It is true that a Protestant missionary regarded even this tiny drop of “Armenian blood in America” as “distasteful”; nevertheless, he could not “blame them for going. There is no money, no business, no liberty, no honesty, no law, no honor, no purity in this Turkish empire.” [27] The journey across the Atlantic increased sharply in the wake of the April 1909 massacres and the mandatory conscription of non-Muslims in the Ottoman army beginning in September.  For many a poor young man, who could not afford the military exemption fee of 50 liras ($220), the new decree became a nightmare. [28] Aside from financial concerns, the Christians were skeptical of their fair treatment in an army dominated by Muslim Turks, some of the very people who had participated in the recent atrocities. The British consul in Aleppo explained the situation:

“The Christians dread service in Turkish regiments, where they will be scattered few among a great majority of Moslem troops. Were the formation of separate companies or battalions of Christians contemplated, the Christian aversion to military service would be far less marked, but at present that aversion amounts almost to loathing. A Turkish officer here has expressed to me his opinion that [the] scheme of obligatory service for the Christians is likely to prove a failure. It would seem premature, in view of the recent massacres in the Adana vilayet and in Antioch region, and the extreme fear under which the Christians of Aleppo, Marash, Aintab, Alexandretta, and other towns were labouring but a few months back to enforce, at the present time, Christian military service in these provinces. Were public security thoroughly established, and had sufficient time elapsed to efface, in some measure, the memory of those events, such service would doubtless appear less intolerable to the native Christians”. [29]

But public trust was far from being reestablished, and hence a veritable exodus of especially Armenians ensued. According to the government bureau issuing tezkeres (travel permits) in Aleppo, during the year preceding November 1909 as many as 5,100 Armenians and 2,250 Jews left the province for Europe and America, mostly never to return. Those numbers did not include people who departed without regular passports. [30]

Although the exact number of emigrants from Musa Dagh cannot be determined, it is safe to assume that perhaps a few hundred went to the United States. [31] Relatives, friends, and neighbors customarily accompanied their loved ones well beyond the village boundaries, while mothers cursed Christopher Columbus for discovering America and stealing their offspring away. [32] Exciting as it was, leaving home for a distant land proved a traumatic experience for many an emigrant. Interestingly, the teenager Armenag Sherbetjian used the pen to allay his inner torment in a thirteen-verse poem covering the various legs of his eight-week journey (October 17-December 10, 1913) from Bitias to Antioch, Iskenderun, Tripoli, Beirut, Haifa, Port Said, Alexandria, Patras, and finally Ellis Island. [33] This route seems to have been the general direction in which many Musa Daghtsis sailed, one such trip costing $57.15 per passenger in late 1913. [34] A dozen or so youths from Yoghun Oluk and Kheder Beg, who had emigrated to Argentina in 1911, relocated to the United States in 1916. [35] Needless to say, the direction and duration of this, second journey differed, as the Inspection Card of a certain Missak Aprahamian indicates: Port of departure, Buenos Aires; name of ship, Vasari; date of departure, July 27, 1916; date of arrival in Ellis Island, August 20, 1916 (the trip thus lasted three-and-a-half weeks). [36] The emigrants from Musa Dagh often traveled in groups for safety and support, but sometimes failed to reach their destination intact; in 1911, for example, half of a twenty-one member party was shipped back from Marseille for having an eye disease called trachoma. [37]

A background check of thirty-two other Musa Dagh passengers arriving in New York between 1909 and 1913 reveals additional details. The newcomers were young, averaging twenty-two years of age. About two-thirds were male, single, and literate. Eleven were laborers, 8 were farmers, 6 were housewives, 2 were servants, 1 was a seamstress, 1 was a shoemaker, 2 were children, and the occupation of one cannot be determined. Twenty-two immigrants intended to reside in Pennsylvania (13 in New Castle, 8 in the Pittsburgh area, and 1 in Monessen); 4 in New York City; 4 in Union Hill, New Jersey; and 1 in Hartford, Connecticut, and Youngstown, Ohio, each. [38] Other arrivals settled in Erie and Williamsport, Pennsylvania; New Britain and South Manchester, Connecticut; Paterson, New Jersey; Fort Myers, Florida; and Fresno, California. [39] The immigrants carried little or no money. Many worked in silk mills such as that of the Cheney Brothers Silk Manufacturing Company in South Manchester. Others ran small businesses including grocery stores, restaurants, and shoe repair shops. [40]

