Dadoyan Collection – New Jersey, New York

Translator: Simon Beugekian, 30/10/24 (Last modified 30/10/24)

The Dadoyan clan, according to the family’s own oral history, originated in Artsakh. The history presented on this page begins in Hazro, where the family had settled many centuries earlier. The main source of this family history is the houshamadyan of Hazro authored by Arshag Dadoyan in 1965, which is handwritten and has never been published. The source of Arshag’s information, especially on the family’s past, was his mother, Sara Dadoyan (born Der Kasbarian, 1880-1975).

Hazro (also spelled Hazzro) is a small city northeast of Diyarbakir. Until 1915, according to Arshag Dadoyan, Hazro had a population of 600-700 households, half of which were Armenian, and half Kurdish. He estimated that each Armenian household consisted, on average, of 12 individuals. Arshag Dadoyan also wrote that the Tadonts family (the Dadoyan family’s original surname) was the most influential family in the city for many years, until losing its preeminent position to two Kurdish begs.

The Tadoyan/Dadoyan family’s known ancestors include Mghtsi Kevork, Mghtsi Ghazar, and Mghtsi Toukhman. These men probably lived in the 18th and 19th centuries. The family history presented on this page focuses on Mghtsi Kevork’s branch. The materials that appear on the page were provided to us by his descendants.

Mghtsi Kevork (his wife’s name is unknown) had five children – four daughters: Yeva, Mrtoush/Mary, Sarig, and a fourth daughter whose name is unknown; and one son: Babosh.

Mrtoush married a member of the Der Touments family and had six children: Mgrdich, Hovhannes, Dikran, Tovmas, Krikor, and Sarig. Yeva married a member of the Teponts family. Sarig married and moved to the neighboring town of Lidje. Babosh had four daughters and two sons: Touma, Maritsa, Susan, Louso, Garabed, and Sarkis.

Touma married a member of the Nikanents family and had one son, Hovhannes. Maritsa married a member of the Der Vartan family and moved to Diyarbakir. She had five children: Hagop, Karnig, Vartkes, Zaven, and Zabel. Susan married and moved to Diyarbakir. She had two sons. Garabed married Krikor Der Manuelian’s daughter, Hayganoush, from Farghin. The couple had two children, Vartkes and Zabel. They lived in Farghin. Louso married a member of the Der Avedisents family in Hazro. In 1898, Sarkis married the daughter of Father Kasbar, Sara Der Kasbarian (Arshag Dadoyan’s mother), from Alipinar. Previously, in 1890, he had married another woman, Hayganoush, who died at a young age. He had one daughter with his first wife, Arousyag. He and Sara had four sons: Kevork (born in 1900), Arshag (born in 1904), Zohrab (born in 1910), and Vahan (born in 1912). They also had one daughter, Nvart, in 1907, who died at a young age. Arousyag married Hovhannes Dalalian, from Hazro. The couple had one daughter, Azniv.

Most of the members of this large family died during the Armenian Genocide in 1915. The few survivors included one of Maritsa’s children (name unknown), Sara and her four sons, Sara’s mother, and Sara’s two sisters and one of their sons.

Sarkis Dadoyan’s second wife, Sara, was born in 1880, in the town of Alipinar near Diyarbakir. Her father, Father Kasbar Der Kasbarian, was the pastor of Alipinar. He was killed in 1895 during the Hamidian massacres, alongside his brother Garabed. Sara’s mother was Yeretsgin [priest’s wife] Mariam (nee Alpounarian). Father Kasbar and Mariam’s other children were Hovhannes, Vartouhi, Hagop, and Manoushag (Menoush). Manoushag Der Kasbarian later married Sarkis Der Manuelian, from the village of Hayni. The couple had three sons: Antranig, Ardashes, and Dikran. Vartouhi married Sarkis Mikayelian. Hagop Der Kasbarian emigrated to the United States in 1912, where he married a woman from Dikranagerd (name unknown). The couple had one son, Antranig. After the death of his first wife, Hagop married again. His second wife was Lousine Kazandjian, also from Dikranagerd. They had three sons: John/Hovhannes, Charlie/Garabed, and Sarkis/Haroutyun/Harry. In the U.S., the family shortened its surname from Der Kasbarian to Kasbarian. With his writing, Charlie (pseudonym: C. K. Garabed; 1927-2022) helped preserve the Armenian cultural legacy of Dikranagerd. He also played an important role in Armenian community and cultural life, particularly in New Jersey.

