History + Research

Strange but true facts – I:

Three Armenian Churches in India,
Calcutta, Dacca and Madras
were all built at No.2 Armenian Street.

The Armenian churches at
Calcutta, Dacca, Madras and Saidabad
were each erected on the site of an
old Armenian cemetery

The oldest Christian graves at
Surat, Agra, Calcutta, Dacca and Madras
are all Armenian

Strange but true facts – II:

In 1907  six baskets, containing a large number of Armenian manuscripts, books and pontifical bulls (Kondaks) belonging to the Armenian church at Gwalior which was erected by Colonel Jacob Petrus, were sold as waste paper for six Rupees only by a descendant of the Colonel ^†

†The descendant told this to Mesrovb Seth in Agra in October 1919

Strange but true facts – III:

The Holy Nazareth Church had the official foundation stone laid in 1707, although a wooden chapel existed even before that.  So why do the Church registers only start at 1793?  According to Joseph Emin in his book “The Life and Adventures of Joseph Emin” published in 1792 he says that:

“At one time there were three wardens of the Calcutta church,

a dispute arose between the three,

one of them took away the records [registers] to his house

and nothing previous to 1793 has survived this most unfortunate proceeding”.

So fellow Armenian family history researchers and enthusiasts, the graves listed on THIS website will be the only comprehensive record of Armenian deaths and some births in India prior to 1793