Three specific cases provide additional insight into the lives of these immigrants. A certain J.I. Taminosian of Bitias provenance operated a rug store at 4920 Chicago Street in Omaha, Nebraska, as “The Only Oriental Rug Specialist In The State.” [41] Fellow villager Sarkis Renjilian, formerly a student at the Sericulture Institute of Bursa, matriculated at the University of Nebraska to study “scientific agriculture.” He relocated to Fort Myers, Florida, after graduating and acquired a 40 acre homestead which the state offered freely to attract new settlers.  He also operated a restaurant. His brother, Yeremia/Aram, arrived in the United States in 1913 and for years led a vagabond life trying his hand at odd jobs such as cement mixer (earning 95 cents/day), photographer, private chauffeur for a rich woman, and diner owner and cook. [42] In 1931, he earned a medical degree from the Philadelphia College of Osteopathy. [43]

Emigration to the United States continued during World War I, but not from Musa Dagh per se. The new point of departure was a refugee camp near Port Said, Egypt, established for the Musa Daghtsis who had resisted the Genocide from early August through mid-September 1915 and rescued by units of the French Mediterranean fleet. The first group was set to depart for America on December 2, 1915, but for some reason the journey was postponed. [44] Anxious relatives at the receiving end were puzzled by the delay and feared for the worst on account of sea warfare and particularly Turkish attack en route. [45] Those concerns dissipated when forty-five Musa Daghtsis arrived at Ellis Island in the afternoon of March 8, 1916, aboard the S.S. America.They included the Seklemians, Yeghiarians, Keosheians, Giragosians, Vartanesians, and Kelejians. [46] However, the ship did not dock for 21 hours so the port authorities could fumigate the baggage of all 1,721 steerage passengers deemed an unusually large number. [47] At this time a reporter managed to interview one of the newcomers about her Musa Dagh saga—Yeghisa Seklemian, Asbarez editor Apraham’s mother, whose account was published in the New Castle Herald (New Castle, PA) and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Pittsburg, PA). [48] Another arrival, Hovhannes Kelejian (Ohannes Klijeian), similarly gave his testimony, to the New York Times. [49] The passengers disembarked on the following day, March 9: five Musa Daghtsis were kept in New York hospitals (causing a delay of the release of a few others from the quarantine); three headed to Hartford, Connecticut; and the majority went to New Castle and West Pittsburgh. [50] Other refugees from Port Said followed suit throughout 1916. [51]

A number of Musa Dagh immigrants joined the US Armed Forces during the war. Harry (Hairig or Hairich Rupen) Phillian, who had arrived in the United States on August 30, 1913, and worked as a shoemaker, enlisted in the National Guard at Fort Myers, Florida, at the age of nineteen, served on the Mexican border, and was honorably discharged from the Company of Second Infantry as Corporal on June 18, 1917, to take care of dependent relatives. [52] He later registered for the draft, on August 24, 1918, in Erie, Pennsylvania. His father, George Barkev, had preceded him on June 5, 1917, in Lee County, Florida. [53] On the same day the brothers Zakaria and Sarkis Hanisian of Yoghun Oluk also registered. [54] Two other siblings, Madatia and Bedros Taminosian, were draftees in Florida. [55] Alberta Magzanian wrote: “Both father [Samuel] and uncle Manass volunteered for the US army. At the time, father was working in a steel processing factory and was given an exemption but uncle Manass joined the US armed forces and served his term. He probably was not even a citizen of the country.” [56] Other Musa Daghtsi youths may also have enrolled.