Sarkis Dadoyan’s brother, Garabed, had two brothers-in-law, Dikran and Aram Der Manuelian, who lived in Farghin. In 1913, Aram was accepted into the Armash Seminary. In 1914, Dikran was supposed to enlist in the Ottoman Army. To avoid military service, Dikran, taking Aram with him, emigrated to the United States. After the start of the First World War, the rest of the Dadoyan family completely lost contact with the two brothers.

The Armenian church of Hazro was called Saint Asdvadzadzin [Holy Mother of God]. Across from it was the Armenian school, consisting of three large rooms. It offered instruction from the kindergarten level to the sixth grade. Beside the school was the Assyrian church, called Saint Shmavon. Presumably, in the past, a large percentage of Hazro’s population was Assyrian, but their numbers dwindled in later years. During his lifetime, Arshag Dadoyan mentions only one Assyrian family living in the city, which was Armenian speaking. Consequently, the Armenian Church had taken over the Saint Shmavon Church.

Northeast of Hazro, at a distance of about half an hour by foot, was a site called Ayn-Barik/Aynbrekh, home to a monastery. Arshag Dadoyan did not remember its name. The monastery stood on a mountain flank and was surrounded by a grove of fruit trees. It was an important pilgrimage site for local Armenians. Living quarters were built around the monastery to accommodate visiting pilgrims. Outside the monastery, from under giant walnut trees and poplar trees, flowed a spring of extremely cold water, which poured into two pools that were built nearby. On holidays, priests would make the journey from Hazro to this site, alongside numerous pilgrims. The Divine Liturgy would be held, after which the celebrations would begin – singing, dancing, games…

Southwest of Hazro, at the distance of about a mile, was the village of Tardjul, home to 15-20 Armenian households. A quarter of an hour’s walk from this village was the Saint Touma Monastery, which also offered accommodation to visiting pilgrims. The Feast Day of Saint Touma was marked with great ceremony at the monastery and surrounding area. Pilgrims would come from Hazro, the surrounding villages, and even from as far afield as Diyarbakir. The celebrations would begin in the early morning and last until evening – singing, speeches, marksmanship contests, games, nature excursions, hikes… Some pilgrims would stay at the monastery for a whole week. The Saint Touma Monastery was known for its ability to heal the sick. Pilgrims believed that a visit to the site could heal their ailments, especially nerve conditions. Often, Kurdish pilgrims also attended the celebrations at the monastery.

The Armenians of Hazro spoke Armenian. Their dialect was an offshoot of the Sassoun dialect. The songs they sang were mostly Kurdish. After the reinstatement of the Ottoman Constitution in 1908, they also began singing Armenian songs. In his manuscript, Arshag Dadoyan mentions the names of local dances:govand, shangli, grani, shamli, chapik (a version of the Daron darkoushka), and kachkan (a women’s dance). A significant percentage of the local Armenian craftsmen were cobblers. They spent much of the year working in Diyarbakir.

During the Armenian Genocide, the vast majority of the Armenians of Hazro were deported. Only a few families of craftsmen were allowed to remain in the city, on the condition that they convert to Islam.

Mghtsi Ghazar had four sons and two daughters: Hagop, Hovhannes, Arakel, Zakar, Sarig, Mariam, and Louso.

