Connectng our Past, Present, and Future …
Our archival collections function as an overarching connective tissue, blanketing each unique aspect of the Cemetery and giving us insight into our past that helps us understand our present and make decisions for our future. While our Historical Collections represent a unique reference source for the public, this connection is a two-way avenue because our patrons and clients also share precious family items with us that provide a greater understanding of the lives and legacies of those interred here.
Historical Collections: Connecting Legacies
By Lauren Marsh, Communications Grants & Events Coordinator and Meg L. Winslow, Curator of Historical Collections
Mount Auburn’ s Historical Collections department is a community resource where present generations can come to learn about their family roots through genealogical research, whether they are simply looking up family information in lot records or uncovering recently documented inscriptions recorded during our annual Monument Inscription Workshop. This relationship works both ways, and people frequently share cherished objects and images with our archives that allow us to reflect on the past and understand our place in the lives of those interred here.( See page 13 for more information on our Historical Collections Department.)
As an example, during a Friends of Mount Auburn event for Charter Members held in October 2010, Jeannette John of Watertown, a retired U. S. diplomat, was having a conversation with Meg Winslow about her family connections to the Cemetery. When Meg asked if there were any photographs of the family at Mount Auburn, Ms. John later brought in some pictures of her family spanning
Top: Angele Magarian, taken at decades of visits here. Both her Mount Auburn’ s Egyptian Revival grandmother, Markrid Apamian Gateway on Easter, April 5, 1953. Magarian( d. 12 / 13 / 1952), and
her mother, Angele Magarian
Above: Jeannette John( third from left) with( l-r) her older sister, Mrs.( d. 10 / 26 / 1987), are interred in Marguerite Daniell and nephews the family lot on Poppy Path. Dana and Stephen Daniell, taken Originally, Markrid was buried in 1967 during Easter at the original in a lot on Sycamore Ave with family lot on Sycamore Ave. only two spaces, but years later
the family purchased a new lot with additional space and relocated her there.
Ms. John’ s family originated in Armenia, the first Christian country( 301 A. D.). Both Markrid and Angele were survivors of the Armenian genocide in 1915 by the Ottoman Turks and in 1922 by the Young Turks. In 1915, they escaped Bandirma, Turkey, by train to Konya where they walked for days in the Syrian Desert and ended up in a Druze Village two hours from the center of Damascus, Syria. The Druze were neither Muslims nor Christians, but practiced an esoteric religion. Her grandmother, mother, and her two aunts were taken in by this village and lived among them for three years in a mud hut shared with two other Armenian refugee families. They returned to Bandirma in 1918. They escaped again in 1922 just before the second genocide when the Young Turks were fast approaching the town. Markrid’ s cousin rented a French ship, taking their family, along with other inhabitants of the town, to Istanbul.
The family eventually emigrated to the U. S. where they settled in the South End of Boston. Ms. John, urged by her mother and sister, pursued a career in the U. S. Foreign Service. It was an opportunity to travel, and her first assignment took her to Jordan for two years where she was taken under the wing of the small Armenian community there— an experience that she will always treasure.
Visiting Mount Auburn over the decades has become a ritual in her family since her grandmother’ s death in 1952.“ My mother had visited many cemeteries around Boston by the time my grandmother died,” says Ms. John,“ and she was always set on the fact that she wanted her to be at Mount Auburn because it was the best.” The family visits frequently, especially the day after each of the five main Armenian holidays. The pictures she has shared with Historical Collections chronicle some of these visits, which extended to her nephews and now her grandnephews.“ When other members of my family visit, they all marvel at how beautiful Mount Auburn is.”
Ms. John’ s amazing family story not only helps us to understand and appreciate their special connection to us, but also the similar stories of the many other Armenian families now buried at Mount Auburn who emigrated to Watertown from Armenia in the early 20th century. We welcome more materials from the families of those interred here.
If you have anything of significance to share with Historical Collections, please contact Meg Winslow at mwinslow @ mountauburn. org.
The preserved maps and materials archived in Historical Collections help us to understand the history of our use of water. This land has been part of the aquifer beneath it since before it was a Cemetery, and as we look toward the future sustainability and enhancement of this landscape and its many resources, we will continue to make thoughtful choices that serve to benefit both Mount Auburn and the surrounding community.
2 | Sweet Auburn