Hamparzoum Arzoumanian Papers, 1896-1971 (majority within 1903-1906)

Summary

Creator:

Arzoumanian, Hamparzoum, 1866-1909

Abstract:

Hunchakian Party activist, member of the Central Executive, orator and field worker in Persia, Tsarist Russia, London, various American cities (Boston, Worcester, New York, Waukegan, East St. Louis, Detroit, etc.) and Brantford, Canada. The collection includes family documents and official papers and photographs, correspondence with family, party founders, members of the Central Executive, chapters and members in Persia, Russia, Europe, the US; party circulars, reports and communiqués registry of fighters and groups, minutes and agendas, poems, notes, print material, poster.

Extent:

1 linear ft.

Language:

Armenian, with some English language material

Authors:

Collection processed and finding aid created by Nora Nercessian and Kathleen Dow

Background

Scope and Content:

The first part of the Hamparzoum Arzoumanian Collection consists of family documents and official papers, birth, marriage, naturalization and death certificates, in memoriam notices, visas/passports, photographs, correspondence between Hamparzoum Arzoumanian, his wife Sona Arzoumanian and family members and other personal correspondence of Hamparzoum and Sona Arzoumanian with friends, students. These provide a sequence of events and dramatic circumstances in Hamparzoum Arzoumanian's personal life that begin in historic Armenia in 1866, through Persia, Russia, and Europe, and end in America in 1909.

The emphasis in the collection is in the Hunchakian Party Activities and Materials in the latter part of the collection. These emphasize the scope and content of Arzoumanian's involvement in the Hunchakian Party, his commitment to its socialist ideology and determination to help the cause of the liberation of Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire. Correspondence with party members, party circulars, reports and communiqués refer to the organization of party chapters from the Caucasus to the US; the rift in the party between those dedicated to Socialism as part of the party ideology and those who insisted on eliminating the socialist ideology of the founders as irrelevant, even harmful, to the struggle of Ottoman Armenians; tensions between the party Center in London and the Regional Executive Committee in the US; party publications and content of official party organs in Geneva, Switzerland and Boston, Massachusetts; fund raising for party operations, and the organization of volunteer detachments of fighters. This section also provides information about the life of Armenian immigrants in the US, their efforts to organize communities and their commitment to help liberate Armenians in Turkey.

A series of envelopes in the collection reflect the wide geographical area to which Arzoumanian was connected, including: Tabriz (Persia), Bucharest (Romania), London, Paris, New York, Boston, Rustchuk and Varna (Bulgaria), Montreal (England), Tbilisi (Republic of Georgia), Khazakh, Odessa and Novorossirsk (Tsarist Russia), Alexandria (Egypt), Malta and Berlin.

The collection consists of 474 items, spanning the years between 1896 and 1910; items vary from one page to 11 pages. All but the few newspaper clippings, printed matter and fragments are in manuscript form, in a variety of Armenian dialects.

Biographical / Historical:

From Gandzak, Historic Armenia to Tabriz, Persia (1866-1896)

According to documents in the Arzoumanian archives, as well as information provided by the family, Hamparzoum Arzoumanian (or Arzoumaniants, as he is sometimes called) was born in 1866, in Gandzak, historic Armenia. During the Tsarist rule of Russia the city was known as Elizavetpol, then as Kirovabad during the Soviet period, and finally as Ganja, in present day Azerbaijan.

Information about his early life and family is scant. In one document, his father's first name was Charles (English for Garabed), and his mother's name was Violet (English for Manoushag), and both parents were born, and lived in Armenia. One piece of correspondence reveals that he had at least two siblings: a brother, Mejloum, and a sister, Varsenig. They were residents of Gandzak until ca. 1904. It appears that they later moved to Yelendorf, present day Goygol in Azerbaijan.

