| Date | Comment | Source |
|---|
| prior to 1893 | My Grandmother, Arpen, told a story
about how she liked to sneak snacks from the barrells of dried fruit
(esp. apricots) in the fruit cellar, even though her mother told her she
was not to do this. One day her mother hid behind the barrels and when
Arpen approached and began eating apricots she heard the scariest
monster groan she had ever heard in her life. She ran out of that basement completely terrified. | gi
2009-06-16 |
| 1897 | Began the trip to the US. The Turkish Gendarms were
rounding up men in the village of Van, taking them away from their
families never to return, or worse, raping and slaughtering everyone
in sight. One such Gendarm showed up at the Garoian residence. Uncle
Sahag hid my grandmother and her sister,
Armenouhi, in a closet with a gun to
their head in the case that painless deaths would be the best
option. Luckily the gendarms left without incident. As Pappa Messrop
Garoian had travelled ahead, the remaining entourage headed out for
America via covered wagon.
| " |
| " | The family, Arpeni, Armenouhi, mother Cayron and Uncle
Sahag were en route to Egypt as relatives were employed as servants in the
royal palace. Arpen was "tinkling" off the back of the covered wagon when
a strange caped man on horseback was seen in the distance behind them,
approaching at a gallop. It turned out to be Pappa Messrop.
| " |
| " | Soon after this they were in Egypt. As they
drove up to the entrance of the royal palace some palace guards offered
them bananas. Neither of the girls had ever seen bananas before. With
laughter Arpen remembered that her sister Armen ate the banana peel and
all. | " |
| " | Mother Cayron passed away during the trip. Cause
unknown. | " |
| 1897-04-05 |
Passage to US by ship, Le Bretagne, out of Le Havre, France
Link to ship records | gi 2018-08-17 |
| " | It was Pappa Messrop's
desire to enter a ladies equestrian garment in the St. Louis Worlds fair of
1904. He settled the family in St. Louis and did eventually enter and win
the event at the 1904 World's Fair. This led to the establishment of a successful
ladies tailoring shop. However upon arriving in St. Louis he placed his two girls
in an orphanage, "Edgewood", of Webster Groves, Missouri.
A list of "inmates", circa 1900
| " |
| 1972-08-15 | Interview with niece, Ellen Kandoian Sweeney
| gi 2023-07-13 |