ABSTRACT
One of the survivors of the battle of Urfa was Marie Hovagimian, who later became the author's wife. She was not a native of Urfa but an exile from the city of Mezire, the seat of government of the vilayet of Harput in central Turkey. Marie's personal experiences as a refugee had been typical of the more fortunate of the deportees, although, as with all Armenians in those days, tragedy had been an ever-present reality in and around her family. Marie's paternal grandfather, Simeon, owned several farms in and around Kessirig (another town near Harput) — two wheat, one vegetable, one lumber farm, and three vineyards. In 1908 Marie's brother Hagop left for America. One of the common dangers for handsome young Armenian boys in those days was attacks by Turkish homosexuals. Marie and Hripsime were in the first of three contingents of about two thousand each to be moved out.
