Mariam Kojabashian was born in the village of Malatya, Turkey, in 1835 according to her death certificate, but she could have been younger. Her parents were Sarkis & Yeghisapet Elizabeth Kojabashian. Mariam married Toros Sookiasian, a prominant man of the village. Together they had a number of children: Diramayr, Sarkis, twins Nazareth and a boy who died shortly after birth, Haroutune, Margaret, and Avedis. By the turn of the 20th century Mariam's children had begun moving to Philadelphia in America to find a better life. Her son Avedis was likely the first one, perhaps around 1897, Haroutune around 1899, and Nazareth in 1900. Nazareth's wife died in Malatya shortly after he left, leaving a young son and daughter, and so Mariam and Toros raised them. In 1909 this grandson was sent to be reunited with his father in Philadelphia, and as it was customary to have a wife to raise the children, Nazareth wrote to his parents in Malatya to send a new wife for him. Toros selected Mariam Donoian and she went to Philadelphia in 1911, bringing Nazareth's daughter Varter with her. The next year in 1912 Mariam's daughter Margaret and her family also left Malatya for Philadelphia, at which point almost her entire family had left. Her husband Toros died soon after in late 1912 or 1913, and so Mariam made the journey as well to join most of her family in Philadelphia. Mariam arrived at Ellis Island on September 29, 1913. Listed just below her on the manifest is a young Kojabashian woman from Malatya and her infant daughter. Though the manifest doesn't indicate a connection between them, they were presumably relatives and likely had accompanied the elderly Mariam to America since such a journey alone would have been difficult for a woman of her advanced age. She was listed as being 54 years old on the manifest, and yet two years later her death certificate lists her as 80 years old, so the reason for this extreme discrepancy is unknown but 54 is probably much younger than she actually was, as it looks like another age had been written first and crossed out so it is hardly reliable. If she was indeed 54, she would have been about the same age as her daughter Diramayr and so could not possibly be her mother, and due to the large age gaps between the birth of Toros's first two children and later ones, there is some speculation as to whether a first wife was their mother, but this is all speculation.

Arriving in Philadelphia, it was the first time Mariam had seen some of her children in fifteen years and met many of her grandchildren for the first time. She lived there with her son Haroutune and his family. Mariam died two years later of a cerebral embolism brought on by chronic endocarditis at age 80. She had lived at 1803 N. Darien Street and was buried on December 23, 1915 in an unmarked grave at Monument Cemetery in North Philadelphia (Section E, Lot 251, Grave 1N) near a water pump, with her grandson that had died five years earlier. Upon the closing of Monument, on April 30, 1956 they were moved to Lawnview Cemetery and a grave marker was purchased for them. Mariam was fondly remembered by her descendants, especially her grandson Sarkis who she raised. At the time Mariam died, her daughter-in-law was pregnant and when that child born the next summer she was named Mary in her honor.