Despite the difficult socioeconomic adjustments that the Musa Daghtsis had to make in the New World, at least some managed to send part of their meager earnings home to pay for their travel debts, various expenses incurred due to relatives looking after their affairs, and or as outright pecuniary assistance. A case in point was Movses Egarian (Igarian/Yeghiarian) of Bitias, who during the course of three years (February 1908-January 1911) sent his brothers Vanes and Hagop $404.48 and $74.00, respectively. [57] Once established, many immigrants sent for their spouses, children, fiancées, and other relatives and friends. Although most would not see Musa Dagh again, a good deal of correspondence took place between the New World and the Old World. While many letters sent from Musa Dagh to the United States are extant in private family collections, the same cannot be said for those mailed from the United States to Musa Dagh, because the wartime dislocations under existential threats robbed kin and compatriots in general of their personal belongings. It may be surmised that those writings that are presumed lost must have described advanced life in America, thereby enlightening their recipients. [58]

• [1] George H. Filian, Armenia and Her People; Or the Story of Armenia by an Armenian (Hartford, CT: American Publishing Company, 1896), p. xii.
• [2] Khrlopian, Vosgemadian, I, p. 340.  See also The Missionary Herald LVIII: 8 (August 1862): 248.
• [3] Great Britain, FO 195, File 1883, Barnham to Currie, October 16, 1895; FO 424, File 184, Currie to the Marquess of Salisbury, October 17, 1895; interview with Anna Sherbetjian Shemmassian.
• [4] Capuchin Mission Archives (hereafter CMA), Maison Saint François, Mtayleb, Lebanon, File Khoderbeg 7, 1909/1914, 20 à 25 jeunes filles de Khoderbey places servants ou chez les Soeurs - listes, salaires, informations, untitled list of sixteen girls from Kheder Beg, Vakef, and Yoghun Oluk; Certification sur les enfants envoyées à Beyrouth; Noms, des enfants de Khoderbek.
• [5] Ibid., Noms des enfants de Khoderbek.
• [6] Boghos Tazian, “Echer giankis janabarhen” (Pages from the Road of My Life), unpublished memoirs, pp. 5-7.  It was written on my request and is dated July 18, 2007. 
• [7] CMA, File Khoderbeg 7, 1909/1914, 20 à 25 jeunes filles, Compte d’Elmaz, juillet 1914.
• [8] Ibid., Compte d’Iranouhi (tel qu’il m’a été donné fin de juin par Madame Yared).
• [9] Ibid., anonymous sender from Krey, Lebanon, to Mon Très Revérand Père, August 21, 1914.  This letter is written on a “Vve Guérin & Fils, Beyrouth Syrie” letterhead.   
• [10] Paul E. Vandor, History of Fresno County, California, with Biographical Sketches, vol. 2 (Los Angeles: Historic Record Company, 1919), pp. 2,567-68.
• [11] William Larkin, private papers, San Marcos, CA, newspaper clipping, titled “Reward for Friendship: L.M.B Phillian, an Armenian, Fitting Himself for Missionary Work,’ from The Republic (Columbus, IN), January 11, 1898, p. 1.  
• [12] Ibid., facts about Levon Barkev Phillian from “Ancestry” online genealogical resource.  
• [13] Ibid., newspaper clipping, titled “Reward for Friendship.”
• [14] Ibid., facts about Levon Barkev Phillian from “Ancestry” online genealogical resource.  
• [15] Ibid., newspaper clipping, titled “Was Foiled in an Effort to See Wife.  Brother Phillian, Armenian Minister from Columbus, Returning after a Harrowing Experience in the Land of the Sultan,” from The Indianapolis Star (Indianapolis, IN), December 18, 1903, p. 5.
• [16] Seklemian, private papers, “Memoirs of Apraham G. Seklemian.” 
• [17] Ibid., [Armen Seklemian], “Biography of Apraham G. Seklemian 1864-1920,” pp. 23-26.  The book was introduced by Alice Stone Blackwell and published by Helman Taylor Co., Cleveland, OH, 1898.
• [18] Seklemian, private papers, [Seklemian], “Biography of Apraham G. Seklemian,” pp. 24-25.
