The Sisian-Pilibosian Families

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I’m Margaret Vartanian. My family did not talk much about the Genocide. Some of them had come to America earlier, while others arrived afterwards, as survivors.

Around 1914 my maternal grandfather Seropbey Sisian, who was then in his early thirties, set off from his native town of Malatia for the growing Armenian community of Cleveland, Ohio. His wife Varter, daughter Mariam and son Bedros

found lodging with a Turkish farmer whose wife was Armenian.

Soon after Varter, who had fallen ill, passed away at the farm, the children were sent to a Protestant orphanage and were later transferred to Miss Jacobsen’s orphanage in Beirut.  It was three years before Seropbey was able to locate them. In 1925 they joined their father in Cleveland.

My paternal grandparents, Kevork and Margaret Pilibosian, sent their eldest son, Stephan, to find work in America, leaving Misak, my father, as the next son in line.

During the Genocide, Margaret, her sister Antaram, and their children were sent on a march. Misak’s sisters were abducted, perhaps by Kurds. When the other marchers were doused with gasoline and set aflame, Misak and his cousin Hagop escaped into the night. Hagop never forgot his mother’s voice calling his name as she was dying.

The boys survived with help from Protestant missionaries. Although my father would say nothing more of his experience, Hagop left a memoir, which I recently uncovered.

Growing up, I felt hatred for what the Turks did to the Armenians, but now I would like to know more about the Turkish farm family that helped my mother, uncle, and grandmother Varter. If not for that family, I would not be here today. I also wonder if my grandmother received a proper burial.