The 1910 Census

The LaBretagne
Photo: Frank Pichardo Collection

In a previous post of mine, I talked about my grandfather, Stephen Motian. Today, I'm going to be talking about where he went after he came to America from Turkey. I can't find any hard evidence about what Stephen did when he got off the ship LaBretagne at Ellis Island. In the ship manifest, it says he was going to Providence, Rhode Island. Did he actually go there? I can't find any records of his location from 1901- 1909. But if Stephen did go to Providence, he went back to New York City at some point.

1910 map of NYC

According to the 1910 Census, Stephen was the head of the household in Apartment 134 at 323 28th St. in Lower Manhattan. He was an Elevator Operator in the building, which was near Bellevue Hospital. He had four roommates who were listed as "partners" on the Census. The writing is a bit hard to decipher but I think the names are George Modatian, Jack Tashjian, Napolean Hovnanian, and Martin Goredigian. George, who was 34, arrived in the US in 1904. He was a weaver in a silk factory. Jack, age 27, arrived in the US in 1906. He was a cigar maker. Napolean, age 20, who arrived in the US in 1910. He may have been a cousin to the Motians. An Otto Hovnanian was living with Kerop Motian in Philadelphia in 1930. He might have been the same person, as he was the right age to be Napolean. (The Census often got names wrong at that time, especially for people who didn't speak English.) Napolean worked as a porter. Martin Goredigian, a man of 50, arrived in the US in 1893. He was the only married man in the group, having been married at age 30. His was a watchman in the building where the five lived. Out of the "partners," Stephen was the only one who could speak English. There were 18 other Armenians in surrounding apartments and only one other Armenian spoke English--Souren Boyajian. Interestingly, there were Greek and Italian immigrants living nearby and almost all of them spoke English.

I picture Stephen as confident, helping out his fellow immigrants to get started in America. My Grandfather appears to have been an intelligent and motivated young man.