Merian/Arakelian
Daniel Merian and Marina Arakelian each have Massachusetts roots that reach to the western, central and eastern parts of the state, but their connection to Whitinsville is special. Dan and Marina met each other in August 2001 at the Soorp Asdvadzadzin Armenian Church picnic in Whitinsville. Marina had been in Massachusetts following the death of her grandmother, and after going home to New York City decided to return to attend the picnic. There she met Dan, along with his sisters and his parents, and she learned that Dan and her first cousin Haig Arakelian had been good friends for years. Dan and Marina danced together that day, and something special blossomed between them. They married on the same date, three years later. After a few years in Brookline, they settled in Framingham and attended Holy Translators’ Armenian Church in Framingham.
In 2010, Dan and Marina returned to Soorp Asdvadzadzin when its pastor was Rev. Aram Stepanian, Dan’s former Sunday School teacher from his youth at St. Stephen’s in Watertown, Massachusetts. Dan and Marina sing in the choir and Dan is a member of Soorp Asdvadzadzin’s Board of Trustees. Both find the church to be a warm, spiritual, and welcoming family of people. In 2022, they moved to Whitinsville to be closer to their Church and are active participants in Whitinsville’s Armenian community.
The Merians
Haig Merian (Haigaz Meguerdichian) was born in September 1918 in Tzovinar, Armenia, a small village on the shores of Lake Sevan. Having lived through the advent of communism in 1918 and the formation of the USSR (Armenia became one of its fifteen republics), Haig was an excellent student student with a love for history. He was accepted to Yerevan State University and became a teacher. Unfortunately, he was called to fight in the Finnish-Russian war and became an officer in the Soviet army. At the start of WWII, he was sent to Poland where he was captured and held in concentration and prisoner-of-war camps. He escaped to Brussels, Belgium and eventually emigrated to the United States in 1946. Upon his arrival, he became active in the Armenian Dance Troup and Chorus of Ashod Arzrouni, where he danced and sang along with his soon-to-be wife, Alice Shakeh Sarafian. In 1948, Haig co-founded the Armenian Folk Dance Group of Greater Boston with Mike Haroutunian. For over 15 years, he led the group in performances throughout New England with shows at area colleges including Harvard, M.I.T, and B.U., as well as at the Boston Esplanade, and on WGBH. One of his last major performances was at the Singer Bowl Pavilion at the New York World’s Fair in 1964. Haig’s skills as a teacher led to his invitation to Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the summer of 1963, where he taught a suite of Armenian dances to the Tamburitzans. Haig was a devoted member of the Armenian community, having served on the fundraising committee for St. Stephen’s Armenian Apostolic Church in Watertown, which was established in 1958. He served as treasurer and member of St. Stephen’s Board of Trustees and was an active participant in the Armenian Revolutionary Federation. After suffering near death in the concentration camps in Poland, he made a vow to keep the Armenian culture, history, and religion alive. Indeed he met those goals in all areas, and passed away at the age of 92 in February 2011.
Alice Shakeh Sarafian was born in April 1924 in Newton, Massachusetts, the daughter of Antranig and Elizabeth (Zorian) Sarafian. Antranig had been born in Papert, Erzeroum, and Elizabeth was born in Alexandretta, and escaped the genocide by relocating to Alexandria, Egypt. Antranig and Elizabeth came to the United States and settled in Newton, Massachusetts, which they selected for its excellent educational system. Alice attended Emerson Elementary School, Weeks Junior High School, and graduated from Newton High School in 1942. She graduated from Boston University in 1946, with a major in Government, and was a member of the Scarlett Key Society, French Club, Spanish Club, and Phillips Brooks Club, Sneath Debating Society, the YWCA, and was honored in the Who’s Who in American Colleges and Universities. Upon graduation, she worked as a librarian at the Kirstein Business Library in Boston. While volunteering at the International Institute in Boston, she met her future husband Haig while he was attending ESL classes. Throughout her life, she was a dedicated and devoted member of the Armenian Relief Society and served as president of the ARS “Soseh” Chapter. She later was a founding member of the Armenian Renaissance Organization. Alice was an active member of the Newton Garden Club and Newton Highlands Women’s Club. She participated in the Hyde School PTA, where she worked for several years in the Hyde School Outgrown Shop. Alice passed away in October 2008.
Haig and Alice set a beautiful example through their deep commitment to both their Armenian and American communities, establishing their family home in Newtown Highlands, Massachusetts. They were blessed with four children: Susan, Sonya, Daniel and Diane. Alice and Haig cherished their six previous grandchildren: David, Louise, Gregory, Alex, Michael and Anais. Although they were never able to meet them, they have two beautiful great grandchildren, Isabella and Michel Luther.
