Finding rare books among Vahe Setian’s collection

Vaհe H Apelian

 

Vahe Setian's collection of rare books donated to the prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic
Church - Courtesy Horizon Weekly

 I read today in “Horizon” Weekly that Vahe Setian’s daughter Ms. Mayda Setian and Mrs. Lena Setian-Der Kaloustian, have donated their father’s large private collection of rare books to the prelacy of Canada. 

The announcement invoked memories in me. Hamazkayin Publishing House is named after Vahe Setian. His business office was found in down town Beirut. If my recollection serves me well it was on the Allenby Street where my father ran his inn “Hotel Lux”. In any event it was a rather short walking distance from my father’s place. I have been there at the Setian’s office with my uncle Antranig Chalabian.  It happened when Antranig Chalabian was collaborating with Dr. Stanely Kerr.

My uncle Antranig Chalabian assisted Dr. Stanley Kerr for writing his book “The Lions of Marash” by providing to the professor primary sources and eye witness accounts for the professor's research. I accompanied my uncle a few times searching for a book or interviewing. I visited with him Vahe Setian’s office where he apparently kept his collection of rare books. 

A few months after the publication of the book “The Lions of Marash”, Antranig Chalabian wrote his recollection as how the book came about in Antranig Zarougian’s “Nairi” Weekly in Beirut, on December 2, 1973. He titled his article “A Big Book’s Little Story”.

I translated Antranig Chalabian’s article and had it published in Keghart.com on September 1, 2012. 

This is what Antranig Chalabian wrote about Vahe Setian’s collection of rare books.  “I continued to search for the book through Librarie Du Liban. I wrote to friends in Paris, but to no avail. Then someone told me to check Vahe Setian’s private collection. Giving the benefit of the doubt that a personal collector would have a book the libraries did not, I visited Vahe Setian to inquire. Not only I found the book I was looking for in his collection, I also found additional seven historical books in French about the Cilician tragedy.”

Antranig Chalabian’s wrote how Dr. Stanley Kerr’s book came about. Their association led to friendship. The Stanleys hosted my uncle and his wife in Princeton where they lived, when my uncle and his wife visited America. 

I linked my translation of my uncle Antranig Chalabian’ s “A Big Book’s Little Story” below for those who are interested to learn the fascinaitng story of the serendipitous events that led Dr. Stanley Kerr write and publish "The Lions of Marash": A Big Book's Little Story: https://vhapelian.blogspot.com/2021/07/antranig-chalabian-big-books-little.html

 

 

  

From Vahe to Vahe, Վահէ-էն, Վահէ-ին

Vaհe H Apelian

Vahe Berberian

Today I received the embedded snap shot from my former high school classmate Vaghenag Tarpinian. The picture depicts the Tarpinians, Vaghenag and his wife Shoghig with Vahe Berberian. It turns out Knights of Vartan had invited Vahe Berberian to New Jersey to stage one of his comedy acts. 

It must have been in early 1970's. I was a member of the ARF Zavarian College Student Association having progressed there from my youthful days as a member of the Papken Sunni Badanegan (adolescent union), to Zavarian middle/high school Student Association and on.  All of them happened in the same community center in what nowadays is known as West Beirut. 

ARF Zavarian Association seniors oversaw the workings of the Zavarian juniors. I was a committee member then and involved with the junior. Vahe Berberian, early in his teens, caught my attention. He stood apart from the rest. Lean, tall, with hair  smoothly flowing, hands often in the pockets of his jeans,  walked stooped gait, with an hunched over posture. It may have been his growth spur. He was towering the rest of his friends.  But most of all, it was his overall mannerism that caught my attention and stirred my curiosity to the point that I wanted to know more about this junior. Everything about this young student looked so different that I made a point of meeting his parents to find out more about him.

One day the opportunity presented itself and I drove him in my car to their house. We had recently moved from (west) Beirut to Antelias, a walking distance from the Catholicosate of Cilicia. It turned out Vahe Berberian's family also lived in Antelias, a bit further uphill from our house 

Theirs was the everyday Armenian hospitable family. They hosted me cordially, knowing that I am a senior member overseeing the juniors. There was othing unusual that stood apart in their family. But there was an unmistakable similarity between Vahe and his mother, both physically and in mannerism. In later years Vahe would crack jokes about his mother but he made his father the protagonist of a novel he wrote. That became the only time I spent time with Vahe Berberians for any appreciable length of time. 

