BODIGIAN and KARAKOTCHIAN from Constantinople

[Gossypium]

Grateful if anyone can add any further records from Constantinople of the surnames BODIGIAN and KARAKOTCHIAN and PAPAZIAN which may be from elsewhere in Turkey.

Haroutine BODIGIAN b 1853 Turkey, d 1924 Amersham BKM ENG married bef 1886 Maritza KARAKOTCHIAN b 1853 Turkey d 1934 Hampstead LND ENG

They had three children:

1. Arshag BODIGIAN b 1886 Constantinople, Turkey, d 1944 Watford HRT ENG married 1918 in England Alice Julia NASH b 1896 Amersham BKM ENG

2. Vartouhy BODIGIAN b 1888 likely Constantinople, Turkey, d 1943 San Mateo, CA,USA married abt 1902 likely in Turkey Henry PAPAZIAN b 1868 Turkey d bef 1920 likely in CA, USA

3. Assadour Artin BODIGIAN b 1891 likely Constantinople, Turkey, d 1955 likely Berkeley, Alameda co, CA,USA married abt 1929 in CA, USA Jessie Morrison MARSHALL b 1894 CA, USA d 1967 Nice, France

Jack born as Jacob, son of Henry PAPAZIAN and Vartouhy BODIGIAN married Emmy BAZIKIAN dau of Mourad BAZIKIAN and Siroun PARTHOGOMOSSIAN.

Jack's younger brother Henry married Adrine ANIVIAN whose mother's maiden surname was VARTABEDIAN.

Vartouhy, Ruby, Jack, Emmy, Henry and Adrine are all buried in a family mausoleum at the Greek Orthodox Memorial Park, Colma, San Mateo county, California.

[Old Bristolian]

Hi Nick

You may know this already, but with names like these ending in -IAN the families are almost certainly of Armenian descent

Steve

[mazzie74]

Hi Nick,

have you seen this naturalisation record:-

NATIONALITY AND NATURALISATION: Bodigian, Arshag, from the Ottoman Empire (Armenia). Resident in Pinner, Mdx. Certificate 13075 issued 3 March 1926.

Thanks,

Darin, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England.

[Sharon01]

Hi,

Don't know if you have this from the Ellis Island arrival lists

Assadour Bodigian
Date of Arrival 01 Oct 1923
Age at Arrival 31y
Ethnicity:
Port of Departure  Constantza
Port of Arrival  New York
Gender  Male
Marital Status  S
Ship of Travel  Constantinople

Sharon

[Gossypium]

Thanks Steve, Darin and Sharon

Yes, Arshag's daughter and granddaughter visited the National Archives at Kew last month to see the Naturalisation Papers which is why I thought it would be interesting to discover more information about this very interesting and respected family.  Arshag wrote letters published in "The New Age" in 1915 which are found on the www about the persecution of Armenians by the Turks which is why Arshag emigrated to England and brought his parents over.  His brother Assadour and sister Vartouhy went to America.

It will be interesting to hear from anybody who has researched family history in Constantinople and knows how to find records of baptisms and marriages there.

[Bluebird Research]

Hi, I have done Armenian research professionally and I have to tell you that current prospects are not good if, as in your case, ancestors came from what is today Turkey (whereas Armenian genealogical research in Armenia, Georgia and elsewhere is feasible). Many records do not survive; any that do survive seem inaccessible. Some records were taken to Yerevan during the 1915 Genocide or later events such as the great population exchange (which affected Armenians as well as Greeks). But the chances of finding anything for a family are always slim.

Bluebird

[Gossypium]

Thanks Bluebird

The LDS filmed parish registers of the Armenian Apostolic Church, Patriarchate of Istanbul:

http://www.familysearch.org/eng/library/fhlcatalog/supermainframeset.asp?display=authordetails&authorno=240166&name=Armenian+Apostolic+Church.+Patriarchate+of+Istanbul%2C+null&columns=*,0,0

http://www.familysearch.org/eng/library/fhlcatalog/supermainframeset.asp?display=titlefilmnotes&columns=*%2C0%2C0&titleno=207023&disp=Parish+registers++

The LDS and partnering organisations have various indexing projects in progress which do not appear yet to include registers of the Armenian Apostolic Church.  The LDS welcomes volunteer transcribers:

http://www.familysearch.org/eng/indexing/frameset_indexing.asp

So parish registers exist, but do not appear to have been indexed which would make them easy to search.

[Bluebird Research]

Hi Nick

My understanding is that those filmed by the LDS represent but a tiny proportion of the whole. You may of course be lucky if your ancestors came from a parish for which there are surviving records of the right dates, and let's hope so.

It is almost certain that there are additional records in Turkish state archives but where there are, how they are catalogued if at all, and how accessible they are, I do not know.
At the moment, I believe that a majority of the pre-1920s records for the Armenian communities across Anatolia will have been destroyed. It would be great to be proved wrong and to find out that there are undiscovered records in Turkey, or that known records become more accessible, over the next few years.

Bluebird

[sarah bod sharpe]

Hello, I am Sarah Bodigian-Sharpe. Arshag Bodigian's granddaughter. I may be able to help you with some information. Very new to this rootchat.