Dan Merian grew up in Newton with his three sisters, Susan, Sonya and Diane. He was very involved in Saturday and Sunday school at St. Stephen's Armenian Church in Watertown. From a very early age he felt very involved in Armenian life and joined the AYF as educational director for 10 years. At 16, he took a trip to then Soviet Armenia with the “Armenia Friends Coalition” group. There he met his two aunts from his father's native village of Tzovinar. The trip made an important impression on him seeing his relatives. When he returned, he took courses on the Armenian language and improved his speaking and reading. Dan attended Northeastern University and majored in history, transferred to the University of Massachusetts at Boston. He started an Armenian club at UMass and served as president for one year. Dan returned to Northeastern with a fellowship in history specializing in Middle East studies. He taught Western Civilization and transcribed oral histories at the resource center. Dan took over his father's carpet business and worked in the restoration and cleaning of Oriental, area and wall to wall carpeting.
The Arakelians
Marina’s maternal great-grandfather, Hagop Micalian, came to the US from Divrig-Odour. He and his wife, Lucy Donigian Micalian, traveled in approximately 1923 with their son Kapriel, who was 17 years old at the time. It is believed that other children born to Hagop and Lucy perished in the Armenian genocide of 1915. Family stories note that Lucy fought alongside the Armenian Revolutionary Federation militia led by General Antranig and that her brother, Vartan Shapaz, was part of a rebel group that attacked Turkish outposts.
In the US, the family lived and worked on their own 100-acre farm. Hagop and Lucy went on to have two daughters, Margaret born in 1926 and Rose born in 1929. They were grateful for their new life in America and supported Holy Cross Armenian Apostolic Church in Troy, NY. The family was known for hosting large summer picnics on the farm for the local Armenian community.
In 1934, Kapriel McAlian (who had changed the spelling of his last name from Micalian) married Esther Postoian in Watervliet, NY. Esther’s parents were Mesrob and Margaret Tavtigian Postoian. The family’s surname had been Gorgodian; the reason for changing the name is not known. In Armenia, Mesrob was a farmer who grew wheat and bartered for other goods. Mesrob’s father (Marina’s great great grandfather) was Khachadour Postoian. He was a dyer of textiles, wool and other fabrics. Khachadour had four brothers Bedros, Melidos, Ohannes and Boghos. Khachadour married Mary Gernayian and they had twelve children. The Postoians immigrated to the USA around 1910. Three of their five children, Aghavni, Alice and Mamigon were born in Keghi; the other two, Popken and Esther, were born in Watervliet, NY. Esther (Marina’s grandmother) was born in 1913. Esther and Kapriel McAlian had one daughter Roxanne born in 1935. Kapriel died at the age of 34 in 1940. Following Kapriel’s death, Esther moved to Worcester MA with Roxanne who was then five years old. In 1942, Esther was married to George Bedrosian (son of Carnig and Marta). Esther and George had one daughter; Martha born in 1944. Roxanne (Marina’s mother) married Capriel Arakelian of Springfield, MA in 1955.
The Arakelian family history can be traced back to Marina’s great-grandfather, also named Capriel, who lived in Samsun. Capriel married Zarouie Ounjian and they had eight children, four boys and four girls including Marina’s grandfather Ardashes. The Arakelians were reportedly well-to-do and established in the import and export of tobacco and other goods. Marina’s father told her that during the Armenian Genocide her great grandfather Capriel was murdered by the Turks in his home and that Marina’s great grandmother Zarouie was marched into Deir ez-Zor, a town in the Syrian desert where she was bayonetted by the Turks and later died. Ardashes, Marina’s grandfather, eventually made his way from Garin to the US in 1920. He married Arshalouis Odabashian, also a survivor of the Genocide. At age 6, she witnessed her mother being murdered by the Turks and was traumatized throughout her life by these memories. Ardashes and Arshalouis had five children Zarouie, Rose, Capriel (Marina’s father) Nancy and Richard.
Capriel had four children with Roxanne: Kapriel, Haig, Marina and her twin sister Melanie, all born in Springfield, MA. Following Capriel and Roxanne’s divorce in 1961, the children were raised in Worcester, Massachusetts. Roxanne later married Miles Warshaw from Worcester. Following Roxanne’s death in 1972, Miles raised the four children with the help of Roxanne’s mother Esther.
Marina left Worcester after high school and pursued a career in acting, singing and dancing. She graduated from Stephens College in Missouri with a BFA and a BA in theatre and dance and performed for many years in shows nationally and in Europe. In her late 20’s, she made a career change and attended Columbia University and received a MS in Social Work. Marina went on to do training in psychotherapy and psychoanalysis from the Institute of Contemporary Psychotherapy in New York and has worked as a psychotherapist since 1994.