Nearly everything we know about Takouhi Pashaian comes from her husband, since she does not have a (surviving) naturalization file. She was born in October or November of 1888 to Haroutoun and Vartouhi Keutchekian, née Manougian. In October 1905, she married Samuel Pashaian (HO 405/41031) in Sivas, Armenia. The couple moved to Istanbul in 1910, where Samuel continued as a carpet repairer, and at some point that year may have also lived in Armenia, where his first child was born. In 1914, Takouhi left “Turkey Armenia” to join her husband in England, where he worked as a carpet repairer with different firms until 1916. That year, Takouhi’s husband opened up his own business, trading as Armenian Carpet Repairing Co., at 2 Victoria Avenue, Bishopsgate, London, E.C. 2, still in operation by 1922. [1] Takouhi and Samuel had four children: Anahid Bournazian (born 7/24/1910 in Armenia; by 1947 resident in Tirana, Albania); Jirair (born 5/17/1915 in England, by 1947 resident in London); Herair (born 10/18/1917 in England, by 1947 resident in New York), and Haig (born 12/7/1919 in England, by 1947 resident in London). At the time of his naturalization in 1949, Samuel was still a carpet merchant and carpet repairer and owner of the Armenian Carpet Repairing Co., by that time located at 8 Devonshire Row, Bishopsgate, London. The firm advertised itself as “Artistic Repairers & Cleaners of Oriental Carpets, Tapestries & Aubussons” and “Dealers in High Grade Oriental Carpets & Rugs.” He operated his business assisted by his two sons, both of whom were British born and had served in the British military. In 1947, he and his son Jirair Pashaian had become partners in the company, with Pashaian père receiving seven twelfths of profits and his son the other five.
Takouhi lived with her family at 16 Inderwick Road, Hornsey, London from 1918, in a house Sam had purchased in 1924. The long residence of the Pashaian couple without citizenship meant that they had to register with the local police as aliens and periodically secure certificates of identity for travel abroad. Their first certificate of identity was dated April 11, 1927. In 1938, they traveled to Albania on holiday. Takouhi’s Certificate of Identity of 3/16/1938 indicates that her grandson Aroashes Bournazian, age 6, would accompany her. In 1947, they traveled to France on holiday and to visit relatives there, while in 1948, they spent half a year in the U.S. on holiday and to visit their son. On 5/17/1949, her youngest son Haig sent his mother’s naturalization application to the HO, indicating that he was unable to include her marriage certificate because it, just like “all evidence was destroyed in Armenia,” a possible allusion to the Genocide during World War I. Takouhi’s Certificate of Identity includes two sets of photographs and matching physical descriptions. She stood 5 feet, 3 inches, had gray hair, brown eyes, a “normal” nose, and a “round” face. She was illiterate and signed her name with an “x.”
Takouhi Pashaian had been in the U.K. for 35 years before she was naturalized on April 23, 1949, under the naturalization application of her husband. Her signature there indicates that she was still illiterate (she signed with an “x”). An unknown proxy noted that Takouhi was stateless and, in her voice, wrote: “I left Turkey Armenia in 1914, to join my husband in England. [During the?] 1914-1918 war as I would not return there I was deprived of my Armenian citizenship by the Turks.”
Addendum: Takouhi Pashaian died at the age of 87 on May 18, 1975 and was cremated and buried at the Hendon Cemetery and Crematorium in Barnet, London. (Source: ancestry.com.)
[1] Third Supplement to The London Gazette (January 2, 1922): 49.