Civil war came upon us and all of us got scattered. I heard that he had moved to Canada. Decades later I started reading about him in the Armenian media, that he was in LA and has blossomed into a writer, painter, playwright, stand alone comedian, actor.  I wrote him a letter inviting him to Cincinnati for a few days of rest and relaxation away from the hustle and bustle of the Armenian community in Los Angeles. He wrote that he was busy preparing for his next comedy and sent a copy of his newly published  book. He had personalized it "From Vahe to Vahe"  It rhymes much better in Armenian, (Վահէ-էն, Վահէ-ին). That young boy, the blossoming genius of which he seemed not to be aware, who could not bring himself to graduate from the Sophia Hagopian High school he attended, as did my brother.

Vahe Berberian has now become an Armenian cultural icon. I appreciated him sending word with my friend. «Vahe says hi to Vahe» wrote to me Vaghenag.

 

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).

                                            ***

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

Memorable moments – Not regulation size

Vahe H Apelian

 

It may seem strange. But that picture of the die-hard fisherman led me write this blog about a memorable moment etched in my memory.

Often times it is the small gestures that leave a lasting impression, not only about the person who rendered it, but also of the  people and the things you may associate with the person. 

When we were in Cincinnati, we attended Montgomery Baptist Church that later changed its name to Montgomery Community Church. A serendipitous encounter with Gilbert Badeer had led us to the church we ended up attending for the next almost a quarter of century. As to Gilbert Badeer, he is the son of Dr. Henry Badeer, my late uncle Antranig Chalabian’s former boss as the chairman of the physiology department of the American University of Beirut medical school, where my uncle worked until he moved to the U.S. Marie and her mother had met Gilbert the day the movers had the family move from New Jersey. They happened to be, of all places, in a hardware store when Gilbert had approached them and asked teasingly, in what language they are conversing. Then, he had replied to them in the same, leaving them dumbfounded hearing Armenian in Ohio from a blue-eyed person Gilbert is.

At one time, during a social at the church when asked, I let the person know that I come from Beirut, Lebanon, making sure that he heard me say Beirut. It had happened before that when asked, I had only said Lebanon. But eye brows were raised because Lebanon is a fairly well-known town not far from Cincinnati and surely my accent had betrayed my claim to be from Lebanon they mostly knew. 

The person with whom I got into conversation, had never been in Lebanon but he spoke highly of the Lebanese He said his former brother-in-law was a Lebanese. Tragically his wife, my recounter’s sister, had died in that accident. A year or two after the tragedy, his former Lebanese brother-in-law, he said, had paid them a visit letting them know that he had met someone whom he intended to marry, but had wanted first tell his deceased wife’s family of his intention and sought their approval and blessing that he will be starting a new phase in his life without their daughter and sister. Needless to say, that he had left an indelible impression on them not only about him but about the Lebanese as well.

                                            ***

In Cincinnati, Ohio, Marie and I would hit easy trails. At one time we were hiking along a tributary of the Ohio river. If my recollection serves me well, the trail was known after the legendary  Daniel Boone. We had hiked pretty far and I started getting concerned because we appeared to be the only ones along the trail and we had not told anyone else of our hiking plans there. We had stumbled on the trail.  As we were just to start heading back when I heard loud voices and a boat came in view with young men on the boat having the time of their lives getting wild and loud with beer bottles in their hands.  They also had their fishing lines onto the water as the current swept their boat downstream. We saluted and I shouted “How is the fishing?”. The response I heard has remained etched in my memory. One of them said that they caught a fish but it was not regulation size so they had it released.

Not of regulation size and they had it released in the midst of wilderness where no one would have checked on their fishing haul, had they kept it. It was not a response I expected to hear from them.  Yes, I retain favorable impressions of Ohio and its people, and of Steve, of Rick and of Brian, who were David’s friends. 

Also, not only Ohio  sounds a bit Armenian, but the first Armenian settlement in the U.S., hard to believe, was intended to be in Ohio (see link 1 below). I am also reminded of the saying, “a bad fishing day is always better than a good working day.”  

