Saving The Soul of a Past Community

The Armenian Church of Holy Resurrection, Dhaka, Bangladesh

In association with the Armenian Church of Holy Resurrection in Dhaka, Bangladesh, I am pleased to announce the launch of a truly admirable, worthy and very important new heritage project.

This is a global appeal. We are very keen to make this project a community/Diaspora driven venture. We want to appeal to everyone who ever had a connection with the Armenian community in Dhaka Bangladesh. There is little or no history of the community left, we want to try and build the stories, starting from the ground up. The Armenian communities of Bangladesh and India often worked together, regularly moving between the two locations. It is our hope that people with India connections will contribute too.

At our recent launch we issued the following press release.

The Armenian Church in Dhaka Bangladesh is embarking on an exciting, ambitious and unique community and history project.

The church has existed in Dhaka for over 200 years and its community played an important mercantile role in the history of this wonderful country of Bangladesh.

The Church wardens and committee have already completed an extensive refurbishment programme of the building and structure. This renovation process will continue to be ongoing to ensure the Armenian Church will maintain a presence in Bangladesh for many years to come.  The committee now wishes to move to the next phase of the development, and it is hoped that it will be community driven.

Here at the Armenian Church in Dhaka we would like to reach out to the Armenian Diaspora around the globe, particularly those who have family connections to India and Bangladesh.  We would like to invite anyone with a past connection to Dhaka, no matter how small, to get in touch.  We would particularly like to hear from those who might have personal items or memorabilia they would be willing to share with us in digital form. Perhaps your family played a role in the jute industry in the 19^th or 20^th centuries maybe even earlier? Do you have stories, photographs, items of interest that we could help build the history of the community on? Where did your family live, what social activities did they attend, who were their friends, what did they feel about their lives in Bangladesh?

We are keen to reconstruct the history, family stories and vibe of this by-gone era of the Armenian presence in Bangladesh, but we can’t do it without YOUR help?

There are many well known Armenian families with a historical connection to Dhaka and Bangladesh, do you know, or have connections with any Agabeg, Agacy, Aganoor, Apcar, Arathoon, Aviet, the famous Beglar family, Bagram, Basil, Carapiet, Catchick, Catchatoor, Chater, David, Gasper, Gregory, Harney’s, Harapiet, Johannes, Joachim, Lucas, Mackertich, Malchus, Manook, Marcar, Michael, Martyrose, Minas, Nahapiet, Petros, Pogose, Sarkies, Seth, Shircore, Stephanuse, Vertannes, Zorab.

These are just a few of the family names with links to the area.

We would really like to hear from anyone with an association, we are determined to make this a community project with as many digital contributions as people will generously make.

We will produce a book containing all your wonderful stories and items, and all donors will be acknowledged on the dedicated “thank you” page as well as permanently on our new website.

Our co-ordinator for this project is Liz Chater who, through her experience in her work and research with Armenian family history in India, will carefully and sensitively bring all the elements of it together.

To contribute please contact:
armenianchurchbangladesh@gmail.com

We are very excited and are looking forward to working with the Diaspora on this unique venture.

You can also find us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

www.armenianchurchbangladesh.com

Restored and Ignored: The Armenian Cemetery at Hyderabad is Neglected Once Again

I write this post out of sheer frustration and exasperation.

In 2009 I wrote about the appalling conditions the Armenian Cemetery at Hyderabad was in then. Prior to that, the late Omar Khalidi had written about its poor state in 2005. In 2010 I again wrote about the neglect this cemetery received. A year ago, with much fanfare, hype and numerous press releases the cemetery had at last, been given the longed for attention it deserved. This was the perfect opportunity to restore and preserve the derelict but historically important Armenian cemetery in Hyderabad. A press statement said: “….the Department of Archaeology and Museums has not only spent Rs. 25 Lakh for renovation but also have played a key role in the ongoing efforts directed at preservation of the Armenian Cemetery at Uppuguda…”

Images courtesy of the Armenian College Website

But alas! Here we are in December 2016, a year on and once again, it can be found in the most dreadful of conditions.

No basic preservation work has been done in this cemetery since December 2015 when the Armenian Ambassador for India and Fr. Zaven of the Armenian Church in India visited the site. Mr. Rao the Chief Minister’s Office principal advisor in Hyderabad “conducted a round table discussion where very constructive views and suggestions were exchanged on all three sides on the subject of reviving the Armenian connection with the city of Hyderabad and the state of Telengana within the context of 21^st century. He went on to assure the visiting Pastor and the Ambassador that full co-operation and assistance shall be extended by the government at all times to Armenians who are keen to reconnect with their past in Hyderabad……..”

It is incredible to think that authorities are prepared to let a slice of Armenian history evaporate in the wind. And nobody seems to mind or care.

And which genius decided that painting numbers of the historical stones was the best way of cataloguing them?

This is the grave and tomb of Arakiel of Denbez. Anno 1691. (1645 A.D.).

