Bedros Apelian: Gassia Armenian’s Postcard

Vahe H. Apelian

 

A few days ago Gassia Armenian sent me the postcard depicted here. The postcard is captioned “Bedros Apelian of Kessab, Syria - Iowa State Normal School.” The stamped postcard bears a 1 cent stamp and is dated February 16, 1908, Iowa and is sent to Mrs. Wes Latch in Indianola, Iowa. It turns out that Indianola is a town 18 miles south of Des Moines, Iowa whose population in 2010 census was 14, 782 person.

How is it that a young Kessabtsi's picture appeared on a postcard in Iowa over 100 years ago?

Well, there is an interesting and serendipitous turn of events that ended up in this postcard.

Truthfully speaking, I had seen pictures of these postcards and had learned how and why they came about. I say these postcards because I know that there is at least another one. But little did I imagine that an actual postcard would survive the following 110 years, find itself in an auction, come to the attention of Gassia Armenian who is a Curatorial and Research Associate in Fowler Museum at UCLA and that she would seize the moment and purchase the postcard, surely appreciating its historical significance. Since Gassia knows that all things about Kessab and Kessabtsis interest me, she was thoughtful and considerate enough to gift the postcard to me. I, in turn, will donate the postcard to Project Save, whose founder, Ruth Thomasian, I first met during late 1970’s or early 1980’s in the Home For the Armenian Aged in Emerson, NJ where she had come looking for photographs to salvage from obscurity. I know that the postcard will be safe there and this article may put the postcard in its historical context.

As to the other postcard, presented here as well, depicts the dashingly handsome Bedros Apelian in his native dress in a seated position. Interestingly, years ago when the American and Syrian relations were not hostile, the Syrian Embassy in Washington, D.C. had posted a picture of that postcard as a testament to the amicable Syrian American relations dating from the turn of the 20^th century although, when the picture was taken, Syria was a geographical entity in the Ottoman Empire and not a country yet. The picture of the postcard was later removed. After all the Syrian-American relations were souring.

I need to take a step back and attempt giving a historical context to the postcard.

A few years after the founding of the Evangelical denomination in Constantinople in 1846, the newly established faith found adherents in Kessab and in 1852 established a school there that continues to this day. The newly established Evangelical community had close ties with American missionaries who carried their mission on behalf of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (A.B.C.F.M.), the first and the most influential and far-reaching American missionary organization. Consequently, American missionaries came to Kessab as well and some documented their accounts about Kessab. The last among these missionaries was a young woman by the name Miss. Effie M. Chambers, who left her native state Iowa and embarked on her mission among the Armenians and after spending over a decade among them in Ourfa and Aintab, she came to Kessab in 1906 and stayed among Kessabtsis until 1912 leaving a legacy that reverberates to this day.

It is accepted that the Evangelical movement brought a period of spiritual and cultural revival in Kessab opening avenues for driven young and ambitious Kessabtsis to further their education in colleges in Turkey founded by the A.B.C.F.M. among them the Aintab Central College stands out that later became the famed Aleppo college, my mother Zvart and maternal uncle Antranig Chalabian, attended.

Among these young ambitious Kessabtsis were two brothers, Soghomon and Bedros Apelian. They were the sons of Kevork Apelian and were two of Kevork’s five sons. Both of them studied in Aintab Central College. Soghomon Apelian ended up studying medicine at the American University of Beirut and is one of the earliest Armenians to graduate from the medical school there and surely the first Kessabtsi to do so. Upon the recommendation of Miss Effie M. Chambers, Bedros Apelian was accepted to her Alma Mater and came to Iowa State Normal School, the current University of Northern Iowa, to prepare himself for ministry. The local Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) and Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) produced these postcards and sold them to defray Bedros’ tuition with the proceeds of the sale.

How did Bedros fare far from his native Kessab and what happened to him?

I have come across two documents from the University of Northern Iowa on-line library. One is two pages long and is the, I quote, ‘” account of the life of Bedros Kevork Apelian.  Mr. Apelian wrote this account for the Old Gold, 1908, the yearbook of the Iowa State Normal School, Cedar Falls, Iowa.”

The other document is an essay about “the early history of international students at the University of Northern Iowa, from about 1896 through about 1967.” Bedros Apelian is featured in that assay. ( https://scua.library.uni.edu/university-archives/historical-information-and-essays/international-students-uni-1896-1967). I have quoted segments from the assay

“The student was Bedros Kevork Apelian, who had been born in Syria on October 10, 1885.  He was a graduate of Central Turkey College, a Christian missionary institution, and had taught two years of high school in his home country.  He knew French, Armenian, Turkish, and English.  Former Normal School student Effie Chambers, a Congregational Church missionary in Syria, had recommended the school to him.  Others have written about Miss Chambers’ noteworthy missionary life elsewhere (a reference is made to the article I wrote about Ms. Effie M. Chambers).

In February 1908, the Young Men's Christian Association and Young Women's Christian Association produced a series of postcards on which Mr. Apelian appeared in his native dress.  Profits from the sale of these postcards went to Mr. Apelian.  

Rev. Bedros Apelian officiating the marriage of Henry Apelian and Virginia Matossian

In 1914, Pastor Apelian became a naturalized citizen of the United States. On June 30, 1915, he married Muriel Rocheter, in New York City.....In late 1917, Pastor Apelian's congregation released him for a month to perform relief work on behalf Syrians and Armenians, who were continuing to suffer in his homeland. That relief assignment eventually led him to resign his pastorate, effective January 10, 1918, in order to devote his full time to the work....By 1922, he had returned to the pastorate and was serving full time....He died in New Jersey in July 1969."

The story of Bedros Apelian is another shining example of the Armenian American relations that date from late first half of the 19th century and culminated in America’s post Genocide life-giving assistance to the survivors through Near East Relief.

Rev. Bedros appeared to have used the letter K as his middle name initial,  most likely after his father Kevork. In an article in NY Times, on August 6, 1918, reference is made to Rev. Bedros K. Apelian appealing on behalf of the Armenians. Lastly and on a personal note, my maternal grandmother Karoun (Apelian) Chelebian and Bedros Apelian were first cousins. Her father Hovhannes; Bedros’ and Soghomon’s father Kevork were brothers and they were two of Bedir Apelian’s five sons.