Armenian-Jumpers: From Kars to Los Angeles
- Karakala,
Kars
oblast, Russia
- My Trip to
Turkey, 1999, by Joyce Keosababian-Bivin
- Why Armenians
Moved to Karakala, by Joyce Keosababian-Bivin
- First
Armenian Pentecostal Church, La Habra Heights, California
Karakala
By
Joyce Keosababian-Bivin and Andrei Conovaloff, February 2009.
CLICK
on Pictures to ENLARGE
 Karakala was a
village where many Armenians who joined the Jumper sect lived. It was
near Jumper villages in Kars oblast
(province), Russian Empire. Kars is now at the eastern edge of Turkey.
"Kara kale"
means
"black
fortress", or just "fortress" in Turkish. Russian maps show it as
"Karakala". It was an abandoned Russian military outpost. In Eastern
Turkey this place name is a common way for Turks to eulogize
military
victories.
The Karakala village
photo was taken in the late 1800s shortly after the Armenians moved in.
You can see the
residents posing for the photographer.
 Russian
Karakala
Beginning in the 1830s, Russian sectarian state peasants (mostly Molokans, Jumpers, Doukhobors, and Sabbatarians) were offered land in
the Caucasus
by the Tsar to establish Russian
colonies along the new borders of the Russian Empire. First they were
resettled into what is now Azerbaidjan, then Georgia and Armenia, and
at
the end of
the 1800s, Kars oblast. Oblast is Russian for province, like a
state.
Russia took the
Kars territory from Turkey
in 1887, and gave it back to Turkey in 1923. Read
more about the Russo-Turkish wars.
In that period my ancestors moved to Kars Oblast and were converted to
the
charismatic religion of the Spriitual
Christian Jumpers — a Russian sect relocated to the Caucasus. It
was unusual for Armenians to join another faith and they were often
scorned by other Armenians. We are a hybrid that can be called:
"Armenian
Jumpers".
Our Armenain Jumper oral history and living descendants disagree on the
exact
location
of Karakala. Some say it was south of Kars, others say north. The most
extensive description I found is in chapter 1 of the Autobiography of James T. Agajanian
(1965, Payne Publishing Company, Gardena California):
- Page 1: "Our home was in a village called Ortakilesa
(meaning church in the center of the village), located about sixteen
miles northeast of the city of Kars, two hundred miles from the Turkish
border on the Russian side of Armenia, and two hundred and seventy five
miles northwest of Mount Ararat. [Ortakilesa is now named Ortalar, or
Ortakoy.]
- Page 3: "Our village was surrounded by seven Turkish
villages, namely, Inaluh, Chamerluh, Berdik, Kezelchakchak, Geolbashy,
Karapoongar and Karakala." [I have not yet found all of these 7 Turkish
villages.]
- Page 14: "My father ... November, 1911, ... took me
to the village known as Karakala, approximately thirty five
miles away from our village. This was Armenian Karakala and nearly
every member of the village was Protestant. Not being able to get along
with people of the Gregorian faith, they had isolated themselves in
this village."
From all sources, I find 6
candidates for Karakal(a,e) villages near Kars, see
the map. Which is our
Karakala?
I think it is #1 on the map above, located about 11 miles (18 km) north
of the
city
of Kars, at the location of the present
day village of Taşlica (Tushlicu).
Of
the 6 Karakalas shown, this one may be it because:
- It is closer to more of the Molokans and Jumper villages
in Kars guberniia than any other Karkala candidate.
- It is closest to Romanovka where the Jumper prophet Klubnikin
lived who alarmed many villagers of upcoming dangers.
- It is the only
Karakala in the area named on a Soviet topographic map, considered to
be the best maps in the world at the time.
- The lay of the land seems similiar to our famous village
photo above, which I discuss below.
 The enlarged Russian
topographic map (right) shows the exact location of Karakala (#1) north
of
Kars, where the current Turkish village of Taşlica (Tashlika) is today,
show on a satellite image. In the
next section, "My Trip to Turkey, 1999", I further
explain why I think this could be our Karakala.
The main problem in chosing #1 as our Karakala is that it is only 2.8
miles north of Agajanian's home village of Ortakilesa which he says is
close to a Turkish village named Karakala, and about 35 miles from the
Armenian Karakala of Protestants. He does not say if the 35 miles are
straight or by the road. Karakalas #2 , #4 and #5 are about 35 miles
away. So we still can not yet be sure where our Karakala is.
American
Karakala
In
the early 1900s (especially 1905- 1912), about 2500 Russian Molokans
and Jumpers,
and
Armenian Jumpers, mainly from Kars oblast, fled to America. Many came
to avoid military service, others to find
employment, and some were concerned about the future of religious
freedom in Russia.