• [19] Ibid., p. 26.
• [20] Ibid.
• [21] Ibid., pp. 27-30.
• [22] Ibid., pp. 30-42; A.G. Seklemian, “‘Asbarez’ i dzakume” (The Genesis of Asbarez), Asbarez zhoghovadzu dasnamiagi artiv, 1908-1918 (Asbarez Anthology on Its Tenth Anniversary, 1908-1918) (Fresno: Asbarez Publishing, 1918), pp. 9-15; A. Ghugasian, “A.G. Seklemian,” Asbarez hisnamiag, 1908-1958 (Fiftieth Anniversary of Asbarez, 1908-1958) (Fresno: Asbarez Publishing [1958?]), pp. 172-74.
• [23] Asbarez, December 11, 1908.
• [24] Seklemian, private papers, “Autobiography of Magdaline [Meneshian] Seklemian (Written 1936),” pp. 6-7.  Magdaline, a teacher at the Protestant school for girls in Garin, writes of Apraham, her future husband: “He had been asked to teach classes in geography and map-making at the girl’s school one or two days a week….  I was able to get permission to join the map-making class; a subject which I liked very much.”   
• [25] Asbarez, June 18, 1909; July 2, 1909; July 16, 1909; July 23, 1909; October 1, 1909; October 15, 1909 (two articles); October 22, 1909; November 19, 1909; January 28, 1910; February 4, 1910; September 16, 1910 (a reprint of an article from Avedaper); November 11, 1910; December 30, 1910; June 9, 1911; June 16, 1911 (a summary of an article from Piuzantion); August 11, 1911; August 18, 1911.  
• [26] Seklemian, private papers, [Seklemian], “Biography of Apraham G. Seklemian,” pp. 42-46.
• [27] ABCFM, ABC, 16.9.5, vol. 11, Adams to Smith, August 27, 1891.
• [28] France, Archives du Ministère des Affaires Etrangères (AMAE), Paris (Quai d’Orsay, now in Nantes), Correspondence politique et commerciale 1897 à 1918, Turquie: politique intérieure: Syrie-Liban, File 112, Dossier général, 1909, R. Laronce to Pichon, October 3, 1909.
• [29] Great Britain, FO 424, File 221, Raphael A. Fontana to Gerard Lowther, October 25, 1909.
• [30] France, AMAE, Syrie-Liban, File 112, Laronce to Pichon, October 28, 1909.
• [31] I have compiled a list of some 150 immigrants through interviews alone.  According to Mik[ael] Natanian, “Kavari tsaveren.  Mius aghede” (Woes of the Provinces: The Other Calamity), Miutiun (Union) no. 19 (July 1913): 108, Musa Dagh, Kesab, and other Armenian-inhabited localities in northern Syria were being depopulated due this emigration to the United States. 
• [32] Interview with Marta Sherbetjian Shemmassian.
• [33] Victoria Shirn (Sherbetjian) Harvey, private papers, Essex, MA, notebook belonging to Armenag Sherbetjian, poem entitled “Bitias, Sweet Fatherland” (in Ottoman Turkish with Armenian script). 
• [34] Elizabeth Frankian Standen, private papers, Holyoke, MA, Austro-Hungarian S.S. Co., Ltd., of Trieste, Purchaser’s Receipt for III Class Prepaid Passage Contract, no. P.T. 39130, September 27, 1913.  John Boghosian and Moses Sherpetjian purchased the ticket for Armanag (Armenag) Sherbetjian of Bitias. 
• [35] Hanisian, letters to the author, September 26, 1977, October 1, 1977, February 7, 1989.  Some of the Musa Dagh immigrants in Buenos Aires were: three Hanisian brothers, J. Chanchanian, M. Serekian, Hovhannes Adajian, a certain Ghugasian, Papaz (nickname) and his son, and two youths from the Amaj neighborhood of Yoghun Oluk. 
• [36] Julie Aprahamian, private papers, New York, NY, Inspection (vaccination) Card (Immigrants and Steerage Passengers) of Missak Aprahamian, list or manifest of Vasari ship, no. 13, no. on list/manifest, 19.  
• [37] Interview with Marta Sherbetjian Shemmassian.
• [38] See Table 3.
• [39] Interview with Paul Bedrosian (Boghos Der Bedrosian), May 27, 1990, Pismo Beach, CA.
• [40] Ibid.
• [41] Aurora Adajian Lehmann, private papers, Chatsworth, CA, Yesayi Taminosian to Vando Agha (Hovhannes Filian/John Phillian), January 11, 1911.  The quotation is from Taminosian’s business letterhead.   
