By Harold Takooshian
MIDDLE RIVER, Md. — On September 7, 2024, over 100 descendants of Hagop and Helen Alexander filled the pavilion of Our Lady of Queen of Peace Catholic Church in Maryland for a family reunion that was historic in a few ways.
First, this was the largest reunion of the Alexander family – with 108 kin from a dozen states. This reunion was orchestrated by the family’s 90-year-old patriarch Michael “Sonny” Alexander, a retired Command Sergeant Major in the US Army, who is also the last of 7 children born to Hagop (1889-1960) and Helen (1900-1937). The family celebrated its many contributions to the U.S. military, law enforcement, technology, and other fields, and shared a lavish feast including Armenian delicacies imported from Kirichian Foods in New Jersey.
Second, this reunion was impacted by genetic testing on 23+me, after two young people in 2018 (Brittany Bangert in Maryland and Lori Dondiego in New Jersey) discovered an unexpected connection that revealed Hagop’s unknown first marriage in New York City in 1910-1914, with Mary Epremian and their two children Alfred (1911-1992) and Margaret (1913-1987). For unclear reasons, Alfred and Margaret never met their father. Hagop and Mary divorced in 1914, and neither spoke of their first marriage until genetic testing revealed the connection 104 years later.
With great hospitality on September 7, the Alexanders welcomed their 6 “new” family from New Jersey to their reunion for the first time, and celebrated this new connection. In fact, Sonny’s oldest brother Alfred was also a US Army veteran – a decorated soldier in the Battle of the Bulge in 1944. Sonny’s oldest sister Margaret was an expert seamstress, the same life-long career as her father Hagop. Throughout the September 7 reunion, people commented how closely their “new” family resembled their own members — their faces, mustaches, mannerisms.
Hagop and Helen Alexander settled in Baltimore around 1918 to raise their growing family of 7 children. Hagop originally migrated to the USA from the “magical” village of Evereg-Fenese in Central Turkey – a historic village that was brutally emptied of Armenians during the genocide of 1915. Remarkably, these villagers had formed the Evereg-Fenese Educational Society (EFES) back in 1879 to promote education among the village’s children. Even a century after this village disappeared in 1915, this EFES remains a vibrant global association which continues to offer scholarships to its young descendants 145 years later. Until now, the Alexanders have been uninvolved with their Armenian-American community, and unaware of their connection with this historic village.