Most of the Molokans and Jumpers settled in the "Flats" district, an
area on the eastside of Los Angeles. They soon separated into
congregations based on the villages they came from. The Armenian
Jumpers formed their own seperate congregation. Each group held
religious services in their
own prayer house.
The Armenian Jumper prayer house had several locations, mainly in
homes,
but the
last location in the Flats was just south of 4th Street below the
International Institute on land that is now in the
south bound lane of the Santa Ana (I-5) Freeway (See map).
 Oral
history reports that the topography of Karakala in Russia was hilly. In
fact,
Molokans and Jumpers who
migrated to
Los Angeles and then moved into Boyle Heights, up the hill from the
"Flats", named a part of their neighborhood "Kara-kala",
sometimes pronounced "Krik-kala". It is bordered on the north by
Whittier Boulevard, on the south by Eighth Street, on the east by
Lorena Street and on the west by Boyle Avenue. Before the Santa Ana
(I-5) Freeway was built, the Russian immigrants said this this
neighborhood resembled the hills near
Karakala in the old country, especially the steep section west (behind)
Bishop Mora Salisian
High
School as seen from what is now the Boyle Heights Recrational Center.
For some oral history, see Molokans
in
America, Chapter 1.
 The most
famous
Armenian-Jumper family from Karakala is the Shakarians, notably son
Demos. They had a large dairy farm in Downey, California, southeast of
Los Angeles. The family history and testimonial is documented in Demos'
book: The Happiest People on Earth.
In it he acknoledges explains their connection to the Jumper
and founded the religious organization FGBMFI
— Full Gospel Business Men's
Fellowship International. Demos split from the original
Armenian-Molokan church which moved from East LA to La
Habra Heights,
not far from the current UMCA. Our
History describes how his family was saved by Efim G. Klubnikin's
prophesies and by Molokans who regularly visited Karakala village, the
migration, and meeting Protestants
in
Los Angeles. Also, the fate of their
Karakala village is reported: "Two years later, the great
World War I
broke out, and in the terrible onslaught, when Turkey overran Armenia,
every soul in Kara Kala was wiped out."
The original Armenian-Jumper church eventually moved from East LA to
La Habra Heights, not far from the current UMCA. The history of the
Armenian Jumpers describes how, along with the Shakarian family, many
other Armenians in Karakala were saved by Efim G. Klubnikin's
prophecies and by Molokans and Jumpers who regularly visited Karakala.
Also, the
fate of their Karakala village is reported: "Two years later, the great
World War I broke out, and in the terrible onslaught by Turkey between
1918 - 1920, those who did not heed the Klubnikin's prophecy were
either murdered or fled for their lives to Russia.
Excerpts about the
Armenian-Jumper and Karakala, from Molokans in America by John K Berokoff
[Berokoff often includes
Jumpers under the label Molokan.]
Chapter 1
A large neighboring
Armenian village,
Karakalla, became converted to the Christian Jumpers, most of
whom eventually came to America at the same time as the Russian
Molokans.
Meanwhile Klubnikin
took it upon himself to inform the villagers in the Erevan region.
Traveling from one village to another, he confided his revelations to
elders in that area who, in his opinion, were sympathetic to the cause
but being told about others who were not favorably disposed and fearing
betrayal as an agitator, he returned to Romanovka and concentrated his
efforts in the region of Kars, not neglecting to inform the Armenian brethren in Karakalla
that unless they left the country their people will endure far more in
the coming period of tribulation than their Russian brethren. This
warning was heeded by the majority of the Dukhonvy Armenians and when
the time came they followed the latter to America. [Footnote: The
prophesy[sic] concerning the Armenians literally came to pass in the
first world war. When the Turkish army marched through the area in
1917, they committed unspeakable atrocities against the Armenian people
in all the
villages, including Karakalla.
For
that reason the memory of Efeem Gerasimitch Klubnikin is revered
among the Armenian Molokans
to this day.]
This debate
continued in all Molokan villages throughout Trans-Caucasia and the
Trans-Caspian regions for about three years or until the beginning of
the winter of 1904.
... Very early in
that winter a conference was assembled by the elders of the Kars region
in the village of Novo-Mihailovka where representatives of ten
communities were present, including a leading member of the Armenian community of Karakalla,
Ardzuman Ivanitch Ohanessian, who was much respected in the
Russian Molokan communities. For that reason the memory of Efeem
Gerasimitch Klubnikin is revered among the Armenian Molokans to this
day.]
Chapter 2
Evergreen Cemetery
... The Armenian Molokans
too, were participants in the undertaking and quite a number of their
people were buried there.