 

Link 1: Օ՜-Hai-Օ՜ (Օ՜-Հայ-Օ՜)- https://vhapelian.blogspot.com/2025/05/from-vahe-to-vahe.html

Link 2: How did Ohio recognize the Armenian Genocide - https://vhapelian.blogspot.com/2019/03/how-did-ohio-recognize-armenian-genocide_22.html

  

Women in Armenia

Բնագիրը կցած եմ։ Attached is my Google aided translation of Lucy Deokmejian’s, April 28, 2025 article on Keghart.com. I took the liberty and changed the title for my blog. The original title in Armenian read: “Are women flowers or a being to give flowers to” (see the original article below). I post this article in memory of Virginia Apelian who founded the Armenian American Alliance Against Domestic Abuse. Vaհe Apelian 

Courtesy Armenianweekly 

Women’s holidays symbolize the continuity of life, love, beauty, and creativity. This symbol has been transformed into a month-long celebration in Armenia, called Women’s Month.

The month begins on March 8, International Women’s Day. While around the world, this day primarily emphasizes women’s rights, achievements, and social roles; in Armenia the holiday has taken on a warmer, more family-oriented tone, becoming a unique occasion for expressing love and respect. This beautiful, festive period culminates on April 7, when the Armenian Apostolic Church celebrates the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This day is declared a day of blessing for mothers and women awaiting the joy of motherhood, valuing the image of the mother and the mission of women as givers of life. On these two days, long lines form especially at flower shops and men seem to compete with each other to see who will give the largest bouquet of flowers to his wife, lover and/or mother. 

This preface gives the beautiful impression that women are highly valued and respected in Armenia. But unfortunately, the reality does not paint such a beautiful picture. There is discrimination against women, and even more, there is violence. And it is not that these incidents are recorded only in the “backward” regions of the republic. They also exist in the capital Yerevan. Many people say beautiful things about women at dinner tables and drink toasts, but in real life they show the exact opposite attitude towards the female gender.

If we talk about discrimination, women often have difficulties when applying for a job, when advancing in the workplace, and when maintaining their job during pregnancy and childbirth. The picture is no different at home, where the first and last word is with the man, since this “female root” is probably in third place, giving way to the mother-in-law in second place. There are stereotypes about women, due to which women do not have sufficient participation in decision-making. Stereotypes are also one of the main factors contributing to violence against women.

There are so many examples of disrespect and violence against women in public life that one is momentarily stunned by the existence of such an attitude in our nation. If we only consider the news, we will notice how many cases of violence against women are committed in a week. Some of them happen not because the “victim” is a woman, but because she is the wife of a given man and the man gives himself the absolute right to treat the woman according to his “discretion”. Physical and verbal pressure and acts of violence have reached the point of murder. 

Domestic violence is often viewed as an exclusively family problem, and society believes that it should be resolved within the family. This approach makes women more vulnerable, as in many families the opinion of women remains ignored, and their rights are not properly protected.

According to a survey conducted in Armenia in December 2024, 35.7% of participants believe that in order to preserve the family, a woman must tolerate violence, and 27.7% believe that “women deserve to be beaten.” According to police data, the overwhelming majority of recorded cases of domestic violence are physical in nature, and 2/3 of these cases do not result in the initiation of criminal cases due to the lack of complaints from the injured party.

See Link 2 below

It should be noted that the formation of violence is conditioned by a variety of factors: low education level, witnessing violence between parents, child abuse, the presence of several partners or suspicion of a partner’s infidelity, alcohol use, and social norms that give men a “privileged” status and women a subordinate status.

The presentations give a clear idea of ​​​​the great need in Armenia to organize public campaigns to prevent violence that destroy stereotypes that justify violence. Within the framework of general sex education programs among young people, advocacy work based on the principle of gender equality should be carried out.

It is true that we are talking about Armenia, but this does not mean that similar phenomena do not exist in other countries of the world or that the picture is very different. We are simply interested in ourselves and in valuing women and their role at every opportunity. We need to change the stereotypes that have been fixed in everyone towards women and view women not only as individuals who obey the instructions of their father, brother or husband, who do housework flawlessly, who have an unimportant role in the family, and who are “natural” if they are subjected to insults and beatings.

On the other hand, we see that in the Republic of Armenia, women are entrusted  even with high-ranking state positions, such as the ministries of health, education, science, culture and physical education, justice, internal affairs, the positions of prosecutor general, human rights defender and head of the Foreign Intelligence Service, which is only a commendable phenomenon. It is commendable that the Armenian authorities believe in the important role of women in state-building, therefore, they promote the role of women in public and political life, which will certainly have a positive impact on increasing the value of women in society.

