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Dear Suzanne
I think I might have some interesting news for you.
My parents were born in Cairo, Egypt. Their parents were all Armenians born in Turkey who then migrated to Egypt.
ON MY MOTHER'S SIDE :
My mother, née ALIDA AMIRAYAN,was born in Cairo around 1922.
My maternal grandmother, née MARIA VALENTINA HORTENSIA NEDDA ARNAUD,was the daughter of an Italian Levantine from Istanbul named NIKOLAÏ MICHELE ARNAUD and an Armenian mother, née ACABI HAMAMDJIAN, who also happened to be none other than the first cousin of ARMENAK HAMAMDJIAN, (my paternal grandfather.)I don't know exactly when my mother's grandparents moved to Cairo, but Alida's parents met there and married around 1920. We don't know where the HAMAMDJIANS originated and that's what I'd most like to find out. Judging from the way Acabi spoke Armenian and Turkish, it was obvious they were not real Bolsetsis (Stambouliotes), meaning they were not long settled in Istanbul, but came from somewhere in Eastern Anatolia. I am trying to find out where they came from and can provide linguistic clues to their land of origin. Unfortunately, no one in Istanbul to this day has been able to help me find records of where the Hamamdjians came from.)
My mother's father was STEPAN ZARMAÏR AMIRAYAN. He too had two brothers, ARAM and GARABED, and they were all born in Izmir, Turkey, before moving to Egypt. STEPAN's mother's name was ROSA.
At some point in his life, Stepan went to work in Manchester. Apparently, he had an uncle who was a wealthy industrialist who owned a cigarette factory in Egypt. This uncle estranged himself from his nephew Stepan, because he chose to marry a half-Italian opera singer, considered at the time as somewhat scandalous! My grandfather did not remain long in England and moved back to Cairo, married and raised my mother alone, after his wife took off with another Armenian, Haig Assadourian, who was a millionaire living in Shanghai. My mother grew up in Cairo, raised by Stepan and his mother Rosa, till she left to join her mother at age 18, and later married and moved to America.
Stepan moved from Cairo to Los Angeles to join his daughter and grandchildren in 1955 and died there in 1963.
ARAM left Egypt in the 40's to settle in Yerevan, Soviet Armenia, GARABED stayed in Cairo after marrying ARAXI, an Armenian woman who had been orphaned at age 4 during the genocide. Garabed and Araxi had two sons, KALOUST and ARTIN ("Arto") who now both live in Los Angeles. Kaloust has two sons and Arto has a daughter named Alida, and, I believe, another son. Perhaps the Kaloust you are referring to is not Avedis' son, but his grandson or nephew. I'm not sure what Stepan's father's first name was, I'd have to do some research on that.
My mother Alida is still alive and lives in La Crescenta, California. She's 86. Her daughter Michèle Ratkovich (née Gerard)lives nearby with her husband Dan and two sons.
I was born in 1948 and am currently living in Paris, France and can be reached (from abroad) at 33-1-4335 4373.
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