In Arshag Dadoyan’s manuscript, Mghtsi Ghazar is described as the most influential person in Hazro for some time. Dadoyan does not provide Mghtsi Ghazar’s precise birth and death years, but presumably, he lived in the mid-19th century, at a time when the central Ottoman authorities were weak in the area.In many places, the Kurdish begs and aghas ruled with an iron fist. But in Hazro, Mghtsi Ghazar remained a force to be reckoned with. He had the right to arrest and severely punish anyone who trespassed on Armenian property or stole from Armenian fields – and these criminals were usually Kurds.The Kurdish begs and aghas could not stand this state of affairs.In the city, Mghtsi Ghazar’s main enemies were Sudin Pasha and Radjab Beg.These two lodged a complaint with official bodies in Diyarbakir and Constantinople, accusing Ghazar of punishing, and even killing, Muslims. Ghazar was summoned to a trial in Diyarbakir. But as he had good relations with the government officials in this city, his enemies arranged for the trial to be moved to Constantinople. In the capital, the Armenian Patriarchate supported Ghazar and hired defense attorneys for him. The trial was held, and Ghazar was acquitted and released. Arshag Dadoyan writes that during his time in the capital, this eminent Armenian from Hazro even met with the Sultan and presented him with a sword. The manuscript also mentions that on his way back to Hazro from Constantinople, in the 1840s, Ghazar stopped in the city of Urfa, where the local Armenians were renovating the Holy Mother-of-God Church. Ghazar made a large donation to support these efforts.

In the following years, Ghazar’s power in Hazro waned as the influence of his rival Kurdish chieftains, Sudin Pasha and Radjab Beg, continued to grow. Arshag writes that these two Kurds initially enjoyed the protection and patronage of the Ottoman authorities, but their relationship with the central government deteriorated over time (Arshag does not mention the reasons). Eventually, they were exiled to Constantinople, and their palaces were shelled until they were level with the ground. Arshag’s work indicates that after these events, Ghazar once again regained his prominent position. In fact, he traveled to the capital and used all his influence to secure an amnesty for the two Kurdish begs. He eventually succeeded, and Sudin Pasha and Radjab Beg, alongside their families, returned to Hazro.

Later, in his older years, Ghazar expressed regret for having intervened on behalf of the Kurdish begs. Arshag writes that once, one of Ghazar’s sons and his friend saw a Kurdish shepherd who had brought his whole herd into the family’s fields to graze freely. When they attempted to drive away the herd and the shepherd, the latter drew his dagger. A fight ensued, and the shepherd was killed. Ghazar’s son and his friend were arrested and taken to the prison of Farghin. The two begs did not intervene on their behalf as expected. Ghazar was forced to make the journey to Farghin himself. Eventually, the two young men were released.

Of Mghtsi Ghazar’s sons, Hagop was married and had three sons and three daughters: Tovmas, Bedros, Krikor, Touma, Sogho, and Varti. Tovmas had four sons and one daughter: Hagop, Mgrdich, Serop, Bedros, and Soghig. Bedros had three sons: Hagop, Ghazar, and Garabed. Krikor was a bachelor. He was killed during the Genocide in Aleppo Prison. Touma married a man from Hazro and had two children: Manoug and Anna. Sogho also married a local man from the Abachounk family, and had three sons and three daughters (names unknown). Varti married a local man from the Turbendian family and had three sons: Sdepan, Dikran, and Hovhannes. Sdepan was killed in 1915. Dikran emigrated to the United States before 1915. Hovhannes and Varti survived the Genocide.

Another one of Mghtsi Ghazar’s sons, Arakel, had one son and one daughter (names unknown), who were married and had children of their own. Zakar had two sons, who were married and had children. Sarig married a man from Sham-Sham/Shamshan (in the province of Diyarbakir); Mariam a man from the Der Garabedents family in Hazro; and Louso a man from the Der Avedisents family in Hazro. All three had children and grandchildren.

The great majority of the members of Mghtsi Ghazar’s large family were killed during the Armenian Genocide. The only survivors were Vartouhi and her two sons, Dikran and Hovhannes.

Mghtsi Toukhman had five sons and two daughters: Kasbar, Manoug, Hovsep, Babosh, Loutfig, Susan, and Touma (Hadji Khatoun).

Kasbar was married and had three sons and one daughter: Tovmas, Hovsep, Garabed, and Susan. Tovmas was married and had three children (names unknown). Hovsep was married and had two sons (names unknown). Garabed was unmarried. Susan was married to Sarkis Ghazarian (Gamavor [Volunteer] Sarkis). Gamavor Sarkis, on the eve of the First World War, served in the Ottoman army, and was sent with his unit to the front lines in Iraq. There, he was captured by British forces, was taken to Egypt, and joined the Armenian Legion there. He was sent to Cyprus for training, then to the front in Palestine. In Aleppo, he learned that his family had been murdered. Later, he remarried.

