Jundanian/Aghajanian
Joseph “Eliazar” Jundanian (1915-2006) moved to Gelinas Avenue in Rockdale (like Whitinsville, one of the villages of Northbridge) in the 1920’s from Worcester with his mother Verkin, stepfather John Allie, and his two brothers, Tom “Vahe” (1921-2014) and Harry “Haratoun” (1917-1930). His sister Catherine “Koharig” (1910-1987) moved from Worcester to marry John Nighosian in 1924 at the age of 13. Of his family, Joe stayed in Whitinsville when he married Rose “Araknaz” Janian in 1952 (Janian is a shortened version of Aghajanian.) where he purchased a family home at 10 Pleasant Street.
His father, Krikor (1887-1924), came to the United States in 1912 from Kayseri and settled in Worcester. He sent his cousin Moucheg for his wife Verkin and daughter in 1913. Although a photograph exists of Krikor, nothing is known of him other than that he worked as a baker in the morning and a day laborer in the Worcester wire mills during the day, and that he was a loving father. He passed away tragically in 1924. As a result Joe and his brother Harry were put into an orphanage as there was no money to feed them. Verkin married John Allie sometime in the late 1920’s and then moved to Rockdale so he could obtain work at the Whitin Machine Works. They had no children. Of Turkish ancestry, nothing much is known of John Allie (1892-1937) other than that he tried hard to support the family and worked at the Shop until he died of cancer in 1937. He is buried at the Riverdale Cemetery. Verkin’s maiden name was Dzeron. Verkin’s father, Haroutiun Dzeron, was an artist and textile machinery trade merchant. While returning from Egypt in 1894, where he had purchased the newest machinery needed to process textiles, he was murdered by Turks and his body dumped into the Euphrates River. While it is not known what fate came of Verkin’s mother, it is said that she died shortly thereafter of a broken heart, whereupon Verkin’s grandparents raised her. Verkin, her daughter Catherine, her mother’s sister, and her grandmother managed to immigrate to the United States along with her two brothers (Mihran and Hrant). She also had two sisters, but nothing is known about them other than they did not get out of Turkey. Unusual for many of Armenian descent, her father’s family history can be traced back to the 1700’s because of a book written by her father’s brother, Manoog Dzeron, called The Village of Parchanj. (Verkin’s family starts on page 52, but the Dzeron clan starts on page 48.) It was written in the tradition of the memory or village book in it’s overview of village life in Parchanj and the families that lived there.
Rose’s mother’s grandfather, Jerimiah Gulezian (1864-1936), settled in Methuen from Arapkir in 1893, a little late for the Gold Rush that first brought him here. He set up a small store in the area, had a passion for folk medicine and taught himself English by translating medical books. Jerimiah had one brother, Samuel, and two sisters, Anne “Abla” Masoomian, and Bulbul Ipekjian. Samuel came over in 1900, but was picked to assassinate an Armenian Hanchag journalist in Boston. He wounded him, was apprehended, went to prison, and then jumped parole to live in Cuba. In Cuba he worked as a cobbler and assisted Armenians trying to get into the United States, families that had not been able to get in through Ellis Island. Ann made it to the United States, married Apet, and had four children. Bulbul never made it out of Turkey and was killed there along with her family.
Jerimiah’s wife, Mariam (Selverian) (1862-1932), had four brothers, three of whom were killed during the 1915 Genocide. The youngest, Armenak survived as he was ransomed o ut of prison. They had wanted to emigrate to America, but she discouraged them telling them that life was hard here. She regretted deeply her advice and for the rest of her life lived with the guilt of discouraging them to come here. Some of their children survived and eventually made it to the United States to settle in the Philadelphia area. She arrived with her daughter Pailoon in 1907, along with Jeremiah’s mother Lucia. They had several children, but Pailoon, Rose’s mother, was the only one to survive. Rose’s father, Charles “Garabed” Aghajanian, came to the United States in 1910, and his brother John came in 1913. Their father, Hovhaness, was murdered by the Turks in the massacres of the 1890’s. Seeing her husband murdered, his mother, Lucia, took her own life shortly after giving birth to her son John (“Hovaness”). Charles and John had a sister Sophie that made it to the United States, but they also had a sister Aruseag Adjian who was murdered along with most of her family. Charles and John also had brothers Vahan, Dickran and Nishan. Vahan was a mathematician who, along with his brother Nishan, died fighting the Turks. Dickran died as a child having fallen out of a mulberry tree. It was the Paroonagian family of Dorchester, related through Lucia’s sister, that sponsored Charles and John to come here in 1913. Rose had two sisters, Alice “Aurora” Aghajanian (1920-2009) and Lucy “Lucine” Papazian (1922-2012). She also had older two brothers who died from the Spanish Flu as children, Nishan and Dickran.
Life in Whitinsville:
Joe graduated from Northbridge High School in 1933. He worked at the Whitin Machine Works for a year. He always wanted to be a geologist, but went to night law school after seeing a billboard advertising the Northeastern Law School. He was fond of saying that the billboard could have been an advertisement for any kind of education and he would have done it to get out of the Shop. While attending Northeastern, he lived and worked full time at the Worcester State Hospital in the psychiatric wards to put himself through school while selling encyclopedias door to door on weekends. He graduated summa cum laude from Northeastern. He later enlisted and served in WWII in Army intelligence where he traveled back and forth across the Atlantic interrogating German POWs. After the war, Joe hitch-hiked across the country for a while in his army uniform and even attended Stanford Law School for post graduate work on the GI Bill. His older sister Catherine married John Nighosian, raised a family of three girls and a boy, and had a successful carpet business in Needham, MA. His brother Tom fought in the Battle of the Bulge and was taken as a POW in Germany. After the war, he attended Purdue University and settled into Chicago with his new family. Their brother, Harry, died at the age of twelve delivering newspapers on his bicycle when he was hit by a truck in Rockdale.
Joe hung his law shingle in Whitinsville. He and his wife Rose raised five children Gregory (1953…), David (1955-2011), Richard (1957…) , Lee ( 1960…) and Theona (1964…). His favorite pastime was travel. He would plan long vacations hauling his family across Canada and the United States in his 27 foot Fleetwood trailer visiting every KOA camground under the stars. In every city visited, he would look in the yellow pages under Oriental Rugs, find an Armenian and invite himself and the family over to say hello. He also belived strongly in education. He regularly told his children to get as much education as possible because “the bastards can never take it away from you.” Gregory worked at the Shop in the early 70’s, but went back to school and eventually worked in the field of finance. He married Seta Nersessian and together they raised two boys, Alex and William. He is currently engaged as a photographer. David was an entrepreneur dealing in yarn and textile machinery, but died at 56 due to complications from multiple health problems. Richard became an electrical engineer until his retirement. He now resides in North Carolina with his wife Jan Ehrenberg. They raised two boys, Benjamin and Timothy. Lee practiced as an attorney for a short period of time in New York, where he met his wife, Nicole Tenbekjian. He went on as an entrepreneur to pioneer the cash-out lottery business and other specialty finance businesses and is currently living in the Washington, DC area with Nicole. Together, they raised four children, Jack, Nicholas, Ava and Charlie. Theona also received a J.D. and practiced intellectual law mostly in-house at Nintendo. She currently lives outside of Seattle with her husband Tim Dore. They raised two children, Samantha and Hudson.
