Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Avakian History-My Grandmothers side of the family


Peter Avakian was my great grandfather. He lived in Harpoot Armenia which is where he was born.He fought the Turks in the mountains near his village. He joined a rebel army and encountered several battles before he was captured with his companions. They were to be shot the next morning but during the night the Turkish guard, who was an Armenian sympathizer let Peter and his companions escape into the night. He settled in Worcester, Massachusetts and learned english at night while working at factories and a leather shop in the daytime. He would send money to his family in hopes they could join him in this new land. His brothers Sahag and Simon and sister Anna, along with their families soon had enough to make the voyage over. His parents were killed in the Armenian Genocide. He married Dirooh Hagopian and moved to Lowell Massachusetts. Soon after that they moved to Lynn Massachusetts Where their 2nd daughter was born. In 1901 he moved to Fresno,Calif. because he heard it was like Armenia. He bought a 20 acre ranch on Monroe ave but later moved to Fowler, California and bought a 60 acre ranch there. He became a US citizen in 1906. My Grandmother Servart was his last child born in 1914.

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