Timeline
Diana Agabeg Apcar: Timeline of events
October 17, 1859
Born Gaiana Agabeg, in Rangoon, Burma (Yangon, Myanmar). She is the youngest of seven children.
June 18, 1889
Married Apcar Michael Apcar, at St. John the Baptist Armenian Apostolic Church in Rangoon, Burma.
Couple travel to and from Japan for their honeymoon.
August 22, 1890
First child, Rose (Sirvart) Apcar, is born in Rangoon.
Late 1890
Michael, Diana and Rose move to Kobe, Japan where Michael sets up his import/export business. Diana never leaves Japan.
October 24, 1891
Second child, Michael Apcar, is born in Yokohama.
1892
Diana publishes Susan.
“She was always a queer child” Mrs. Malcolm said to herself about Susan, she had always been strange, precociously thoughtful, exquisitely sensitive, drawing in into herself, repelled by as much as a glance, lavishing a wealth of affection on a battered doll, hugging to sleep puppy dogs in her arms, weeping profusely over the pages of story books, things of which Mrs. Malcolm’s childhood contained no reminiscences…”
January 24, 1895
Third child, John Agabeg, is born in Yokohama. He dies as a young child.
January 12, 1896
Fourth child, Ruth (Zumruth) Apcar, is born in Yokohama.
Family is bankrupt due to Michael’s risky financial and business endeavors.
February 6, 1898
Fifth child, John Apcar, is born in Yokohama. He dies as a young child.
1905
Diana publishes Home Stories of the War ,which she dedicates to the Japanese people.
November 22, 1906
Diana’s husband, Michael Apcar, dies unexpectedly at the age of 51. Diana is forced to take over the family business and support her family in Yokohama. Her son, Michael, must dropout of school, as Diana cannot afford the tuition.
1910
Diana publishes two works: The Truth about the Armenian Massacres and Betrayed Armenia.
1911
Diana publishes In His Name….
1912
Diana publishes two works: The Peace Problem and Peace and No Peace.
The St. Louis, MO, Post-Despach wrote of DAA’s book, The Peace Problem:
“Diana Agabeg Apcar is a prophetess in exile. … She knows the Bible, Old and New, as she knows world-politics, and she comes nearer knowing both by heart than most diplomates. She pleads for peace in the name of Christianity against what she calls ‘the curse of the world—Imperialism.’ … Knowledge of world politics, absolute sincerity and burning eloquence characterize this inspired appeal.”
The Buffalo, NY, Buffalo News wrote of DAA’s book, The Peace Problem:
“…The indictment of those powers is a tremendous one because it is founded strictly on fact. The author recites the immeasurable cruelties of the late Sultan Abdul Hamid, but shows almost to a mathematical demonstration that the Young Turk party now in power is more atrociously and infinitely cruel, pitiless and wicked in the treatment of Armenians than the old Sultan ever was….”
From THE PEACE PROBLEM:
(pages 23-24)
“The curse of the world is Imperialism. But how the nations of the past and the nations of the present have striven to keep up Imperialism in our world.
What is Imperialism? And how shall we define it? Does not Imperialism mean taking what is not our own? Robbing another nation’s country to add it to our own. And by robbing other nations and other peoples, does not Imperialism create Strife, Bitterness, Heart burning, Race-hatred? Does not Imperialism keep up the cycle of wrong going round and round, and the cauldron of evil passions boiling? Is not Imperialism, therefore, the Evil Spirit that taketh hold of Peace and teareth it and bruiseth it and throweth it down?
God has willed “On earth peace,” but Imperialism destroys Peace. Is it therefore any matter of surprise that Imperialism should always end in decay and dissolution? No profit to itself at the last after filling up the cup of evil for others.
And yet how the nations of Europe struggle for Imperialism whilst talking of Peace.”
1914
Diana publishes The Great Evil.
1918
Diana publishes On the Cross of Europe’s Imperialism: Armenia Crucified.
1920
Due largely to Diana’s effort, Japan becomes one of the first nations to recognize the Armenian republic as an independent nation.
July 22,1920
Diana is appointed Honorary Consul to Japan, in a letter by Hamo Ohanjanian, Foreign Minister of the First Republic, “for defending the interests of the newly-born Fatherland, and mitigating the conditions of our compatriots…”
December 20, 1920
Diana writes to President Woodrow Wilson, begging his attention for the “Armenian agony”.
September 1, 1923
The Great Kanto Earthquake destroys Diana’s home; she escapes with minor injuries. The family moves to Kobe temporarily.
August 16, 1929
Diana’s daughter Rose, with her husband, Samuel Galstaun, and their three children, Lionel, Diana, and Vanick, arrive in San Francisco, California.
1936
Rose returns to Yokohama for 4 months to visit her mother.
July 8,1937
Diana dies at the age of 77.
January 6, 1942
San Francisco’s Armenian church is consecrated and given the name St. John Armenian Church, after Diana Apcar’s sons who died in childhood.
September 20, 1946
Two of Diana’s grandchildren, Lucille and Michael, arrive in San Francisco.
November 4, 1946
Diana’s son Michael, with his wife Araxe and two of their children, Katherine and Richard, arrive in San Francisco.
2004
Lucille Apcar, granddaughter of Diana, publishes her lost manuscript, From the Book of One Thousand Tales, Stories of Armenia and its people, 1892-1922
From From the Book of ONE THOUSAND TALES:
(page ix, Ara Ghazarians writes)
“Hakob Karapents, one of the most prolific twentieth century Diaspora Armenian writers, once wrote: ‘Everybody’s biography has two levels, inner and outer. The outer level is an easy one. It deals with such questions as: What has he done? Where has he gone? With whom has he met? One can write an entire book about it, and some do exactly that. The difficult part is the inner biography of a person which deals with one’s journey through eternity. I am the traveler of that world whose cartography is impossible.’
The paragraphs venture to weave in brief the ‘outer’ level of Diana Agabeg Apcar’s biography in an attempt to introduce her to those unfamiliar with this remarkable Armenian woman, her life and legacy as a wife and mother, businesswoman, writer, correspondent, diplomat, and activist-humanitarian.”