He was educated in Tbilisi, then part of Tsarist Russia (present day capital of the Republic of Georgia), and probably at the Nersissian Lyceum in Tbilisi, one of the preeminent Armenian schools in Tbilisi. According to the family, he also received a formal education as a Protestant minister. He later appears in Tabriz, Persia, where he was a member of the faculty of the Presbyterian Missionary School.

On June 15, 1892, he married Sona Babakhanian, a student at the Presbyterian Missionary School in Tabriz. Sona Babakhanian was born in 1876, in the village of Maragha in Persia. She was 15 years old at the time of her marriage. Information about her early life and family is also scant. According to the information in her passport, her father's name was Ovanes, and a few pieces of correspondence suggest that she had at least one sibling: Shushan, a sister, resident of Tbilisi.

Their first child, Hamazasp (Harry), was born on March 15, 1893, in Tabriz, Persia. The second child, Lucine (Lucy), was born in 1895, also in Tabriz, Persia.

Hamparzoum and Sona Arzoumanian were dedicated members of the Social Democratic Hunchakian Party founded in 1887 in Geneva, Switzerland, by seven Russian-Armenian students. This was the first Armenian revolutionary organization to be formed for the liberation of Turkish Armenia and the building up of socialism, simultaneously, through revolution and armed struggle.

Hamparzoum Arzoumanian served the party for more than 20 years, possibly starting from his student days in Tbilisi, one of the first cities where the Hunchakian Party was organized. When the party was established in Persia in 1891-1892 he was already a Hunchakian Party field worker in Tabriz. Because of its geographical proximity to Turkey on the one hand and the Caucasus on the other, Tabriz became an ideal center for the training of detachments of volunteer fighters and an indispensable conduit for the transportation of guns and ammunition to Armenians living in Ottoman Turkey.

From Tabriz to St. Petersburg, Russia (1896-1897)

The following year, in early fall, 1896, Hamparzoum Arzoumanian left Tabriz--without the family--and very soon after Hunchakian Party fighters and intellectuals had attempted to cross into the historic Armenian city of Van, across the border in Turkey. The sources mention two field workers--Nigol and Hairabed (possibly an alias)--who were originally from the Karabagh region, as being part of the detachment. Nigol was in fact Arzoumanian's life-long friend and comrade in arms, whose many letters are still extant in the archives. The expeditions failed, many of its members were decimated and the authorities on both sides of the border hunted down the surviving members and organizers. If Hamparzoum Arzoumanian was involved in these operations, it may explain his sudden departure, without his family, from Tabriz into Russia.

His path and destination can be deduced from the official seals in his passport, issued under the alias Ardevin Chamshtigian. He seems to have first crossed into Nakhichevan, then part of Tsarist Russia (present day Azerbaijan) on September 7, 1896, probably via old Julfa in Nakhichevan. The next seal in chronological order is dated October 6, 1896, signed by the Vice Consul of Persia in the Russian provinces of Tersk and Dagestan (northern Caucasus) suggesting that he next went, or passed through, the northern Caucasus. According to the date on the next seal, he arrived in St. Petersburg two weeks later, on October 20, 1896.

A few months later, on February 3, 1897, he had registered in Vyborg, Russia (present day Finland) located 130 kilometers from St. Petersburg. The date on the next seal, in chronological order, is May 13, 1897, the date of his exit from Russia. This is the same date that appears in Sona Arzoumanian's official document as well, which states that she left St. Petersburg on May 13, 1897.

Yet two more seals, dated October 12, 1897, and December 12, 1897, state that on those dates he registered in Vyborg, Russia. According to the family, Sona Arzoumanian and the children had left Tabriz and met her husband in Nakhchevan in 1896. This is confirmed by one piece of correspondence in the archives, according to which Hamparzoum Arzoumanian traveled from St. Petersburg to Nakhichevan, and then back to St. Petersburg. In Sona Arzoumanian's official documents, an official seal testifies to the fact that she arrived in St. Petersburg on February 24, 1897, and probably with her husband. According to the information provided by the family, at the time of their stay in Russia, the Arzoumanian family was in hiding.