                              ***

A woman is not born only to give flowers on holidays. A woman is a flower not only for her beauty, but also for her endurance and uniqueness. Some bloom in the heat, while others in the most barren places, but all the same, they radiate their charm and skills. A woman, like a flower, shines naturally through the gentleness of her heart, the softness of her soul, and the powers hidden within her being.

 

Link 1: Լիւսի Տէօքմէճեան, Երևան, 28 ապրիլ 2025` Կինը ծաղիկ, թէ՞ ծաղիկ նուիրելու էակ։ https://keghart.org/deukmejian-woman-flower/

Link 2: Virgina Apelian: American Armenian Alliance Against Domestic Abuse (AAAaDA): https://vhapelian.blogspot.com/search?q=Domestic+abuse

 

Women in Armenia

Բնագիրը կցած եմ։ Attached is my Google aided translation of Lucy Deokmejian’s, April 28, 2025 article on Keghart.com. I took the liberty and changed the title for my blog. The original title in Armenian read: “Are women flowers or a being to give flowers to” (see the original article below). I post this article in memory of Virginia Apelian. Vaհe Apelian 

Courtesy Armenianweekly 

Women’s holidays symbolize the continuity of life, love, beauty, and creativity. This symbol has been transformed into a month-long celebration in Armenia, called Women’s Month.

The month begins on March 8, International Women’s Day. While around the world, this day primarily emphasizes women’s rights, achievements, and social roles; in Armenia the holiday has taken on a warmer, more family-oriented tone, becoming a unique occasion for expressing love and respect. This beautiful, festive period culminates on April 7, when the Armenian Apostolic Church celebrates the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This day is declared a day of blessing for mothers and women awaiting the joy of motherhood, valuing the image of the mother and the mission of women as givers of life. On these two days, long lines form especially at flower shops and men seem to compete with each other to see who will give the largest bouquet of flowers to his wife, lover and/or mother. 

This preface gives the beautiful impression that women are highly valued and respected in Armenia. But unfortunately, the reality does not paint such a beautiful picture. There is discrimination against women, and even more, there is violence. And it is not that these incidents are recorded only in the “backward” regions of the republic. They also exist in the capital Yerevan. Many people say beautiful things about women at dinner tables and drink toasts, but in real life they show the exact opposite attitude towards the female gender.

If we talk about discrimination, women often have difficulties when applying for a job, when advancing in the workplace, and when maintaining their job during pregnancy and childbirth. The picture is no different at home, where the first and last word is with the man, since this “female root” is probably in third place, giving way to the mother-in-law in second place. There are stereotypes about women, due to which women do not have sufficient participation in decision-making. Stereotypes are also one of the main factors contributing to violence against women.

There are so many examples of disrespect and violence against women in public life that one is momentarily stunned by the existence of such an attitude in our nation. If we only consider the news, we will notice how many cases of violence against women are committed in a week. Some of them happen not because the “victim” is a woman, but because she is the wife of a given man and the man gives himself the absolute right to treat the woman according to his “discretion”. Physical and verbal pressure and acts of violence have reached the point of murder. 

Domestic violence is often viewed as an exclusively family problem, and society believes that it should be resolved within the family. This approach makes women more vulnerable, as in many families the opinion of women remains ignored, and their rights are not properly protected.

According to a survey conducted in Armenia in December 2024, 35.7% of participants believe that in order to preserve the family, a woman must tolerate violence, and 27.7% believe that “women deserve to be beaten.” According to police data, the overwhelming majority of recorded cases of domestic violence are physical in nature, and 2/3 of these cases do not result in the initiation of criminal cases due to the lack of complaints from the injured party.

See Link 2 below

It should be noted that the formation of violence is conditioned by a variety of factors: low education level, witnessing violence between parents, child abuse, the presence of several partners or suspicion of a partner’s infidelity, alcohol use, and social norms that give men a “privileged” status and women a subordinate status.

The presentations give a clear idea of ​​​​the great need in Armenia to organize public campaigns to prevent violence that destroy stereotypes that justify violence. Within the framework of general sex education programs among young people, advocacy work based on the principle of gender equality should be carried out.

It is true that we are talking about Armenia, but this does not mean that similar phenomena do not exist in other countries of the world or that the picture is very different. We are simply interested in ourselves and in valuing women and their role at every opportunity. We need to change the stereotypes that have been fixed in everyone towards women and view women not only as individuals who obey the instructions of their father, brother or husband, who do housework flawlessly, who have an unimportant role in the family, and who are “natural” if they are subjected to insults and beatings.

