Stepan Dardouni and his Memorial Album (2/2)

Vahe H. Apelian

 

George Aghjayan emailed me Stepan Dardouni’s immigration declaration upon entering the U.S. on  October 3, 1922. Stepan has declared that he was born in Cilicia in Armenia and entered the U.S. as Dardouni, effectively officializing his family name and ending his ancestral family name Der Matheosian. He listed James Mandalian, the editor of  “Hairenik” as his contact and 212 Stuart Street, Boston, “Hairenik”’s former building, as his address. I could not find out at what point he abandoned his ancestral family name Der Matheosian.

Garo Derounian is an independent researcher in Lebanon and is in charge of  Kohar Symphony Orchestra’s library in Lebanon. He also has in his possession primary sources regarding the history of Birds’ Nest in Lebanon. It revealed that Stepan Dardouni was known as an Armenian nationalist when he taught the orphans in Birds’ Nest. His ardent nationalism appeared not have sat well with some in the administration of the orphanage. His teaching did not last long but left an indelible impression on his orphaned students. Many of the orphans continued to remember him as the favorite teacher they had. He had started a journal in the orphanage titled “Hosank” (Հոսանք), which means “Current”. After his departure Haig Balian had continued it as “Doun” (Տուն), that is to say “Home”. Haig Balian was the proprietor of the Aztag Daily which he subsequently  passed on to the ARF.

Surely the same zeal drove the aging nationalist to compile the memorial album. He might have authored other books, but I image that the memorial album is  Stepan Dardouni’s literary opus, although it is not a creative work but is a labor of love. In the preface he noted that he felt morally indebted to the many members of the A.R.F. – ungers - who passed away serving the organization. Their deaths were announced in “Hairenik” and remained buried there. He thought it was fair that their names be preserved in a memorial album and compiling the album was what he did. I quote from his preface. “ The ‘Hairenik’ weekly first appeared in May 1899 in New York. From that date on I have perused the pages ‘Hairenik’ until 1984, more than 90,000 pages”.

Stepan Dardouni from Birds' Nest Memorial Album

The memorial album is 420 pages and contains the names of 1146 deceased members of the A.R.F. in North America, listed chronologically. The first name is Haroutium Megerian (Յարութիւն Մկրեան) who passed away in Palou having left the U.S. six months earlier. His name is the only one mentioned in that time frame that spanned from the first issue of “Hairenik” until November 17, 1914. Henceforth the names are listed yearly. 

Not all the announcement were posted in “Hairenik” as obituaries we understand today. Many were reported by bereaving friends to “Hairenik” notifying of the passing away of the unger. Some of the announcements were accompanied by articles about the deceased, but many were just that, the few lines breaking of the sad news;. many of whom  Stepan Dardouni had personally known through some six decades of active involvement in the organization.

Reading about the deceased members of the A.R.F. is like  patching a tapestry of an era long by gone now. One encounters names of gomidehs (A.R.F. groups) that no longer exist and also comes across to tidbits that paint a picture of a community whose members lived in closer physical proximity to each other, worked in the same trade, such as photoengraving, met each other more often and socialized, and yes, they also beat each other during the tumultous times of the 1930’s when the church was being literally split in two camps.  

Relating to the present, two ungers were reported to have died due to the influenza pandemics. Vartan Sarkisian (Վարդան Սարգիսեան) of Niagara Falls was reported on November 16, 1918  to have passed away due to the influenza pandemics, so was Yesai Balian (Եսայի Պալեան) of Detroit who was reported on November 19, 1919 to have also passed away due to the influenza pandemics. Let us bear in mind that these are the dates when their deaths were announced, which may not necessarily be the date of their passing away.

