Samuel Sakaian 1923 Remembrance

[BillMilhomme]

This post is additional information for previous Argun post requesting assistance.

 

The village of Argun, in the Province of Kulp, is difficult to find. On a map of modern Turkey, Argun is located east of Kulp, south of Sasun and north of Silvan. The province of Kulp is in the Department of Diyarbakur.

 

The more I learn about Alma (Sakaian) Shahabian, the more questions I have, . In a 1976 article the author writes that Alma was born in Arghana. Today I disccovered an article published in 1923. It mentions Harpout.

 

I attach the article for your information.

 

Enjoy!

 

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Samuel Sakaian Returns From Turkey

Foxboro Reporter, 12 May 1923

 

Mr. Samuel Sakaian, a former resident of Foxboro, returned Wednesday after a sojourn of almost four years in Turkey. Mr. Sakaian left here in June 1919. The ‘Black Arrow’, on which he sailed, left New York on September 26, 1919 and was 22 days on the way to Constantinople

 

He experienced numerous difficulties in securing passports for passage both ways, notwithstanding, the fact that he was an American Citizen, the trouble Armenians and Turks since the war has made it practically impossible for an Armenian to live in Turkey.

 

His plan was to go to go to Harpout in Asia Minor to locate his family. When he arrived, he learned that all members of his family, numbering 25 in all, which included his four brothers and their families, had been “sent down South”; in other words, massacred by the Turks. Mr. Sakaian does not want us to think, however, that all Turks are cruel as he tells us that some are humane.

 

In a small village, called Kuckuk Chekmeja, which is just outside of Constantinople, he found a few remaining relatives, who used to live there years and years ago.

 

One of his cousins had been shipped South to Aleppo by the Turks and there met on of his nieces, who had been claimed in the desert by an Arab. The procedure was to ship all Armenians to the desert where the Arabs overtook them and seized the girls and young women, all others being massacred or left to die of starvation and thirst. To quote Mr. Sakaian, “My niece, who comes from Harpout, was shipped with the others to the desert by the Turks. There a crowd of Arabs came and took the girls. My niece, at that time only fifteen years old, was taken with two other girls by an Arabian and kept by him for three years. Fortunately, he was very kind, gave them work in the kitchen and did not trouble them. When the Armistice was signed, and everything was under English control, the Arab asked the girls whether they wanted to stay in his house or go into English hands. The girls wanted to go, so he took them over to the English. There, the refugees were in one large building, under English hands. There my niece met her uncle (above mentioned) who did not recognize her at first, as she was a little girl the last time they had met. She remembered him and told him of her experiences and thus were reunited. They were both sent to Constantinople by the English representatives and there I found her, the only one I have left. She was penniless and had only on robe which an Arab had given her to wear. I left her passage money and expect her to reach Foxboro some time next month where she will make her home with me.

 

The girl was shipped by the Turks South together with thousands and thousands of women and children from the villages, cities and towns. On their march thru the desert, they passed the dead bodies of hundreds of fellow countrymen who had been massacred. The Turks did not give them a chance to take their own children with them. Women, who had their babies with them, stopped to rest by the road and were killed as they sat there, for they stopped the progress of the march. Many children and women died of thirst, when they were driven into the desert. The girl’s mother had had no water for days and when they came at last to water, she drank too much of it and died. The same fate befell thousands of other women.”

 

Mr. Sakaian stayed in Constantinople for three years, waiting for a chance to go to Harpout. After the Greeks had driven the Turks back and Smyrna was burned, the Turks got power enough to drive all foreigners of every nationality out of Constantinople. Many Americans, English, Italian and French were rushed out of Constantinople by train and boat.

 

After the foreigners were driven out of Constantinople, there was very little disturbance, so Mr. Sakaian was told by the American Consul that he could stay longer if he wished but that it would be better to come back to America. He experienced many difficulties in securing the passport as is was taken from him by the Turkish government on the grounds that it “was against International Law” for Mr. Sakaian to become an American citizen without notifying the Turkish consul in this country.

 

In order that Mr. Sakaian might get safely aboard the steamer for New York, he was referred to the American Ambassador, who, when the appointed time came, had his “qavas” or military orderly escort him to his ship. Mr. Sakaian states that he is glad to be back in Foxboro again, and that he proposes to stay this time.

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I hope this helps!

 

--Bill M.

[Arpa]

I had already looked it up and come to the conclusion that Argun is in fact Arghana. I meant to ask you more questions but you have already answered it above.

Arghana, also at times known as Argn is the present day town of Maden, NNW of Diyarbakir half way to Elazig(Kharberd)..

BTW. This solves another mystrey. I know a family with the surname Madenian/Madenlian. It is all clear now. Their surname means "from Maden".

Here it is;

http://www.adiyamanli.org/MapofTurkey/c7.htm

Edited April 29, 2006 by Arpa

[ghoukas]

First of all I apologize for my really bad english.

It will be easier for me to write in french but Mr Milhomme is probably not able to read it although he has a french name (Acadian descent ?).

 

I think there’s some bad informations about the Alma Sakaïan’s native birthplace.

- Kulp is in the west of Sasun mountains, South of former Baghesh/Bitlis Vilayet, far from Kharpert/Harpout/Elazig

- I didn’t found a former armenian village near Kulp which had a name that really looks like to Argun.