Chapter 3
The elders decreed
that a large tent was to be installed on some near-by vacant lot and
that Paskha should be observed together by all congregations after a
three-day fast to conform to the command of the Holy Spirit. ...
including the Armenian
brethren.
Chapter 7
[Page 135] At the end of February, 1945 the Advisory
Council compiled and circulated an accounting of total sums collected
from the entire brotherhood and the amount contributed by each
contributing congregation, including $127.00 by the Armenian Molokan
Church, $127.00
My Trip to Turkey, 1999
Karakala means "Black
Fortress"
By Joyce Keosababian-Bivin, an
American-Armenian-Jumper who has been exploring her family
history
for over 15 years. She has visited Armenia several times. The photos
are hers.
According to oral tradition, Karakala was an Armenia
Protestant village — some Jumper Armenians and some regular
Protestants.
My grandfather Zorab and his brother John Keosababian had a
sister named Anna, who was also called Shogho, and in the old family
letters,
sometimes referred to as Abla, meaning "eldest" sister. Anna married a
Jumper
named Vasili Artyomovich. Their children were Alex, Katya, Uliasha,
Vasili, Ivan and Mania. After Zorab and John went to America, they
exchanged letters with their father Yacov (Hagop), Anna, Vasili and
Alex, and later, their daughter Mania continued corresponding with her
uncles in America.
Manya married Nikolai Fydorovitch Polunin. They had nine children;
Vasili, Ona, Katia, Grisha, Yasha, Vania, Ivan, Dunia and Tania
(Tat'iana). They lived in the Molokan-Jumper village of
Malaia-Vorontsovka (now named İncesu),
near
Karakala, Dubovka
and other villages where Molokans and Jumpers lived. My
great-grandfather Hagop
Keosababian lived in Karakala, Malia-Vorontsovka, Dubovka and Cakmak
[near:
Çalkavur].
The return address on some of Manya's letters had the family
name
Dagala. During the Russian period, mail was not delivered to the
villages outside of Kars, so I always assumed Dagala was the name of
the
merchant or place where our family received their mail. For over eight
years, I had been trying to find the descendants of my
great Aunt Anna but to no avail. Telephone calls in America and
an Internet search all brought no results.
One day in desperation, I decided to write to the Dagala
address and
ask if those living there remembered the Polunin family and possibly
knew where they went. I had the letter translated into Turkish and
finally last July, after waiting for a couple of months, mailed it. I
mailed it doubting that it would reach that address and even more
doubtful that I would receive an answer.
Meanwhile, I made a serious decision to go to Turkey with
Armen Aroyan's Historic Armenia Tour where Armenians, mainly from
America, visit places where their parents and grandparents
lived before they came to America or perished during the massacres. I
have for many years dreamed of visiting Kars and finding Karakala.
Finally my dreams were coming to pass.
After I
made the decision to go on this trip, to my great surprise, I received
a reply from the son of Tatiana, the granddaughter of my great aunt
Anna who married a Jumper. He
informed me they were still living in the same
village (Malia-Voronstovka), now called Incesu, and invited me to visit
them, and included
their phone number.
On September 7, I flew to Istanbul and joined the small group
of Armenians
from America. Very early the next morning we flew to Kars, via
Ankara. We arrived in Kars at 10:30 a.m. and called Tatsyana to tell
her
we were on our way. There it was — Kars, right
before my eyes. I stood and looked at the Kars sign at the airport and
could not believe I was actually here.
Right from the airport, we began our search for Karakala.
A couple of
years ago when I called my mother's 90-year-old cousin Myrtle to ask
about Karakala, she said it didn't exist anymore. It had been filled
in. I didn't believe her. I wanted to believe it still existed and that
I would be able to visit it someday.
We then drove straight to Incesu, about 16
miles
northeast of Kars. As we drove into the village of Incesu, there was a
little old lady
just standing on the side of the road of which we paid no attention.
Suddenly, Jamal, our driver stopped the van. He had a "feeling" about
this lady with her long dress, sweater and scarf tied under her
chin
and backed up to talk to her. It was indeed Tat'iana.
We arrived at the house and walked across the street as a
gaggle of
geese scurried away. The house was surrounded by a low brick wall
covered
with white plaster and
as we followed Tat'iana through the gate, we saw in the distance two
women
in long dresses and head scarves pitching
hay down to someone operating a threshing machine on the other side of
the hay stack. Soon, we
met Tat'iana's sons and two daughter-in-laws who were the women
pitching hay to the threshing machine when we arrived and were
now
serving us red Turkish tea in demitasse size glasses. Someone commented
that could have been me pitching
hay if my grandparents had not fled to America.
Tat'ia is
78 years old, and converted to Islam in order to marry a Turkish man.
Now a
widow she has five children. Tat'ia and her three sons still live in
the same village where her parents and
grandparents lived. Some
of
her brothers and sisters live in Tbilisi (Georgia), Moscow (Russia),
Ankara (Turkey), and the U.S. Her sister Katia, lives in Stavropol,
Russia. In 95
years nothing
much seems to have changed in the village except for electricity and
television. Hay wagons are now pulled by tractors. It
was hard to comprehend that I was standing in the same village and
perhaps the
same house as my great grandparents and their family.
I learned that after Kars was turned over to Turkey by Russia,
many
Armenians and
Russians Turkified their surnames. Mania's husband changed their
family name from Polunin to Dagala. Most of the remaining Molokans and
Jumpers left in
1962-1964. [In 2009 I learned that up to 1000 descendants of
Molokans and Jumpers remian in Turkey.]
We drove through Incesu, formerly Malia-Vorontsvoka, and
visited a family
there whose mother was a Russian married to a Turk. Nothing much seems
to have changed in the village except there was now electricity and
television. Hay wagons are pulled by tractors. It was hard to
comprehend that I was standing in the same village where possibly my
great grandparents and their family lived.
After Incesu, we drove to Taslica, a primitive Kurdish village
of scattered houses on jagged landscape totally exposed to the
elements. Jamal, our driver, talked to the chief and some of the men
standing around. It was obvious this wasn't Karakala. But apparently
they knew where it had been and one of the men pointed towards the
east, from where we had just arrived. For awhile, I lost hope of
finding our village and Armen said it was all a mystery. However, after
a few miles, Jamal suddenly stopped the van and wanted me to see
something. The area we stopped at was flat, perfect for farming (there
was a potato
patch across the road), but in the background, there were a few hilly
slopes, one with a crater-like formation between the slopes, kind of
like a small gorge maybe. A river ran between the hills and the plain.
Jamal began to show me certain rock formations on the land that
indicated the place was inhabited at one time. We found a whitewashed
stone and one that was part of a door post. I couldn't see the entire
length of the land, but shortly a tractor appeared on the horizon which
could have been a sloped section of a hill.
After our visit, we began our search for Karakala. A couple of
years
ago when I called my mother's 90-year-old cousin Myrtle to ask about
Karakala, she said it
didn't exist anymore. It had been filled in. I didn't believe
her. I
wanted to believe it still existed and that I would be able to visit it
someday.To condense this part of our adventure, I will confirm that,
yes indeed, cousin Myrtle was right. Karakala is filled in but we found
evidence on the land and confirmation by nearby villagers of its former
existence
as a military outpost and village.
.
The modern town of Kars is clean and bustling with activity.
There is a modern pedestrian walk with water fountains, shops and
outdoor coffee shops.és. There was a sunflower seed vender
on
the sidewalk with his wagon, selling whole sunflower heads. Kars is
6000 feet high and air was clean and crisp — no smog, no pollution.
Unfortunately, we had only one hour to walk around before traveling to
Ani.
We checked out of our hotel and as we drove down one of the streets, we
passed the old section which is where I really should have visited.
Next time.
|
Photo
35. Taken
just south of between Taslica
in 1999. Supposedly Karakala was filled in and
buried,
but our driver saw evidence this area was inhabited at one time. Notice
the hills in the background.
Photo
38. Photo of Karakala. It seems that everyone in our
American-Armenian-Jumper community has a copy of this photo. Notice
the
hills in the background with the gorge in the middle. They don't show
well in photos 35 and 36, but in photo 37, the second site, they're
pretty clear. Even so, none of these places may be the real Karakala
site. [If you look at the hills and "U" shaped gorge in the background,
this shot seems similar to Photo 36.] Click on photos to ENLARGE.
Photo
37. After we left the
first site, our driver cut through a neighboring
village and drove out to this second site which, in his opinion, more
likely
our Karakala. Actually, this could be an extension of the first site
only
now separated by a road. [These may be the hills that caused Molokans
and Jumpers in
Los Angeles to call their neighborhood, Kara-kala.] [Notice the
mountain in
the background are nearly identical to the mountains behind the village
photo taken in the late 1800s.]
The
Armenian-Jumper Church in America was
first located in the Los Angeles "Flats" near the other Jumper village
churches, marked "1st" on the map right. Like all the immigrant Molokan
and Jumper villages, services
were held
temporarily in homes. We used at least 3 homes homes in the "Flats".
About 1970, the
congregation moved further east closer to their membership. They
purchased their third building from the Lutherans in La Habra Heights,
on 125
West
Road, one door west of Hacienda Blvd, about a mile north of
Whitter Blvd, between the UMCA in
Hacienda Heights and the relocated Jumper-S&L-user prayer houses in
Whittier, marked "2nd" on the map abovem; and maps
and photos below. 