Manoug had one son and one daughter, who were married and had a dozen children between them. Hovsep had four daughters and one son. He lived in Aleppo as he worked there, but in 1914, he decided to return to Hazro, where he was killed alongside his family. Babosh had four children: Toukhman, Hagop, Loutfig, and Varto. Loutfig had children and about ten grandchildren. Susan married a man from Diyarbakir and moved to this city. She had children and grandchildren.

Touma (Hadji Khatoun) was married to Hovsep Boyadjian, from Lidje. They lived in Aleppo, where Hovsep was an employee of the Régie de Tabacs (the Ottoman tobacco conglomerate). They had five sons and two daughters: Garabed, Hayg, Roupen, Aram, Levon, Takouhi, and Hayganoush.

Of Mghtsi Toukhman’s branch of the family, only Touma (Hadji Khatoun) and her family (except for her son Garabed) survived the Genocide of 1915. Touma’s husband’s job, and especially the fact that the family lived in Aleppo, determined the family’s fate. One of their sons, Hayg, was a member of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF). During the war years, he was arrested and remained imprisoned in Aleppo until the arrival of the Arab forces in the city in 1918.

Babosh, one of Mghtsi Toukhman’s sons, went on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem in 1914 with his entire family. In his manuscript, Arshag Dadoyan describes the reception that this pilgrim family received from Hazro’s Armenians upon its return. The crowd, which included the pupils and teachers of the Hazro school, gathered at the forested site called Kania Kaza (Spring of Geese), on the road to the Saint Touma Monastery. Prior to re-entering Hazro, Babosh and his family had visited this monastery in Tardjul, as a last act in their journey of pilgrimage. When they reached the crowd, the students, standing in a line, began singing; the crowd broke into dance; and the family was welcomed with exclamations of joy. After resting for some time, the crowd proceeded to Hazro, where the celebrations continued until late at night.

Arshag Dadoyan’s manuscript contains an account of the events that occurred in Hazro during the massacres of Armenians that took place across the Ottoman Empire in 1895. Within Hazro, the Ottoman army was represented by a sergeant, who simultaneously served as the subdistrict’s mudir (governor/supervisor).He was assisted by several gendarmes. This mudir was entirely under the influence of Sudin Pasha and Radjab Beg. He was ordered to work with the two Kurdish chieftains to organize the campaign against the local Armenians. To coordinate these efforts, a meeting was convened. The participants were the mudir and his assistant; Sudin Pasha and his sons, Shahmoud, Bedri, and Barab begs; and Radjab Beg’s sons, Khati and Ahmad begs.This meeting was followed by another, to which the Kurdish aghas of Hazro and the environs were also invited, as their support was crucial to implement the planned measures against the Armenians.

However, while these men were holding their meetings, Radjab Beg’s Circassian wife realized that they were conspiring to massacre Hazro’s Armenians. She had a conversation with her son, Khati Beg, which confirmed that mass violence was being planned. She used all her influence as a mother to dissuade her son from participating in these massacres. Khati Beg eventually relented and began working to prevent the massacres. His brothers joined in with these efforts. The armed men under their command blocked the roads leading to Hazro, thus preventing the arrival of armed mobs from the outside. Sudin Pasha, facing a fait accompli, joined in with his sons to prevent violence from breaking out. He invited the city’s prominent Armenians to his konak (palace), informed them of the looming threat and of the precautionary measures he had taken, and advised them to resort to self-defense. The Armenians of the city immediately organized armed squads and participated in the blockade of the roads leading to Hazro.

The Kurds of the area learned of these measures, and the mob refused to attack Hazro. In this way, not only the Armenians of Hazro, but also those of neighboring villages were spared from the massacres of 1895-1896.

As for Sudin Pasha, it is said that he was greatly dismayed by the reinstatement of the Ottoman Constitution in 1908. He could not accept the idea that the various nationalities living in the empire were equal, and that his people would be deprived of their privileges. He went to Diyarbakir to express his dissatisfaction and to voice his opposition to the official decision. Arshag Dadoyan writes that Sudin Pasha was arrested in Diyarbakir, exiled, and died in exile.

