Moscofian/Magarian

Moscofian/Magarian Ohannes (John) was born in Keghi (Erzerum province) on July 4, 1887 to Hagop Moscofian and Haiganoosh Kevorkian. He had two brothers (Sahag and Yeprem) and sisters, one of whom had a daughter who survived the genocide named Pareez. Ohannes’ first trip to America was as a young man in 1904; travel records indicate that his first stay in Whitinsville was for four years, during which time, many relatives traveled to Whitinsville from Keghi to join him for work at the Whitin Machine Works, including his brother-in-law Mardiros Doghanian, his nephew Hampartzoum Enouskian, his brother Sahag, and a friend named Hartin Hamparsoonian. In 1911, Ohannes returned to Keghi and married his first wife, Verkin. He embarked on his second trip to America in April 1913, traveling on the ship Prinz Friedrich Wilhelm, with the ultimate destination of Whitinsville, where he planned to join his uncle Mesrop Boananian. When Ohannes left his wife and family in Keghi in 1913 for Ellis Island, he did not know he would never see most of them again. Once in Whitinsville, Ohannes again settled in with other Armenian men in a boarding house on Mendon Road, and like his housemates, worked at the Whitin Machine Works; Ohannes’ job was in the foundry as a molder. In 1913, Ohannes’ brother Yeprem joined him in Whitinsville, living with his brother and other boarders on Church Street. By 1921, Ohannes had learned that his family members in Keghi had not survived the genocide. He then filed his intent to naturalize in September 1921 as a single man in Worcester Superior Court and became a naturalized citizen in 1927. Ohannes stayed in Whitinsville until 1929 when he left the United States to travel to Cyprus to marry Hermine Magarian.

Hermene was born in Nicosia, Cyprus in April 1898; at that time, Cyprus was under British protection. Her British passport spelled her name “Ermone”, and she worked as a seamstress in Cyprus. No information has survived about Hermine’s parents and family.

Ohannes and Hermine married in Cyprus at the end of 1929; he was 42 years old, and she was 32. They left Cyprus after their marriage and traveled to Cherbourg, France where they ultimately embarked on the Leviathan toward Ellis Island, arriving in June 1930. As with his previous journeys to America, Ohannes planned to travel from New York on to Whitinsville where he would settle with his wife and start their family.

In Whitinsville, Ohannes and Hermine settled into their home on Church Street, and eventually moved to a home on Cottage Street. In 1938, Ohannes and Hermine were blessed with the birth of a daughter, Nancy, who attended Northbridge grade, grammar and high schools and graduated from Clark University where she majored in biology. Nancy returned home to Whitinsville after college and taught school in the Northbridge school system as well as serving as a librarian. Nancy currently lives in Whitinsville and serves as organist at Soorp Asdvadzadzin church.

Hermine passed away in 1959, and Ohannes lived until 1976; both are buried together at Pine Grove Cemetery.