From St. Petersburg to London and New York (1897-1902)

Between St. Petersburg and their final destination of New York, there were two more stops. The first was London, where the Central Executive body, or the Center, of the Hunchakian Party was located. It is unclear how long they stayed in London. But sometime in late September or early October they arrived in Nova Scotia, Canada via the Cunard Line, and then in Montreal, Canada, where they stayed with their friend Mr. Hamparzoum Dserounian, a college student in Montreal. According to the family, Sona Arzoumanian had been asked to bring with her to Montreal a woman and her children whose husband lived in Montreal; this was probably Mr. Dserounian. They arrived in New York City in October 1897 by train from Montreal, approximately five months after they had left St. Petersburg.

Although it is believed that the entire family arrived in New York City in October 1897, the two seals in Hamparzoum Arzoumanian's passport--showing him as registered in Vyborg on October 12 and December 12, 1987--suggest that he may not have accompanied the family to North America at that point. One possible explanation is that he sent the family off to North America ahead of him in September 1897 while he returned to Russia.

In the next few years, according to the information provided by the family, the Arzoumanians lived in New York City from October 1897 to June 1898. Their third child, daughter Lorig (Loretta) was born in New York City in January 1898. From 1898-1899 they lived in Newark, New Jersey, and then in Worcester, Massachusetts from 1900 to the spring of 1902.

A document in the archives suggests that in the fall of 1901 Hamparzoum Arzoumanian returned to London as a delegate to attend the third world congress of the party, which began at the end of September and ended in March 1902. It is not clear if the family accompanied him.

Return to London (Spring 1902-November 1903)

On May 2, 1902, Hamparzoum Arzoumanian received an invitation to serve on the Central Executive of the Hunchakian Party in London, the highest position in the party hierarchy. It appears that he relocated to London with the family soon after May. Envelopes addressed to him in London carried the aliases of Mr. John Smith, Mr. Bellart, and Mr. Lambert. During his stay in London he made at least one trip to Russia, to the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk, in August 1902 to strengthen the party there, to raise funds for future operations and to gather support among Armenians there about the Hunchakian Party and its mission.

His tenure in London coincided with the growing strife within the party and its eruption in the fall of 1903. The split of the party into two factions, one that was determined to maintain the Socialist principles of the founders and another faction that wished to eliminate it from the party ideology, eventually led to a series of assassinations in various cities in Russia, the US and Europe, including London. Hamparzoum Arzoumanian belonged to the first faction and was a committed socialist. It appears that in October 1903 an attempt was made on his life in London, but failed due to the fog; another man was killed instead. On November 6 two young men, probably his close associates, were assassinated. The archive includes their In Memoriam card.

Return to North America: Boston, Waukegan, Brantford (Canada), Yonkers, New York (December 1903-Fall 1907)

According to one piece of correspondence, Hamparzoum had preferred to go back--after situating his family safely in the US--to his home town of Gandzak to mobilize detachments and raise funds to care for all the needs of the planned expedition into Van, Turkey, and was prepared to face his own death. But that plan did not materialize. He had also proposed to return to Persia and to the Caucuses as a field worker, but those plans did not materialize, either.

The Arzoumanians left London for the US on November 20, 1903, and relocated in Boston, Massachusetts, where they seem to have stayed until early winter of 1905. By February 1905, the family had followed him to Waukegan, Illinois, where he had been working to develop party chapters in the Midwest. While in Waukegan, Hamparzoum Arzoumanian became a naturalized citizen, on November 7, 1904. One year later their fourth child, son Hrach (Herbert) was born, on November 4, 1905. The birth certificate describes the occupation of the father as 'laborer.' At the time of his naturalization, he assumed the name of Hampo Asman. Before leaving Waukegan, an arsonist set fire to their home while the family was at home.

In early 1904 the Center in London appointed him itinerant field worker for the US Hunchakian Party. His field of operations included New York, Massachusetts, Illinois and Michigan, and from the spring of 1906 to late summer of 1907, Brantford, Canada. As itinerant field worker he made regular trips to various cities such as Lynn, Milford, Malden (Mass.), New York City, East St. Louis and Waukegan (Illinois), and Detroit (Michigan), while the family stayed in Boston, often living in difficult circumstances. In addition, Hamparzoum Arzoumanian served on the Executive Committee of the US branch, was a regular speaker at public meetings organized by the party, and at various intervals edited the party organ, Eritassard Hayastan, in Boston. For the many services he rendered for the party he was not, and did not wish to be, compensated. His wife, closely involved in her husband's activities and party politics, supported the family by working as a waitress.

By the end of May 1906, Hamparzoum Arzoumanian had moved to Brantford, Canada as a field worker; the family joined him in early summer. By then, he had become a controversial figure within the ranks of the party in the US, and disillusioned with the growing rift within the party. When false testimony against him by a member of the opposing faction paved the way for his expulsion from the party, Arzoumanian resigned, while in Brantford. Fearful of persecutions in a small community, he returned to Yonkers, New York in the fall of 1907 with his family, leaving behind a good job in a Brantford factory. A rental receipt shows that a payment of $15 was made on October 1, 1907, for a 1st floor flat at 44 ½ Riverdale Avenue in Yonkers, by H. Asman.

After the final relocation in Yonkers, he applied to the position of pastor at the Westminster Presbyterian Church in Yonkers but was turned down; he was told to go back and preach to his own people in his country. However, he was able to hold services in rented space at the St. John Episcopalian church in Yonkers, to a community of Armenians and Assyrians. According to his death certificate he also worked as a 'hatter' in New York.

Born in Gandzak, historic Armenia as Hamparzoum Arzoumaniants, he died as Hampo Asman on January 7, 1909 at the Westchester County Hospital, in the town of Mount Pleasant and was buried on January 9, in an unmarked grave in the village of East View. He was 43 years old. He had been hospitalized at the Westchester County Hospital from October 19, 1908 to his death on January 7, 1909, for a period of 2 months and 20 days. The cause of death as listed in his death certificate was cardiac syncope, endocarditis and pulmonary embolism.

His fifth child, daughter Varsenig (Dorothy) was born 16 days later, on January 23, in Yonkers. About nine months later, on October 2, 1909, son Hrach (Herbert) died of pneumonia. He was almost 4 years old. Ten years later, in 1919, Lucine (Lucy), who had married Dikran Vartanian (Varden) died, leaving one child, George, behind. Lorig (Loretta), who had married Abgar Babaian, died in 1962. She left two children behind: Marguerite and William Levon.

Sona Arzoumanian survived her husband and three of her children. She died in 1967, in Yonkers, New York, at the age of 91. Four years later, her eldest son, Hamazasp (Harry) died in Yonkers, New York, on August 12, 1971. He and his wife Lillian (Papazian) had had three children: Harriot, Lucile and Robert. The last of the Arzoumanian family, Varsenig (Dorothy), who had married Arakel Ampagoomian, died on June 25, 1998, in New York City. She had had five children: Alvera, Virginia, Florence, George and Gregory.

Acquisition Information:

Gift of Marguerite Harms, 1998.

Processing information:

Collection processed and finding aid created by Nora Nercessian and Kathleen Dow.

Arrangement:

The papers are divided into six series: Family Documents and Official Papers, Family Correspondence, Other Personal Correspondence, Hunchakian party Activities and Materials, Writings, Print Material.

Subjects

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Subjects:

Armenian Americans -- 20th century
Armenian Americans -- Politics and government
Political parties -- Armenia.

Formats:

Correspondence
Manuscripts
Photographs

Names:

Hunchakian Party
Arzoumanian, Hamparzoum,1866-1909 -- Family
Babakhanian, Sona

Places:

Armenia -- Politics and government -- 20th century