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Family Tree of the Keshishian Dynasty

Keshishian family of Hadjin, Cilicia, migrated from the town of Zeitoun, the ancient Ulnia, who according to stories related from father to sons, had come to Zeitoun from the famous city of Ani, which means about 1,000 years ago.

The original family name in Zeitoun was Der Magerdichian and because it was headed by a priest Der Garred was called families, and so registered in government and church records. Finally, the Zeitoun name was dropped and the family was known to the new generation as only Keshishian. There has been from father to son and they were mostly called Der Magerdichian of Der Garabed.

The family was established in the upper part of the city of Hadjin. After about forty years, some members went to Adana to live and a Giragos Efendi, second generation became very rich and for many years was president of the Chamber of Commerce of the city.

The main branch had a Der Garabed as high priest and had two boys, the first named Krikor had five daughters, Hadjin Mar, Zurfanda, Zatar, Garcia, Funduk, and two sons, Sarkis and Torost. All married and were prosperous. All perished during the deportation and massacre by Turks in 1914.

Der Garabed’s second son was Hagop who early in his youth went to the city of Tarsus, worked hard, made money and coming back to Hadjin married Miss Elizabeth of Kirkyaasharin, a big windows, which was called the mirror house as it was the first time that glass was used in Hadjin. He was a very intelligent person, well known and famous in the city.

The wife Elizabeth was called Birdane as a nickname as she was the only sister of seven brothers. They had five sons and three daughters, Manoog, Avedis, Susanna, Garaged, and Madteos. Margaret, Rahel, and Manoog were fine persons, were farmers and had large farms fifteen miles north of Hadjin. Married to Akabi Dardaghanian and had three boys and one daughter, Columbus, Vosgan Souren, and Evnike. Vosgan migrated to Erevan, Armenia; the Turks together with his father and others massacred Manoog.

Avedis had one son, Zaven, who lives in Memphis, Tennessee, USA. He married, is in business, has one daughter who is married and has a son and a daughter.

Susan, the third child of Hagop Agha, had three boys Boghos, Ara and Levon. Bogos was a lieutenant in the British Army and was killed during First World War. He was a generous, very smart person. The two other boys lived in the USA.

The fourth child of Hagop Agha was Garabed the writer of these lines. The grandfather, Der Garabed, gave his name to his boy hoping to have him carry on the line and become a priest. However, when he was only ten months old, Hagop Agha was converted to the Protestant church and grandfather took it very seriously, had a heart attack and passed away.

This boy graduated from college in Aintab, became a teacher, married a woman who had also graduated from college. Her name was Knarig. She was a Lady with very find qualities and who was well liked all over. She was a teacher in the American Missionary School. Garabed was head teacher in the then instructor in Aintab College, was Mayor of Hadjin, printer and publisher, refugees for four years after the 1914 war. He took 600 orphans to Cyprus to escape the Turks oppression. After two years, he went to Istanbul, then resigned and went to New York, USA. He wrote books, the topics of which are:

A. Shark Salnamesi – in Armeno-Turkish

B. Tejribe and Ighva – or trails and Temptations of Life

C. Memories

D. The Armenian of the book

E. Social Evils

All were highly useful books.

He had five children Meline, James, Lucy, Alice and Jerry. James, a highly talented young man became a bombardier, took part in raids on Japan and was killed near Japan in the Pacific Ocean. He was married, had one daughter, Joan, who herself married and lived in Nobile, Alabama. All three daughters were married to successful young men and had children. One is married to an engineer, has two daughters and a son who has a good job on Wall Street. The second daughter’s husband was a doctor, who is a colonel in the Army with a good reputation, and they have three children. Jerry, the youngest, was a university graduate receiving his PhD, became a teacher and is now a school principal. He is a very fine, highly reputable person, married and has two children. He name was in Who’s Who in American Education.

Matthew lived in New York, had one daughter, Gloria. Mark was in business in New York and later in Washington. He had three children. The first one was a prominent surgeon in Washington, DC. The other two, James and Harold, are married and are successful businessmen, both fine persons.

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