Garabedian/Pultoian

Garabed D.K. Garabedian was born in Bazmashen, a totally Armenian village southwest of the city of Kharpert. His father was Der Nigohos, an Armenian priest who served in the Armenian Apostolic Church, and Garabed had at least two other relatives who served as Armenian priests -- Der Sarkis and Der Krikor. Garabed was known to his fellow Armenians as “Hajji Garo”, a title of respect he had earned by making a religious pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Like many other men from his native village, Garabed made his way to America, arriving in the late 1880’s/early 1890’s. He first lived on Shawmet Avenue in Boston where he attended Holy Trinity Armenian Church, now located in Cambridge. He moved from Boston to Whitinsville where he became a member of the Northbridge Center Congregational Church in 1893. His son Hagop eventually joined him in Whitinsville. He died in 1932.

Hagop was born in Bazmashen in 1876. In his teens, Hagop married Martha Pultoian, the daughter of one of four Pultoian brothers who were prominent land owners in Bazmashen. The Pultoian’s had embraced the Armenian Evangelical Church, and Hagop and Martha would raise their children in the Protestant faith. By 1895, Hagop and Martha had two sons (Nigohos and Krikor), and Martha was expecting a third child (a son they would name Hovsep). With the growing unrest and the beginning of the 1895 massacres of the Armenians, Hagop made three attempts to travel to safety in America. Each time that Hagop attempted to leave the Ottoman Empire, he was jailed, beaten and threatened with death. On his fourth attempt, after bribing a Turkish guard in Constantinople with some gold, he was able to leave. Hagop traveled directly to Whitinsville to join his father and secured employment at the Whitin Machine Works as a molder in the foundry, alongside other Armenian men. At the Shop, he was known as Jacob Nigohosian, and his weekly earnings of $18 to $28 were often reduced by the cost of the helper needed to move the heavy parts along the factory floor. Although Hagop had originally planned to earn money in America and return to Bazmashen, he realized that the unrest would not subside and sent for his wife and three sons. Martha and two of their sons arrived in America in 1909, after a difficult journey by caravan led by Hajji Zadoud to the relatively safe port of Samsun. Martha’s transit to America was via ship from Liverpool, England, where eye disease kept her eldest son Nigohos from traveling with her and his brothers.  Nigohos was cared for by an Armenian family in Liverpool until English authorities would allow him to join his family in America. When the family was reunited in Whitinsville, the sons born in Bazmashen were teenagers, and they would soon be joined by five more siblings. Charles [Garabed] was born in 1910, Richard [Dickran] in 1911, Annie [Anna] in 1913, Sharman [Zarman] in 1918 and Peter [Bedros] in 1921. Peter was named after Martha's brother Bedros who came to America in 1915, but who returned to Bazmashen against the pleas from Martha and Hagop for him to remain in America, where he was subsequently killed in the genocide.

Nigohos married the former Mary Najarian in December 1918 a few weeks after Sharman's birth. The reception at 31 D Street, the family homestead, in Whitinsville lasted for a week with many in the community giving their good wishes to the new couple. Nigohos worked in the Whitin Machine Works, and after their son, Howard, was born in 1919, he moved his family to Providence, Rhode Island where he opened his own popular and successful grocery-produce-meat store. Howard served in the U.S. Navy in WWII and graduated from Providence College with a degree in physics. He secured employment with the Radio Corperation of America in New Jersey and in 1953 he married the former Rose Kuzujian. They had 2 sons, Howard and Kenneth, and twin daughters, Janice and Barbara.
         Howard attained the rank of 32nd degree Mason via the Scottish Rite and the York Rite. He was also an active member of the Knights of Vartan, an Armenian men's fraternal organization, for which he served as lodge commander.

Krikor and his brother Hovsep entered the business world in 1923 by opening a clothing-shoe store in Whitinsville. As Krikor and Hovsep both had the same middle name – Der Krikor – in honor of their ancestor, they named their enterprise D.K. Garabedian Brothers.

Krikor married the former Mariam Baghdassarian and they had one son. Krikor was a staunch Republican, and his admiration for President Herbert Hoover led him to name his son Hagop Hoover (1928-2020). Hoover graduated from Boston University, became a prominent criminal defense attorney and practiced in Worcester, MA for over 60 years. Hoover was an excellent baseball pitcher as he played for 2 minor league baseball teams but his desire to study law prevailed in his life ambitions. He married the former Terry Kuzmicki and they had one daughter, Dina.

Hovsep learned in 1925 that Aghavnie Aharonian, a genocide survivor from a neighbor family of Bazmashen, was living in an orphanage in Beirut, Lebanon. After exchanging letters with Aghvanie, Hovsep left Whitinsville, traveled to Beirut, married Aghvanie, and returned with her to America. They had three sons (Joseph, Edward, and Richard).   
     Joseph D.K., Jr. [!926-2020] attended Clark University and operated the store with his father. Joe had an excellent singing voice and was a soloist for the Whitin Male Glee Club, and he was successful in activities such as gardening, electronics, mechanics, and finance. He was an avid reader and enjoyed engaging conversations on many subjects, especially history. His artistic abilities were apparent in the signs that he made for his business, and he designed the Garabedian family coat of arms which is engraved on the family gravestone. Joseph married the former Mary Baligian and they had three daughters: Susan, Elaine, and Anita.
     Edward John [1929-1979] graduated from Boston University in 1951 with a degree in business administration. During his high school years, he served as captain of the baseball team at Northbridge High School, and he went on to captain the baseball team at B.U. He then attended the U.S. Navy Officer Candidate School and the Navy's Supply Corps School from which he graduated at the top of his class. His 28-year naval career as a supply officer had many varied assignments, including attendance at the prestigious U.S. Navy War College and serving in the office of the U.S. Navy's Inspector General. He attained the rank of Commander, USN. He died, while on active duty, at age 50. He married the former Jean Harkin; they had 2 children, Dawn and Edward, Jr.
     Richard Eliot, born in 1941, earned a A.B. degree majoring in economics from Brown University in 1963 followed by a Master’s degree in business from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. After admission to Brown, he was awarded a full four-year scholarship to the college from the U.S. Navy. While at Brown, he became the prseident of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. Upon graduating from Brown in 1963, he entered the U.S. Navy. Following shipboard service, he was assigned to the Pentagon to work for the Secretary of the Navy as his laison to the Congressional House and Senate Appropriations Committees. He attained the rank of Lieutenant, USN. After completeing his naval service, he married the former Marilyn MacGillivry in 1967. They had 2 children: Audrey and Robert. Richard worked as a business executive for several companies and purchased a 100-year-old business which was in financial distress, guiding it back to health before selling it to a Fortune 500 company. Richard retired in 2008.

