April 24 in Armenia
“When the roots are strong, the tree will survive.”
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Summary: In 2007 I found my family tree (father’s father’s side) dating back 300+ years in a museum in Armenia and spent this April 24 meeting my long-lost relatives who are the keepers of the heirloom tray it was originally engraved on (!)
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I originally came to know of the family tree when I came to Armenia in 2007 with ACYOA Armenia Service Program. We visited the Museum of Ethnography in Yerevan where, luckily, my distant cousin from my dad’s mother’s side of the family, Paul Vartan Sookiasian pointed out to me that my last name was written around a bubble on a family tree displayed on the wall. I took a closer look and was flabbergasted to realize it contained familiar first names (sons are often named after grandfathers) and was from the village my dad’s side of the family originates. I took photos and returned to the US to show my dad and grandfather, but we still had no idea who made the family tree or why it was on the wall. My grandfather commented that he vaguely recalled hearing about a family tree preserved on an engraved tray.
Years later, my father discovered this website which revealed everything we needed to know about the tray and family tree: https://www.houshamadyan.org/oda/armenia/vorperian-collection-arm.html
The keeper of the tray is Eliza Vorperian, who continues her grandfather’s legacy of uniting the Vorperian clan which is now worldwide (Ethiopia, UK, Brazil, US, Lebanon, Australia, Armenia, France). Upon finding the website, I reached out to her on Facebook, and she informed me that she welcomes any descendant of the family tree to see the tray and have a photo with it and invited me to come the next time I was in Yerevan.
The tree is of the Vorperian clan, of which my father’s father’s line descends. I was always told by my late grandpa Sonny that our last name, Bonjuklian, stems from the Turkish word for bead, “boncuk” because a distant great-grandfather made a pilgrammage to Jerusalem, returned with beaded fabric of which they made clothing and his wife’s wedding dress, and the nickname stuck. The -ian of course means “son of.” According to the tree, it was my great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather Krikor who made that pilgrammage, as his son was the first “Bonjuklian,” changing the family name from Vorperian to Bonjuklian.
The tray was originally engraved around 1900–1910 in Malatya, the village where my dad’s parents’ families originate. The village is today in Turkey, as the Armenians living there were massacred and/or driven out. The tray was kept safe with a female member of the Vorperian family who was able to stay as she was not persecuted since she married into a family with a Turkish-sounding last name. It was then passed to her daughter. It was finally transported to other family members in Yerevan in the 1960s. Apparently, as soon as it arrived safely in Armenia and people heard of it, many museums called and expressed interest in displaying it, but the family refuses and keeps the original safe with them. A poster version is the one on display at the Museum of Ethnography in Yerevan.
I am extremely grateful for such a full circle experience on April 24. Special thanks to Talin Mirzaei for coming with me and translating and of course special thanks to Eliza Vorperian for being such a gracious host!! And now add to the above the fact that a US President FINALLY used the term “genocide” to describe the events my ancestors endured truly makes this April 24 one for the books!
Regarding the presidential recognition, I thank the individuals behind the “hai tahd” (Armenian Cause) efforts including the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA), ARF/AYF, and countless other organizations for working, campaigning, and pushing to make this happen.
Check out the official statement from the White House:
