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Descendants
of Zohrab of the Manuchariants
Descendants of Constantine
Zohrab |
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(Click on the photographs to see larger
versions)
Constantine
was one of the sons of the Paul Zohrab
who was at one stage living in Constantinople (Istanbul). Constantine
was born and grew up in Istanbul, according to MacFarlane
1829. Both Constantine Zohrab and his eldest son, Edward Zohrab,
are acknowledged in the Preface as sources of information on Turkey,
but the author says he is most indebted to Constantine. The preface
also says that Constantine also probably furnished information to
his sister's husband, Mr. Thornton, author of "The Present State
of Turkey". The Preface says that Constantine had been to England
(several times), France, Russia, and most of the countries of Europe,
and that he was a merchant, in partnership with the then British Consul-General
in Constantinople, a Mr. Cartwright.
Donoghue (2004) states
that Constantine was first dragoman to the Dutch legation in Constantinople.
However, David Wilson (emailed notes of April 2012) says that he can
find no record of Constantine being employed as a dragoman by the
Dutch, and that it was almost certain that he was never their first
dragoman. However, Constantine knew both Turkish and French
(and probably Armenian, since his wife was Armenian), so it is at
least possible that he was employed as a dragoman at some stage.
Constantine supposedly married Mary
de Serpos, an Armenian from Venice, and had six children:
Edward, Paul, John,
Mary (mother of Lady Fanny Blunt), Matilda,
and Sophia ("Kate"). That supports the possibility that
Constantine's uncle was Johannes Zohrab,
who lived in Venice. Tuckerman
(1895, p. 248) states that Constantine's wife was Scottish, and
that their son Paul had the physique and
accent of a Scottish Highlander. Most of this can be explained
by the claim in his obituary (see
below) that he was brought up and educated in Edinburgh and Aberdeen
by a Mr. Gordon. John had a lot of descendants, including the
numerous Greenwood branch of the family,
created when John's daughter Eliza married James Greenwood.
Edward
Zohrab, was in
Ottoman (Turkish) Government service in London in 1843, British
Consul in Tblisi (Georgia), and buried at Ferikigei Protestant Cemetery.
He is probably the
person to whom was dedicated
the Rev. Alishan's volume of Armenian Popular Songs. MacFarlane
(1850) states that Edward was the Ottoman Consul-General in London
in 1847, under whose "care and active superintendence" the
Turkish ship was fitted up, on which the author travelled from England
to Turkey.
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(Photograph courtesy of Mr & Mrs Kelvin & Rosemary Pollock)
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A son of Constantine Zohrab, he was a doctor who had studied in
Edinburgh, Aberdeen and also in London, and practised mainly in Istanbul
(Constantinople), Turkey.
John Zohrab,
a younger brother of Dr. Paul Zohrab, was a silk farmer near Brussa,
Turkey. The actual village in which he lived was called Hadgi Eivat,
according to his niece, Lady Fanny Blunt.
MacFarlane (1850) describes
John
Zohrab as "the greatest resource of all, our choicest, most
useful companion, our best 'guide, philosopher and friend,' ... one
of the sons of my old friend Constantine Zohrab...," and says that
John had gone to school in England. The same book also says -- referring
to John as "Tchelebee John" (Gentleman John), as everyone
called him -- that:
"Although he led rather a Robinson Crusoe life Tchelebee John
had a wife and little family, and two brothers of his spouse -- fine
young men both -- were living with him in the farm house."
Interestingly, the book goes on to refer to one of her brothers as
"Monsieur Louis Vallé", indicating that John's wife,
Caroline's maiden name had been Vallé. Elsewhere she is referred
to as "daughter of Dr. Dominique", but "Dominique is
generally a Christian name in French, and it may have been a Turkish
custom to refer to Westerners by their Christian names only, since surnames
may not have been in vogue in Turkey at that time.
John and Caroline had eight children: Eliza,
Albert, Bridget, Amadeo, Edward, Alfred, Elfrida
and Emily.
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Elfrida Matilda Zohrab (not to be confused
with her niece, Elfrida Greenwood) married James Ponsford. He
was born in 1840 in Marylebone and was a civil engineer. They
had three children, including Frank Frederick
Ponsford.
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Elfrida Matilda Ponsford (nee Zohrab)
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Frank Ponsford
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Frank Ponsford on Lemnos in 1924
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Emily Zohrab, daughter of John and Caroline
Zohrab, married in Naples.
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Lady Fanny Janet Blunt,
nee Sandison, a daughter of Mary Zohrab,
was born in Istanbul and grew up in Brussa.
She was the authoress of "My Reminiscences")
1840 - 1926, and married Sir John Elijah Blunt KCB (British Consul at
Salonika (Thessaloniki) & Boston).
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According to Akira Hamada, Constantine's
grandson, Edward Zohrab Holme, started
the Japanese tea trade.
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Latest Update |
13 October 2015
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