 

I don’t understand who is the ‘author’ who wrote that Arghana is Alma’s birthplace in 1976. What kind informations he had? Is it only because Ergani the modern kemalist turkish name looks like to Argun?

 

Where is Arghana ? There’s was two towns called Arghana and Arghana-Madèn in the late period of the ottoman empire in the vilayet of Dyarbekir both in the same valley in the sandjak of Arghana-Madèn in the the caza of Arghana-Madèn to be more precise. In 1914 there’s was still 38 640 armenians in this sandjak, northwest to the vilayet, in 50 towns and villages and they had 53 churches and 5 monasteries.

 

Arghana was a fortress that gave its name to the town of Arghana built later, next to this stronghold on the main road from Kharpert to Amid/Dyarbékir. In 1914 it had 7150 inhabitants of whom 3100 were Armenians according to the census made by the armenian church in 1913/1914 and displayed in Kevorkian and Paboudjian’s book. There was two armenian churches in Arghana, Saint-Serge and Saint-Sauveur and a monastery Sainte-Mère-de-Dieu [Holy mother of God] Partsrahayéats (built in 1433) close to the fortress. The Kemalist turkish name is Ergani. The ottoman name was Arghana from the armenian original name Arghni. Hewsen (AAHA , p 314) gives two modern (and maybe dialectal) armenian names Arhni and Arzni also given by Kevorkian. The town of Arghni was already existing during the fifth century A.D.

Arghana-Madèn was a new-town built at the end of the seventeenth century by armenian refugees from the surrounding villages on the right side of the river Arghana/Tigris. There’s was 3 300 armenians inhabitants in the town in 1914, two churches, Saint-Serge and Notre-Dame, and two schools. Today the name has been reduced to ‘Maden’ that is a turkish suffix I guess. I have no skill in turkish, but it seems that "Maden" means mines in turkish.

http://www.gerty.ncl.ac.uk/letters/l894.htm

Not far from there on the right side of the Keban was Keban-Madèn at the otttoman time where there was mines too.

 

All the figures and facts above are from LADLEOALVDG p 403,404

 

There’s another place in the former vilayet of Kharpert in the caza of Keban(-madèn) which has a name that looks like to Argun. The modern turkish name is Arguvan and it’s not in Armenia proper because it’s further to the west than the Eufrates river. In 1914 Arguvan had 400 armenian inhabitants with 80 families, a church, a school with 70 pupils and was an isolated armenian settlement in this area, the closest was Keban. (LADLEOALVDG, p 375)

This village, a former town called Argaoun, was a stronghold of the Paulician sect, mainly made up with Armenians, during the ninth century A.D. like Thephrike/Devrig which had still 4 000 armenians inhabitants in 1914 that is to say a third of the town’s population (ASSALA, 81-110)

You can find Arguvan on this map north to Malatya/Melitene and west to Keban

http://www.adiyamanli.org/MapofTurkey/c6.htm

 

 

To conclude I’m not sure that Ergani/Arghana/ Arghni could be Argun for three reasons at least :

1) Ergani is a turkish name. Many names has been changed after the genocide to give them a turkish look. A famous case is Aght’amar place of an armenian Katholikosate prior to 1915 on an island of the Van’s lake which is now « Akdamar » that has a turkish signification I has forgotten. What is the the meaning of « Ergani » in turkish ? I don’t know but I don’t think that Alma Sakaïan could mispronounced the armenian name of her birthplace (gh has to be pronounced ‘rrr’ in armenian language)

2) Arghana was not a village but a small-town.

3) Arghana was in the vilayet of Dyarbekir, not in in the vilayet of Kharpert although the distance beetween Kharpert/Elazig and Arguvan is not shorter than the distance between Kharpert and Arghana.

 

So are you sure that Arghana is Alma Sakaïan’s birthplace ? Who gives you the names of Arghana and Argun ? Which one had been given or written by Alma Sakaïan herself ?

 

 

The books I used to carry out my « research » :

- Armenia, an historical atlas (AAHA) – Robert H. Hewsen – University of Chicago press – 2001

- Les Arméniens dans l'Empire ottoman à la veille du génocide (LADLEOALVDG) – Raymond H. Kévorkian, Paul P. Paboudjian – Editions d’Art et d’histoire, Arhis - 1992

- Armenian Sebastia/Sivas and Lesser Armenia – Edited by Richard G. Hovannisian – Mazda publishers - 2004

[BillMilhomme]

Thank you for the detailed information regarding Samual aand Alma Sakaian. I located new material yesterday. Samuel Sakaian came to the United States in 1890. By the end of 1891 he was living in Foxboro, Massachusetts. He was employed as a carpenter in a local hat manufacture. The hat industry attracted Armenian laborers to the factory. It is clear now that Samuel made three trips back to Armenia/Turkey. He left in 1895 after hearing that his family was in danger and returned in 1896. He travelled again in 1900 returning in 1910 and in 1919 returning in 1923. The 1910 passenger manifest list Samuel Sakaian last residence as Aghene, Turkey. I hope this helps?

 

On another note, Milhomme is Acadian. My ancester came over as a French soldier in 1648 (Petit), married one of the dowryless "Daughters of the King" of France. My dad spoke fluent French. His parents migrated to Lowell, Massachusetts in 1910. Unfortunately I do not speak French.