She was the daughter of Hagop (Jacob) Donoian and Tacouhi Apalakian of Malatya, Turkey in the Ottoman Empire. An important man of the town came to her house to tell her father that his son in America who had been widowed for ten years was ready to marry, and it was determined that Mariam would be that wife. According to her, one could not say no to this man, so plans were made for her to leave for America to marry Nazareth Sookasian. She left in 1911 and brought with her a girl about 10 years old named Varter, who was Nazareth's daughter from the prior marriage. They arrived at Ellis Island on July 31, 1911, were processed and the next day went with Nazareth to New York City Hall for him to legally marry Mariam. They had their first daughter the following year and three more in the decade to come. She also was like a mother to his two children from his first marriage. Nazareth died of a heart attack in 1932. At Mariam's death from a stroke she lived at 4960 Chestnut Street in Philadelphia.
She was the daughter of Hagop (Jacob) Donoian and Tacouhi Apalakian of Malatya, Turkey in the Ottoman Empire. An important man of the town came to her house to tell her father that his son in America who had been widowed for ten years was ready to marry, and it was determined that Mariam would be that wife. According to her, one could not say no to this man, so plans were made for her to leave for America to marry Nazareth Sookasian. She left in 1911 and brought with her a girl about 10 years old named Varter, who was Nazareth's daughter from the prior marriage. They arrived at Ellis Island on July 31, 1911, were processed and the next day went with Nazareth to New York City Hall for him to legally marry Mariam. They had their first daughter the following year and three more in the decade to come. She also was like a mother to his two children from his first marriage. Nazareth died of a heart attack in 1932. At Mariam's death from a stroke she lived at 4960 Chestnut Street in Philadelphia.
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