• [42] [Jerry Renjilian and John Renjilian], Aram Renjilian, As Remembered by His Sons Jerry & John (N. p.: Privately printed exclusively for family, 2016), pp. 14-22.
• [43] Ibid., pp. 68-69.
• [44] Shemmassian, The Musa Dagh Armenians, p.184.
• [45]  Larkin, private papers, newspaper clippings, titled “Saklems [Seklemians] to Leave War Cursed Land,” New Castle News, p. 9; “Armenians Coming to This Country! Party of sixty Now En-route from Egypt to Locate at West Pttsburg.  Saklem’s Mother with Party.  Have been Driven from Their Native Country by Bloodthirsty Turks,” New Castle News, January 26, 1916, p.1; “Armenians Do Not Come as Expected. S.G. Saklem and Friends in This City Are Now Greatly Worried.  Ship Arrives in New York.  But So Far No Word Has Been Received  from 60 Who Were Coming,” New Castle News, February 4, 1916, p. 7.  Although the group was originally believed to be comprised of sixty to sixty-seven people, the actual number of the arrivals was forty-five.    
• [46] Ibid., newspaper clippings, titled “Aged Woman Flees Turks.  Is Going to New Castle.  Member of Brave Band of Armenians Driven into Mountains by Soldiers.  Escapes with Others by Curious Signal of Distress,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazatte, March 9, 1916, p. 1; “Armenians on Way Here Land. In N.Y.  Long Expected Party of 45 Coming to West Pttsburgh.  Experiences with Turks Are Told,” New Castle Herald, March 9, 1916, p. 1; “Armenian Victims of Turks Reach America,” The Lima News (Lima, Ohio), March 13, 1916, p.2; Shemmassian, The Musa Dagh Armenians, p.185.
• [47] Larkin, private papers, newspaper clippings, titled “Armenians on Way Here Land. In N.Y.  Long Expected Party of 45 Coming to West Pttsburgh.  Experiences with Turks Are Told,” New Castle Herald, March 9, 1916, p. 1; “Aged Woman Flees Turks.  Is Going to New Castle.  Member of Brave Band of Armenians Driven into Mountains by Soldiers.  Escapes with Others by Curious Signal of Distress,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, March 9, 1916, p. 1.
• [48] Ibid. 
• [49] New York Times, March 12, 1916, as cited in Richard Diran Kloian, The Armenian Genocide—First 20th Century Holocaust (Richmond, CA: Armenian Commemorative Committee, 1980), p. 133.
• [50] Larkin, private papers, newspaper clipping, titled “Rejoicing When Armenian Arrive Here,” New Castle Herald, March 13, 1916, p. 2.
• [51] Shemmassian, The Musa Dagh Armenians, p. 186.
• [52] Robin Paul, private papers, Pasadena, CA, copy of Passenger Arrival Records (NNCC), National Archives (GSA), Washington, D.C., Identification of Entry of Hairich Phillian, August 30, 1913, N.Y., ship name Argentina; National Guard of the United States and of the State of Florida, Certificate of Discharge for Harry Phillian, given at Plant City, Florida, June 21, 1917; Larkin, private papers, newspaper clipping, titled, “Soldiers Get Welcome Home: Back from the Border They Are Serenaded and Given Refreshments,” News-Press (Fort Myers, FL), March 19, 1917, p. 1.  
• [53] Larkin, email to the author, May 1, 2009.
• [54] Zohrab Hanisian, private papers, Napa, CA, untitled family history booklet, p. 9.
• [55] Raymond H. Banks, US Gen Web Archives, rayhbanks(at)aol.com, retrieved May 23, 2009.
• [56] Alberta Magzanian, letter to the author, September 26, 2009.
• [57] Gloria Hachigian Ericsen, private papers, Orlando, FL, twelve bank receipts for money drawn by Vanes and Hagop Egarian on the German American Trust Company and the Imperial Ottoman Bank, both in Beirut, between February 15, 1908, and January 4, 1911.
• [58] See, for instance, the private papers of the following individuals: Aurora Adajian Lehmann, Chatsworth, CA, 35 letters; Mary Maghzanian Balabanian, Yerevan, Armenia, 6 letters; Alberta Magzanian, Olney, MD, 5 letters.  These letters were written in Ottoman Turkish with Armenian script.