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Toros Sookiasian & Mariam Kojabashian

Mariam onlyLawnview Cemetery, Rockledge, Pennsylvania
Formerly at Monument Cemetery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

	Toros Sookiasian	Mariam Kojabashian
Birth	after 1830 Malatya, Turkey	about 1835 Malatya, Turkey
Marriage	Unknown in Malatya, Turkey
Death	1913 Malatya, Turkey	December 21, 1915 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

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Not much is known about Toros Sookiasian of Malatya. What is known is that he was probably the most powerful Armenian in Malatya. He owned a great deal of land around Malatya and also owned the town's water supply, which they got from the nearby Euphrates River. This of course gave him a great deal of power, and since he was, his parents also probably had been elite members of the town. Family tradition holds that he was six feet tall, a rarity for the predominantly short Armenians of the time. It is also claimed that he lived to 100 years old. Back in Armenia though, basically any respected elder was said to have lived to age 100, since birthdays were not kept track of like they were now and nobody really knew their exact age. Toros must have actually been born in the 1830s, which meant he actually lived to around 80. He married Mariam Kojabashian, who was the daughter of Sarkis and Yeghisapet (Elizabeth) Kojabashian. Nothing is known of Mariam's family except that she had a sister Kohar Vosbikian and probably at least one brother. Kohar was still in Malatya in 1914, so she was likely there a year later when the Armenian Genocide began and presumably died in it.

Toros and Mariam are known to have had seven children: Diramayr (1858?-1919), Sarkis (?-1915?), Nazareth (c. 1872-1932) {as well as his twin that died at birth}, Haroutune (c. 1875-1937), Avedis (c. 1876-1934), and Margaret (1878-1934). The likely over twenty year gap between the birth of her first and last child is quite great, however it would have been possible during this time when women were married and began having children in their teens. Due to the norms of the time it is unlikely that Mariam had her first child when she was any older than 20, and in fact most Armenian women were often three to five years younger than that. If this was indeed the case it would put Mariam's asserted birth year of 1835 into question. However it is also unknown if she had any children that died young and so were lost to history before Diramayr, and it is rather likely there might have been some of these because it would at least help to account for the large gaps in between the births of some of her early children. All this considered, it is more likely that Mariam was a few years younger than her established date of 1835, which would mean she had her first child at 23 (presuming she had none that died young before Diramayr) and the last at 45. While neither of these things are impossible, the first child at 23 is especially unlikely and too old for this time period. It is safer to place her birth year around 1838-1840, keeping in mind Mariam very well might not known it herself and that the 1835 could have been a family estimation made upon her death. Another problem is figuring out these dates is the fact on Diramayr's death certificate she is listed as being born 1851, while an immigration record (which are often inaccurate said 1858). While 1851 would fit well with Mariam's 1835 birth year, it would mean Diramayr was 26 when she had her first child, which again would quite old for a first child in those days. This just shows us how little we know about this time and how nothing can be certain when it comes to these dates.

Times became hard in Malatya and one by one Toros and Mariam's children moved to America. Haroutune was the first to move in 1899, followed by his brother Nazareth a year or two later. Various other family members moved throughout the next 15 years including Avedis (though when is unknown), Margaret in 1912, and Diramayr in late 1913. One story suggests that Sarkis was killed in Malatya during the Armenian Genocide of 1915. Toros died sometime after June 1912, in (most probably) the first half of 1913, leaving Mariam a widow. At this point she was described as being 5'2" tall, with chestnut-colored hair and eyes. Violence in Malatya against Armenians was escalating and since Mariam no longer had a husband to support her, her family decided that she should leave Malatya and come to America. She made this trip at a very old age, perhaps in her 70s though her exact birth year is unknown. She claimed to be 54 on the manifest of the ship she took to America, but that clearly had to be far younger than she really was. She most likely traveled through Turkey to a Mediterranean port, or perhaps Egypt, from which she took a ship to France. What is known for sure is that Mariam sailed on the ship La Touraine from Havre, France, and landed at Ellis Island on September 29, 1913. From there she went to Philadelphia to live with her family. She lived as a housewife (so says her death certificate) for a little more than two years and two months until she died on December 21, 1915 of a cerebral embolism. At the time of Mariam's death her daughter-in-law, Nazareth's wife, was pregnant. They named the child Mary, the Americanized version of Mariam's name, in her honor. Mariam was buried at Monument Cemetery at Broad & Berks Streets, just down the street from the family residence at 816 West Berks Street, two days after her death in an unmarked plot. This family plot was shared with another family from Malatya, the Ozanians, and while it was unmarked one of the Ozanians built a fence around it. Mariam was buried with a grandson, George Sookasian, who had died at age 5 or 6 in 1910. They remained there until April 30, 1956, at which point the cemetery had been condemned and bodies were dug up and moved. Mariam and her grandson were taken with most of the other bodies from Monument to Lawnview Cemetery north of the city and buried in the Broad Lawn section. At this point their grave was finally marked by a footstone which remains there until today.