Armenian Church Rangoon: The Lost Name

Those of you interested in the Armenian community of Rangoon will be familiar with the church name of St. John the Baptist. What is less well known, is the name of the original church. The following may be something my Armenian genealogy friends and followers may find useful.

 

Quite by chance, I was reviewing an issue of the Armenian paper Azgaser with my good friend and Indio-Armenia co-ordinator, Karen Mkrtchyan, whose passion for anything India Armenian related is equal, if not more than my own.  The publication was dated March 1849. Inside was a copy of a letter sent to Ter Carapiet Aviet Hakobian by the leading members of the Armenian community in Rangoon dated 19 January, 1849, thanking him for his service with the community for the last 5 years. It also went on to mention that Ter Harutyun Hakobian Ter Karapietian has arrived to replace him as the parish priest. But the most exciting part for me, was the fact this is the church the community used prior to the devastating fire of 1850, when it, and all that it contained, was lost in that ferocious inferno. The original valuable church registers would have gone up in flames, removing any permanent record of who made up the early Armenian community in Rangoon. See an earlier story I wrote on Elizabeth Carapiet Jacob.

 

Colesworthy Grant sketched the spire of the Armenian Church Rangoon, built of wood, reputedly in 1766. It is the only known sketch of the church prior to the fire in 1850.  From his book: “A Rough Trip to Rangoon in 1846”.

 

Precious pieces of history found in a thank-you letter.

 

1.       The names of two serving priests who pre-date anything previously known about Rangoon

2.       The names of leading members of the Armenian community in Rangoon

3.       The full name of the Armenian Church Rangoon, which, until now, had been lost in the passage of time.

 

Those members of the community were: [anglicized names in square brackets]

 

Senior Deacon Gabriel Yeghiazarian
Stephanos A. Malkhasian [Stephen A. Malchus]
Nikoghayos A. Hovhannes [Nicholas A. Johannes]
Arakiel Ter Minasian [Arakiel Ter Minas]
Karapet Hakobian [Carapiet Jacob]
Avet Bijan Simon [Aviet Bijohn Simon]
Harutyun Abraham of Shiraz [Arratoon Abraham]
Yesayi Manukian [Essai Manuk]
Stephanos Harutyunian [Stephen Arratoon]
Grigor Sargis Manukian [Gregory Sarkies Manuk]
Grigor Hovhannes of Shiraz[Gregory Johannes]
S. G Hakobian [S.G. Jacob]
Kh. H. Harutyun [possibly Catchick H. Arratoon]
Harutyun K. Zakarian [Arratoon K. Zacharia]
Petros Grigorian [Peter Gregory]
Karapet Makchertich Harutyunian [Carapiet Mackertich Arratoon]
Ghevond M. Avetoomian [Levon M. Avetoom]
Alexianos Ter Gevorg [Alexander Ter George]
Hovhannes Sarkies, [Johannes Sarkies] caretaker, Sourb Astvatsatsin Armenian Church.

Sourb Astvatsatsin translates to Սուրբ Աստվածածին Holy Mother of God.

 

This is unequivocal evidence the Armenian Church Rangoon, prior to the St. John The Baptist Church name, was called Holy Mother of God. It could be said that it was named after what is now the oldest surviving church in Yerevan. 

 

From a brief note of gratitude from the members of the community, thanking Ter Carapiet for his service with them in the past 5 years, and from which they have largely benefited; they went on to expressed their heartfelt gratitude and passed on their good wishes to him for his future endeavours; so much new and important information has been gleaned.

 

With the original registers destroyed in 1850, the community started new registers when the replacement church was built in 1862. Bad luck would strike this church again 80 years later and the newly created original registers for St. John the Baptist Church were also destroyed, this time during WW2.  Between 1942 and 1946 the community was evacuated from Rangoon owing to the war.  There was no church or priest and the damaged church was reconstructed and consecrated in June 1948. In the 1950’s, Johannes Stephen valiantly attempted to re-create the birth/baptism, marriage and death/burial registers purely from the recollections and physical contributions of the remaining members of the Armenian Community in Rangoon, as well as those who had settled in other places around the world. There are, of course, many gaps in the records, making it frustrating for family history researchers. Had it not been for this third attempt to record the community, it would be impossible to know who had ever lived and worked in Rangoon from the Armenian community.