On the other hand, we see that in the Republic of Armenia, women are entrusted  even with high-ranking state positions, such as the ministries of health, education, science, culture and physical education, justice, internal affairs, the positions of prosecutor general, human rights defender and head of the Foreign Intelligence Service, which is only a commendable phenomenon. It is commendable that the Armenian authorities believe in the important role of women in state-building, therefore, they promote the role of women in public and political life, which will certainly have a positive impact on increasing the value of women in society.

                              ***

A woman is not born only to give flowers on holidays. A woman is a flower not only for her beauty, but also for her endurance and uniqueness. Some bloom in the heat, while others in the most barren places, but all the same, they radiate their charm and skills. A woman, like a flower, shines naturally through the gentleness of her heart, the softness of her soul, and the powers hidden within her being.

 

Link 1: Լիւսի Տէօքմէճեան, Երևան, 28 ապրիլ 2025` Կինը ծաղիկ, թէ՞ ծաղիկ նուիրելու էակ։ https://keghart.org/deukmejian-woman-flower/

Link 2: Virgina Apelian: American Armenian Alliance Against Domestic Abuse (AAAaDA): https://vhapelian.blogspot.com/search?q=Domestic+abuse

 

Miss Chambers – The Beloved Missionary in Kessab

 By Vahe H. Apelian PhD, Columbus OH, USA, 4 November 2009

 

Missionary Effie Chamber courtesy Danette Hein-Snider

I first heard Miss Chambers’ name in my early teens. It may have been from my maternal grandmother or someone else of her generation in our extended family. My recollection puts me in company of family and friends in Keurkune seated cross-legged on the floor under the dim light of the kerosene lantern chatting of the bygones. Other than the endearing memories she had left behind, nothing else seems to have been known about her, not even her first name. She was simply the beloved Miss Chambers of the Kessabtsis who uttered her name in one breath and in local accent making Miss part of her name but not the title. 

My curiosity of her rekindled recently upon reading Haigaz Terterian’s article about the founding of the Kessab Educational Association in 1910. Haigaz, quoting Dr. Albert Apelian, makes reference to Miss Chambers’ positive influence in fostering education and learning in Kessab at the turn of the 20th century. Coupling her name with Kessab I embarked on a search trusting that the powerful Internet search engines Google and Bing will shed some light about her. Not only I found more than I was expecting, but I also serendipitously came across her grand niece’s email, a lady by the name of Danette Hein-Snider who has been doing research on her grand aunt’s life and has managed to gather quite a bit of material in way of photos, reports written from the field, newspaper articles, and personal letters. 

Mrs. Danette writes “She (Effie Chambers) first planned to enter the missionary field with her soon to be husband. But unfortunately he did not pass the physical, and so she had to make a choice to stay home and marry or go to the missionary field. She chose the missions and left her fiancé’ and never married. Her home was burned at least twice and her friends insisted that she come home, but she told them God sent her to the Armenians and He would tell her when she was supposed to leave, and until then she would live with them and care for them to the best of her ability.”

Her obituary states that “Miss Effie Chambers, fourth child of Mary and Harlow Chambers, was born 3 October 1863, at the family home north of Anderson (Iowa). She was one of eleven children, six daughters and five sons, seven preceding her in death. Her education was begun in a rural school close to this home and then moved to Sidney to enter the public school, where she prepared herself for teaching. At this time she united with the Presbyterian Church in Sidney under the pastorate of Rev. H. B. Dye. She taught in the Fremont County Schools, and then entered Iowa State Teachers College at Cedar Falls. Then she was given an appointment as teacher in the Creek Indian School in the Indian Territory, where she decided on Foreign Missions as her life’s work. To prepare herself for this work she entered Tabor College, receiving her diploma in June 1893, and was accepted by the Congregational Board of Foreign Missions, and in the fall of 1893 sailed for Turkey, in Asia. There she remained 19 years in the service of Christ.”

Miss Chambers did not go to Kessab when she first moved to Turkey. A report by the Woman’s Board of Missions in 1898 places Miss Effie Chambers in Ourfa. Ephraim K. Jernazian in his book Judgment Unto Truth: Witnessing the Armenian Genocide‬ translated into English by Alice Haig, places Miss Effie Chambers in Urfa in 1896. The 1905 Mission Studies: Woman’s Work in Foreign Lands, Volumes 23-24 report that Miss Chambers has gone to teach in the Aintab Seminary. Both Urfa (Ourfa) and Aintab, depopulated of their Armenian inhabitants now, had sizable Armenian populations then. 