Charles [Garabed] graduated from Northbridge High School with honors in Algebra and was an outstanding football player. During the 1930's, during the Depression, he managed to attend Becker Junior College in Worcester, MA and earned an associates degree in business administration and accounting. He then secured employment in the Whitin Machine Works and served as a cost accountant for over 35 years. He married the former Sadie[Satenig] Madanjian in 1942; they had a son, Charles, Jr. in 1943 and a daughter, Martha Ann, in 1953. 
     Charles Jr. graduated from Worcester State College in 1965 with a B.S. degree in mathematics and education, from Framingham State College in 1970 with a Master’s degree in mathematics and education, and from the University of Connecticut in 1981 with a Ph.D. in mathematics and mathematics education. In 1991 he was selected as one of two Massachusetts teachers to receive the Presidential Distinguished Teacher Award by the White House Commission on Presidential Scholars. He has received the Harvard University Harvard Practitioner Award and the Christa McAuliffe Outstanding Teacher Award from Framingham State College. His biography has appeared in Who's Who in American Education and Who's Who Among America's Teachers. He has taught and continues to teach mathematics, for 55 years, at the secondary and collegiate level including Holliston High School, Framingham State College, and Quinsigamond Community College. He married the former Manoushag Manougian in 1991.
     Martha Ann graduated from Northbridge High School with highest honors in 1971 as a member of the National Honor Society. She received a B.S. degree in Spanish, summa cum laude, from Worcester State College in 1975. Her education continued at the University of Connecticut which culminated with a Masters Degree and a Ph.D. in Spanish Literature. While working on her Ph.D., she taught undergraduate classes in Spanish and Spanish literature. Upon graduating in 1984, she taught Spanish for several years at Western New England University. Martha has authored several articles focusing on Spanish literature that have been published in numerous journals and she was a recipient of the Teacher of the Year Award at Western New England University. She married William Urbanowski in 1991.

Richard [Dickran] worked in the Whitin Machine Works as a pattern maker until his untimely death in 1956. He was an avid fan of all athletic sports and was an exceptional third baseman in the Blackstone Valley Baseball League. Several of the players in that league became significant players in major league baseball. He was an umpire in many softball leagues in Whitinsville and also umpired in the Northbridge Little League. He also served as a timer and assistant swimming coach at the Whitin Community Center. He served in WWII for the U.S. Army and earned the rank of Sargeant as he saw action in North Africa followed by a transfer to France as the Allied Forces drove the conflict to Germany. He received several commendations for service to his country. He died in 1956 at age 44 as he was struck in his temple by a foul ball as he was umpiring a softball game.

Annie [Anna] was the first female born in the family after five males. She faithfully cared for her parents Hagop and Martha as their health began to decline in the late 1920's. She kept an immaculate home and was an excellent cook of Armenian meals and pastry delights. Her chorag and paklava were outstanding and not to be outdone by her yalanchi sarma. Her skills in making and mending clothing rivaled those in the profession. In later years, she was an executive secretary in the Whitin Machine Works.

Sharman [Zarman] graduated from the Salter Secretarial School in Worcester, MA. After working at the Whitin Machine Works, she became an executive secretary for the American Red Cross in Boston, MA. Like her sister Annie, she also was an excellent cook of meals that were the mainstay of a "Kharpert Diet". Her ability to take "American recipes" and convert them to have an "Armenian Flavor" was most unusual. Her command of the English language, vocabulary, composition, and logical thought was without equal. She married Joseph Cotter.

Peter [Bedros] graduated from Boston University with a B.S. in Elementary Education and taught for many years in several Massachusetts school systems at the grade 5-6 level. He also received a Master’s of Education degree from Boston University which was followed by his becoming a certified school psychologist and adjustment counselor. He had a special interest in music and directed school plays and musicals that directly involved his students. He married the former Betty Olson.

Thirteen members of the family are buried in the family plot located in Pine Grove Cemetery in Whitinsville: Hagop and Martha, Hovsep and Aghavnie, Charles and Sadie, Peter and Betty, Richard, Annie, Sharman, Krikor, and Hoover. Garabed D.K. Garabedian [Haji Garo] is buried in a one-grave plot at Pine Grove where his stone indicates that he was a pioneer Armenian to have come to America. Also buried in Pine Grove at a separate plot are Joseph and Mary, and Edward and Jean; this plot overlooks the athletic fields of Northbridge High School where Joe and Ed played football and baseball. Nigohos and Mary are buried in the North Burial Ground, Providence, RI. Howard and Rose are buried in Lakeview Memorial Park, Cinnaminson, NJ.

This family history was prepared by Charles Garabedian, Jr. with informational assistance from Richard Garabedian, Howard Garabedian, Dawn La Comb, Susan Palis, and Anita Garabedian.