The early announcements of the deceased ungers also paint a picture of an A.R.F. as an extended community whose members mostly knew each other. On November 21, 1941 an unger from Chicago, IL, notified the death of Unger Toukhmanian ( Թուխմանեան) who had immigrated to the U.S. in 1909 and was a longstanding member. His first name was not mentioned. I presume it was assumed that whoever would read the announcement would know who he was ! There are a few more of such announcements. There is one that particularly stands out. I quote: “July 22, 1954 - Brooklyn, NY – Unger Garabed Khanbigian wires “ ‘Hadj’  («Հաճին») suddenly died." Nothing else is mentioned. "Hadji"s name remain forgotten. Most of the deceased depicted, especially during the earlier decades, were born in historic Armenia and appeared to have found a niche of support and camaraderie in the ranks of the A.R.F.

Stepan Dardouni appeared to relate to most as an extended family member, adding few words of his own about the deceased. He remembered one as the barber who gave him free hair cut when he was student in the Springfield College. Others having helped him in various other ways, be he a dentist. For all indications he had no family member when he landed on these hospitable shores. The address he gave on his immigration declaration, as noted, was “Hairenik”s building, the contact he listed was James Madalian a prominent A.R.F.er and henceforth Stepan Dadrouni's social life appeared to have immersed in the A.R.F. 

I related to some personally. Among them:

Kahana (married priest) Mesrob Amrigian (Տէր Մեսրոպ ՔՀՆՅ. Ամրիկեան). It is not mentioned in the album that he was from Egypt. The family for a while stayed in the inn, Hotel Lux my father ran, on their way to the U.S. He and his family became friends to my parents and left behind endearing notes my mother had kept among her papers. I did not know that he was from Mush nor did I know that he was a member of the A.R.F. He has passed away in Union City, N.J., on January 16, 1966, where the family presumably had settled.

 Diran Apelian was my mother’s maternal uncle. Diran’s  sister, my maternal grandmother Karoun, was born Apelian and married Khacher Chelebian. His daughter Zvart Chelebian, my mother, married my father Hovhannes Apelian. They all hailed from the same village of Kessab, Keurkune. I had learned that Diran was a pharmacist having graduated from a pharmacy school in Constantinople. It was he who had asked her sister to name her fist born daughter, my mother, Zvart. Stepan Dardouni knew him personally and socialized with when he volunteered in the French Armenian Legion, although Diran had not. He reminisced noting that “he (Diran) was spirited, enthusiastic, cheerful, peopled person…we harbored dreams but we did not know that we will encounter so many disappointments.”

Mesrob Kahana Amrigian on the Veranda of Hotel Lux

Stepan Dardouni ended his memorial album listing the death of unger Mesrob Adishian (Մեսրոպ Ատիշեան) on December 27, 1984. Unger Adishian and I struck a friendship early on, not long after I set foot in the U.S. on July 9, 1976. I used to pick him from his house to attend A.R.F. meetings and social events. He appeared well into his eighties and did not drive. He had purchased the property on which he had his house built before the George Washington bridge was built. After the construction of the bridge, the area naturally had changed and his house now sat at the junction of a major route and busy street to his and especially his wife’s expected dissatisfaction. He was an avid reader of A.R.F. literature.

I remember to this day when I received the phone call from him letting me know of his wife’s death. He said I was the first person outside his family he called. Naturally he was all shaken and emotional. I never forgot what he said: “ Unger Apelian, I had not experienced death in my immediate family before. Most of my parental family members died during the genocide, but I was not there.” 

The last time I met him was when he was hospitalized. Somehow he found me that day dressed up more than the usual and wondered if I was attending an A.R.F. meeting or function. I recall Stepan Dardouni’s obituary during Unger Adishian's funeral service. He said when he first met Unger Mesrob Adishian in the “Hairenik” building, he wandered what this handsome Irishman doing there. He mentioned the same in the album. 

It was fitting that Stepan Dardouni ended his memorial album listing Unger Mesrob Adishian’s death. They were of the generation whose lives evolved and revolved in and around the A.R.F. as a sort of an extended home for them away from their ancestral homes.