The 1904 Annual Report of the American Commissioners of Foreign Mission, to the credit of the Kessabtsis reported the following: “Miss Chambers’ first year in Kessab has been a good one in spite of many trying circumstances. The people welcomed her coming with cordiality and have aided her in many ways. The people here are not close-bound by customs and are ready to learn and put into practice new things. The Sunday school has about a thousand pupils. Miss Chambers makes earnest request for another lady to join her in this promising work at kessab”. It is not known if another lady joined Miss Chamber. She stood alone in the memories of her contemporaries in Kessab. Her grandniece, Mrs. Danette reports that she found these verses in her writings: *Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ”. Galatians 6:2 *The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few.” Matthew 9:37

 
View Interactive Map

Thus we can safely conclude that Miss Effie Chambers arrived to Kessab in 1904 and remained there until her return to the United States in 1912 and thus endured the atrocities along with the rest of the Kessabtsis during the 1909 massacres. 

The New York Times on Monday April 26, 1909 reported the following: “Constantinople, April 25 – Dispatches reaching here from points in Asiatic Turkey bring tidings of Armenian and Turkish conflicts all over the country. Dr.JM Balph, who is in charge of the missions at Latakia, Syria, telegraphs that the refugees are arriving there from outlying parts of the district who report massacres and the burning of towns. He also reports that there are the gravest apprehensions concerning the conditions at Kessab where Miss Chambers is one of the missionaries”. Edward Latimer Beach in his autobiography titled ‪From Annapolis to Scapa Flow states that Miss Chamber’s presence in Kessab became a justifiable cause for foreign powers to interfere in Kessab and prevent further atrocities in protecting an American citizen. Dr. Albert Apelian in his book in Armenian entitled Kessab and its Villages states that 152 persons, mostly old and young were killed during the pogroms, 516 houses, 62 businesses and 4 churches were destroyed causing widespread despair.

After the atrocities Miss Chambers stayed with the Kessabtsis and worked to ameliorate their situation. The June 1911 Missionary Herald reports the following: “ With us in America the memory of the Armenian massacres of 1909 in the region of Adana may be becoming dim; on the ground the misery they entailed is very real and present. At Kessab they have yet no church building to replace the one that was destroyed, and Miss Effie Chambers is almost heart broken at finding no place where can be gathered the remnant of the church, further discouraged and burdened by the sufferings of a terrific winter. What is most needed is uplift of spiritual life, and this is hard to promote with no meeting place for worship and fellowship. If the money could be found for rebuilding, it would not only provide a sanctuary, but as well timely work for the people, to help them get their bread. Though the missionary herself with the rest is in need of clothes and a comfortable bed, the cry is not for these things, but for help that will prevent the passing of another winter without the blessing of a church home. It seems to this lone woman, tugging at her task, as though help for her distressed flock must come from those who are more abundantly provided with the aids and comforts of religion.”

The dire circumstances took a toll on Miss Chamber’s heath as well. Her obituary states that her health was so affected that she returned to the United States in the spring of 1912, where she spent several years lecturing for the cause of Foreign Missions. On Wednesday May 8, 1912 College Eye, a publication by the students of Iowa State Teachers College, reported that “Miss Effie Chambers who graduated from the Teachers College some thirty years ago is spending a few days in the city. Miss Chambers has been engaged in missionary work in Armenia for several years. It will be remembered that she is responsible for sending Bedros Apelian to the college to complete his education. Miss Chambers addressed the students on her work in Armenia at the regular prayer meeting hour last Sunday night”. After Iowa Rev Bedros Apelian continued his education at the Columbia University and served his calling on the east coast and among others officiated the wedding of Henry and Virginia Apelian on April 4, 1959. Miss Effie Chambers spent the remaining years of her life with her brother Will in the old family home where she died on October 3, 1947 at the age of 84 and was buried in Chambers cemetery, which was given to the community by her grandfather, Ezekiel Chambers, in the year 1857.

Thus ended the life of Miss Effie Chambers, who left an indelible and enduring impression on her contemporaries in kessab some of whom as pupils in her Sunday school or as young men and women carried her memory into their old age and passed it to the next generation. The legacy of her contribution to the Kessabtsis endured, however much like other unwritten stories, over time she faded into oblivion to have rightful place in the memories of the younger generations of Kessabtsis.

Reproduced from Keghart.com