For 300+ years this tombstone has survived in tact without adverse effects by the weather, It has survived everything the harsh Indian climate can throw at it and then man decided he needed to paint a number on it. Paint? Why on earth was paint used on this tombstone? Why couldn’t someone create a small marker and place it beside the grave and photograph that for identification purposes? Who decided that numerical graffiti is acceptable on historical Armenian grave markers?

More paint on the graves in Hyderabad.
This grave inscription has worn away but that still doesn’t make it acceptable to daub paint on it.

This cemetery deserves genuine long term care, preservation and respect. Not just for a photo opportunity for the great and good to give themselves a pat on the back, but daily care. Armenians have lost so much history already we should not be complicit in allowing more to disappear.

Hyderabad could perhaps learn from the authorities in Agra. The Armenian cemetery and the surrounding area are constantly in magnificent condition. Agra has the Martyrose Chapel and some tombstones as old, if not older than those in Hyderabad. Their condition is remarkable and the authorities in Agra seem to truly understand the importance of what is in their care.

Once again, let us all hope that the Armenian cemetery in Hyderabad can be respected and maintained on a long term basis and not just for a photo opportunity. Perhaps the Archaeology Department could invest some of the time it so readily promised last year, into a genuine long term preservation programme?

De Vine Intent: How an Armenian Widow From Calcutta Was Caught In A Web Of Lies Deceit And Deception

For those who missed this incredible story from 2014: "De Vine Intent: How an Armenian Widow From Calcutta Was Caught In A Web Of Lies Deceit And Deception" 

I am posting the link to the piece here.  It is such an intense saga it deserved its own blog. Bigamy, double dealing, lies and a marriage to the daughter of his late Armenian wife, and every bit of the story is true.

The Indian Armenian connection to this story is Sarah Amelia Apcar. She was a granddaughter of the founder of the famous Calcutta based Apcar & Co shipping line Arratoon Gregory Apcar. Sarah was the daughter of Apcar Aratoon Apcar and his wife Anna. She was born on the 30th December 1843 [read more] ...

Lost And Forgotten: Who Buried The Armenian Bishop?

Parish register transcripts from the Presidency of Bombay, 1709-1948.

Two anonymous Armenian burials and an Armenian Bishop in Bombay in 1810 almost lost amongst the many deaths of soldiers from various regiments.

Extract of a burial register for Bombay 1810

Indian registers hold basic details, no other record exists today for these long forgotten individuals. This is a sanitised return with no further information as to where and what circumstances they were buried.

An unknown Armenian man buried on the 9th October, the next day an Armenian Bishop named Mackertich and later in the month on the 28th another Armenian name unknown.  Were they buried by an Armenian priest, according to Armenian rites? It is impossible to know. There does not seem to be any kind of newspaper report for them and indeed it is difficult to know how “name unknown” could have possibly received an Armenian burial. 

The Armenian Church registers for that period in Bombay have long since gone so there are no original birth, marriage or death records of the old Armenian community save for what can be garnered from papers, documents, newspapers in repositories around the world. 

As for the Bishop Mackertich buried by someone just as anonymous as him, today he lies somewhere in the ground of a bustling Bombay, in an unknown location, long forgotten, no one to remember him but for 4 words in an old register “The Armenian Bishop Mackertich”.

Lest we forget.

Armenian From Madras: 1808 Sarquis Agavelly, An Indian Armenian Lost In the Passage of Time.

The small church at St. Thomas's Mount Chennai
(Madras) has been well cared for over the years.
The influence of the Armenians and the legacy
of Sarquis Agavelly can be clearly
seen in both the altar and the pulpit.

He may have passed but his legacy lives on in the 21st Century in a small quiet church in Chennai.

It would appear that it is a rather overlooked fact that a Madras Armenian built the pulpit at the church at St. Thomas's Mount, Chennai which is a national shrine.

Extracted from Sarquis Satur Agavelly’s Will dated Madras 1808:

“…….It is my will and desire that on my decease and after the performance of all the ceremonies rites ordained by the Armenian church my body to be taken to the church at St. Thomas’s Mount and there buried under the pulpit which was made by my Uncle the late Sarquis Agavelly and a tomb stone be put on my grave with proper inscription in the Armenian and Latin languages……….”

The will
The statement 
The church
The pulpit 
The grave

 Perfect genealogical provenance

The more well known and popular fact is that the Madras Armenian Petrus Woskan (aka Uscan) built the steps at St. Thomas Mount but who knew its pulpit was made by the hand of another Armenian?

More Genealogical Gems From The Recently Released Records of the British Library Now Online

These two images are a snapshot of the medical records of two separate Sarkies family members who went on to have very successful careers as a surgeons. Here you can see the letter of character recommendation as written by the Armenian Church Calcutta, and a rare view of an original Armenian baptism certificate issued from the same church.

The records are full of thousands of interesting and useful pieces of information, you just need to be patient and interrogate them with an open mind. The search engine isn't as good as Ancestry, so to some extent you must use creative thinking to find what you are after.

There are approximately 2.5 million records from the British Library now on line - Armenian ancestry and records have never looked so good.