Օ՜-Hai-Օ՜ (Օ՜-Հայ-Օ՜)

Vaհe H Apelian

«Ապուշին մէկը պէտք է ըլլաս եթէ չգիտնաս որ Ամերիկայի Միացեալ Նահանգները Հայկական են» - Ստեփան Բարթամեան

“You must be a fool not to know that the States of the United States of America are Armenian”.

 

"Our History"  (see the note)

The quote is from the well-known comedian and satirist Stepan Partamian.

I learned that the first Armenian settlement in the United States of America was planned in the State of  Ohio, the Buckeye State. (see the note).

According to a Grade-5 student history book by the late Dr. Garabed Momjian, for Armenian Schools in the U.S., Khatchadour Vosganian was the first Armenian student who came to the United States in 1834 and studied at the University of Columbia in New York. After his graduation, he wrote about the Armenians in American newspapers. He also had a vision to establish an Armenian community settlement in the United States of America.

Vosganian had a friend named James Benet, who came from a wealthy family who owned large tracts of land in the sparsely populated State of Ohio. Benet promised Vosganian to give him a large parcel of land to have an Armenian community there. Vosganian wanted to name the new community “New Ani” after the famed Armenian city Ani. He drew up the map of the community and wanted to rename its streets Van, Mush, Zeitoun, Garin. 

According to the story, Vosganian could not attract enough Armenian peasant families from historical Armenian lands to come and settle in the community he planned to have because they were concerned that eventually their children will be assimilated.

Vosganian lived to 1900’s and took part in organizing the Armenian communal life but his dream of New Ani as an Armenian community in the State of Ohio never materialized.

There seems that a remnant of his dream remained in the name of the State that sounds Օ՜-Hai-Օ՜ (Օ՜-Հայ-Օ՜). A sounding David Krikorian used when he appealed to the Armenians in Ohio to support him in his efforts to have the State of Ohio recognize the Armenian Genocide, and he did. (see the link below).

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Note: «Մեր Պատմութիւնը» Հինգերորդ Դասարան. Պատրաստեց Կարօ Մոմճեան. Հրատարակութիւն՝ Հիւսիսային Ամերիկայի Արեմտեան Թեմի Ազգային Առաջնորդարանի.Լոս Անհելոս, 1994.

Link: How did Ohio recognize the Armenian Genocide    https://vhapelian.blogspot.com/2019/03/how-did-ohio-recognize-armenian-genocide_22.html