people & happenings
COMMEMORATING SIMON ANTRANIGHIAN
FIRST ARMENIAN BURIED AT MOUNT AUBURN
By Steve Pinkerton , Research Docent
n 1855 , a young daguerreotypist named Simon Antranighian was interred
I at Mount Auburn Cemetery . The twenty-six-year-old entrepreneur had arrived in Boston in 1853 , on the clipper ship Sultana traveling from
Smyrna ( Izmir ), Turkey . He applied for U . S . citizenship the following spring , stating in his application that he was an “ Artist ,” born in Constantinople ( Istanbul ), Turkey , in 1827 . According to his Boston death record , he died on March 15 , 1855 , just 470 days after his arrival .
Antranighian was buried in the public St . John Lot in an unmarked grave – the first of nearly 3,000 Armenians to be buried at Mount Auburn up through today .
Armenian Heritage at
While this group includes Armenian national
Mount Auburn heroes , there are also thousands of everyday individuals like Antranighian who helped
The more than 3,000 Armenians buried establish their heritage in the Boston area , at Mount Auburn represent a rich which now has the third-largest Armenian heritage in the Boston area . Sharing population in the United States . stories about this community helps us In 2015 , I collaborated with Ruth understand our past and inspires us to Thomasian of Project SAVE Armenian build the world we want to see . Photograph Archive and Marc Mamigonian
Notable residents and of the National Association for Armenian commemorations include :
Studies and Research to present a program
• Drastamat Kanayan , aka General celebrating the lives of Armenians buried Dro , famed military commander here , as a centennial commemoration of and politician the Armenian Genocide . It was during this collaboration that I identified Antranighian ’ s
• Shahan Natalie , revolutionary and story . After that , Ruth , Marc , and I formed author an informal “ Armenian Friends of Mount
• Varaztad Kazanjian , father of Auburn Cemetery ” group with Armenian modern plastic surgery culture advocate Harry Parsekian and Project SAVE volunteer Anne Myserian to
• Stephen and John Mugar , founders pursue installation of a grave marker for of the Star Market supermarket Antranighian as the first known Armenian to chain be buried at Mount Auburn .
Working with sculptor Robert Shure of Skylight Studios in Woburn , as well as Mount Auburn Cemetery ’ s own James Holman , we now have a monument design that will be appropriate for the site : a two-sided tablet memorial with a distinctive brushed surface in black stone , which will coordinate well with its historical surroundings . Now , we need your support to help us make this vision a reality . Please join us as we raise the $ 50,000 needed to create this monument and surround it with beautiful landscaping , and help us honor the beginning of this rich legacy at Mount Auburn .
Please visit www . mountauburn . org / give / special-projects to make a donation .
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Monument design by Skylight Studios