Parnak Paulian
My maternal grandfather Parnak and his brother Garabed were craftsmen in the village of Efkere, a small community about 18 km northeast of Kayseri (Gesaria). They were in business as blacksmiths and scissor makers.
He and Grandma Filor were married while she was very young, and they lived with his parents, as was the custom. Fearing conscription into the Ottoman Army (where all Armenian men knew they might have to kill fellow Armenians), he fled to America. Upon arrival at Ellis Island in October, 1912, Parnak stated his occupation as “Ironman.” After at least four years in New York, he made his way to Detroit, where he requested exemption from military service due to “the orphans of his brothers and sisters.”
With other men from Efkere in Detroit, Parnak was a founder of the Efkere Orphans Society, a group most likely formed to track down the survivors. For five years they had been on the run, moving from camps to orphanages to marches in the desert to being “protected” by some Turks. Parnak’s survivors were his wife Filor, his sister (also named Filor), his brother Aram, four nieces (Manooshag, Degranu, Vartouhy, and Rose), and nephew Paul. All other family members perished or were lost. At this time Grandma Filor was probably 18 or 19.
Somehow Grandpa Parnak tracked them down and charged Grandma Filor with the task of rounding up the survivors and getting them on boats to America. Parnak traveled by train from Detroit to New York several times to pick everyone up.
My family has flourished in America because a very brave man never gave up his fight to rescue his wife, brother, sister and orphaned nieces. He did this without traveling back to what is now Turkey, no cell phones, no internet and likely through the American Red Cross, the AGBU and the Friends of Armenia. We come from brave and courageous stock and I will never forget this. Oh, how I wish I had asked Grandpa and Grandma more questions . . . .
Although I do not know for sure, I assume that my grandfather brought these scissors to America as evidence of his skill as a scissor maker. To my knowledge, he never worked as an Ironman in America. It appears he worked as a tailor in New York City where he studied to learn English. He remained in Detroit, Michigan the rest of his life. He became a very successful property owner and manager while raising his orphan nieces, and his own family, which includes my mother, his firstborn child.—Judy Ohannesian