 

For those interested, I have recently donated some transcriptions of the death/burial records, which form part of the re-constructed register created by Johannes Stephen, for the Armenian community of Rangoon. These have been given to FIBIS and can be found here. 

 

In addition, about 15 years ago, I donated Armenian baptism transcriptions and translations to FIBIS for the Armenian community of Calcutta for the dates 1793-1859, extracted by me from the original registers.These can be found here. 

 

 

Armenians in Calcutta, True Population: Snapshot View of the Early 19th Century

Have you ever wondered about the number of Armenians who lived in Calcutta during the 19th century? 

Many people think it was actually more than just a few hundred. In fact it can be seen from these figures, that it really was only just a few hundred. 

Originally extracted from the Armenian Church Registers of the Holy Nazareth Church Calcutta, this snapshot gives a far more realistic picture of the Armenian minority community of the city. Compiled from the Statistics of the Colonies of the British Empire, 1839.

In 1814 there were 464 Armenians in Calcutta
In 1815 there were 480 Armenians in Calcutta
In 1836 there were 505 Armenians in Calcutta

Saving The Soul of a Past Community

The Armenian Church of Holy Resurrection, Dhaka, Bangladesh

In association with the Armenian Church of Holy Resurrection in Dhaka, Bangladesh, I am pleased to announce the launch of a truly admirable, worthy and very important new heritage project.

This is a global appeal. We are very keen to make this project a community/Diaspora driven venture. We want to appeal to everyone who ever had a connection with the Armenian community in Dhaka Bangladesh. There is little or no history of the community left, we want to try and build the stories, starting from the ground up. The Armenian communities of Bangladesh and India often worked together, regularly moving between the two locations. It is our hope that people with India connections will contribute too.

At our recent launch we issued the following press release.

The Armenian Church in Dhaka Bangladesh is embarking on an exciting, ambitious and unique community and history project.

The church has existed in Dhaka for over 200 years and its community played an important mercantile role in the history of this wonderful country of Bangladesh.

The Church wardens and committee have already completed an extensive refurbishment programme of the building and structure. This renovation process will continue to be ongoing to ensure the Armenian Church will maintain a presence in Bangladesh for many years to come.  The committee now wishes to move to the next phase of the development, and it is hoped that it will be community driven.

Here at the Armenian Church in Dhaka we would like to reach out to the Armenian Diaspora around the globe, particularly those who have family connections to India and Bangladesh.  We would like to invite anyone with a past connection to Dhaka, no matter how small, to get in touch.  We would particularly like to hear from those who might have personal items or memorabilia they would be willing to share with us in digital form. Perhaps your family played a role in the jute industry in the 19^th or 20^th centuries maybe even earlier? Do you have stories, photographs, items of interest that we could help build the history of the community on? Where did your family live, what social activities did they attend, who were their friends, what did they feel about their lives in Bangladesh?

We are keen to reconstruct the history, family stories and vibe of this by-gone era of the Armenian presence in Bangladesh, but we can’t do it without YOUR help?

There are many well known Armenian families with a historical connection to Dhaka and Bangladesh, do you know, or have connections with any Agabeg, Agacy, Aganoor, Apcar, Arathoon, Aviet, the famous Beglar family, Bagram, Basil, Carapiet, Catchick, Catchatoor, Chater, David, Gasper, Gregory, Harney’s, Harapiet, Johannes, Joachim, Lucas, Mackertich, Malchus, Manook, Marcar, Michael, Martyrose, Minas, Nahapiet, Petros, Pogose, Sarkies, Seth, Shircore, Stephanuse, Vertannes, Zorab.

These are just a few of the family names with links to the area.

We would really like to hear from anyone with an association, we are determined to make this a community project with as many digital contributions as people will generously make.

We will produce a book containing all your wonderful stories and items, and all donors will be acknowledged on the dedicated “thank you” page as well as permanently on our new website.

Our co-ordinator for this project is Liz Chater who, through her experience in her work and research with Armenian family history in India, will carefully and sensitively bring all the elements of it together.

To contribute please contact:
armenianchurchbangladesh@gmail.com

We are very excited and are looking forward to working with the Diaspora on this unique venture.

You can also find us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

www.armenianchurchbangladesh.com