When the Armenian Genocide began in 1915, all the adult men of the Dadoyan family were arrested, deported, and vanished without a trace. Among these were Babosh and his sons, Sarkis and Garabed. Sarkis was forced into the amele taburi (labor battalions) and sent towards Urfa, where he was killed. Left behind in Hazro were Sara; her four sons – Arshag, Zohrab, Vahan, and Kevork; her mother, Mariam; her sisters, Vartouhi and Manoushag; and Manoushag’s son, Antranig.

Throughout the years of the First World War, the surviving members of the family lived in the family home, in hiding, in constant fear of being arrested and deported. Arshag Dadoyan’s work informs us that for some time, Sara and her children lived in Vartouhi (Varti) Turbendian’s home. Vartouhi, Mghtsi Ghazar’s granddaughter, was married to a baker, and as a result, her family had a document exempting them from deportation (vesika). The Dadoyan family continued living in Hazro after the Armistice. In 1923, Sara, her children, her mother, and her sisters moved to Aleppo, and later to Lebanon.

The story of Sarkis Mikayelian, husband of Sara’s sister Vartouhi, is fascinating. He converted to Islam and continued living in Diyarbakir after the Genocide. When Sara and her sisters decided to move to Aleppo, Sarkis remained behind in Diyarbakir. He married a local Muslim woman. Later, when this wife of his died, he sent word to Vartouhi, who lived in Beirut at the time, asking her to rejoin him. And in fact, Vartouhi decided to return to him, and lived with him again for a few years in the late 1960s. After his death, she moved back to Beirut.

Kevork, one of Sara’s sons, opened a textile factory in Aleppo. Vahan attended the parochial Haygazian School, then the local Saint Anthony of Padua College. Vahan and many of his relatives fluently spoke numerous languages. Vahan could speak Armenian, Arabic, French, Italian, English, German, Kurdish, and Turkish.

Sara’s oldest son, Kevork (1900-1989, New Jersey), married Valantin (nee Deokmedjian, Dikranagerd, in 1903; of an Assyrian father, Melkon) in Aleppo, in 1935. The couple had three children: Arsen (born in 1941), Hrach (1935-2018, New Jersey), and Berdj (born in 1937). Arsen currently lives in New York and is married to intellectual and author Seta (nee Barsoumian). Berdj currently lives in Athens.

Sara’s second son and the author of the Hazro houshamadyan, Arshag (1905-1974), joined the ARF in Aleppo. In 1938, he moved to Beirut, then to Damascus. But soon, ARF members were targeted by a campaign of arrests and imprisonment in this city, so he returned to Beirut. In 1942, he married Arshaluys Kevorkian, daughter of Hagop Kevorkian (Borents), from Urfa. Hagop Kevorkian worked as a textile dyer in Damascus, alongside his brother Zohrab. After Arshag’s death, Arshaluys returned to Aleppo.

In 1944, in Aleppo, Zohrab Dadoyan married Haygouhi Daoud Areyan, who was originally from Sassoun. The couple initially moved to Damascus, then to Beirut. They had four children: Salpi (currently in California), Robert/Papken (also in California), Sona (died in California in 2020), and Dzovinar/Dzovig (in California). Zohrab died in 1990 in Encino, California.

Vahan Dadoyan (1913-2001) married Anahid, daughter of Onnig Mouradian (from Dikranagerd), in Beirut, in 1947. They had four children: Arpi (died in Arizona in 2021), Houri (currently in New Jersey), Sosi (also in New Jersey), and Sarkis (died in California in 2002). In Beirut, Arpie was recognized as a talented actress especially while performing the role of Martha in the play  "Who’s afraid of Virginia Wolf?" at the age of 23. In the United States, she created, produced and performed cultural comedy shows such as "IPENKIM" and many more. Vahan owned a trade office in central Beirut. He was a member of the board of trustees of the Saint Nshan Church, the seat of the Armenian Prelacy of Lebanon. Vahan and Anahid died in New Jersey.