Bartevian, Gregory

Aug 2

Gregory Bartevian

Marlborough, NH

Written by Gail Golec, 2024

The life story of Gregory H. Bartevian is important and interesting in its own right. And for the Recovering Black History Project, it highlights a unique issue encountered during this research project that is worth discussing. While Bartevian was an Armenian from Turkey and was what would be considered culturally “white”, because of his Armenian ancestry, his skin tone was darker and so in some records, he is listed as “mulatto”, though he had no African or African American ancestry. Records like Bartevian’s are a good reminder that if the full history and story of the individual is not well researched or understood, the resulting narrative can be confusing and misleading.

Gregory Hagop Bartevian was born in what was then known as Armenia, Turkey, on October 5, 1882. According to Bartevian’s daughter, Patricia, Gregory (Krikor) hailed from the city of Van, Turkey, and had studied in Istanbul. His parents died when Gregory was a teenager in the early 1900s, his mother from an illness and his father, killed by the Turks while traveling for business in the years leading up to the Armenian Genocide in Turkey. Gregory himself was soon caught up in the escalating attacks against Armenians in Turkey and after being injured in one of the first waves of violence, made his way to safety in England and from Liverpool, boarded a ship that brought him to Boston in 1905. Gregory had many jobs in his early days in Boston and befriended Jack Lowell Gardner and Isabella Stewart Gardner, wealthy Bostonian art collectors and philanthropists. Among other things, Gregory helped the Gardner's and others their circles find and procure unique home decorations and with their support and patronage, he opened Bartevian Inc., an antique and cabinet maker/repair shop at 160 Boylston, Street, Boston, MA.

Though Gregory was a cabinet maker by profession and was practicing his trade in Boston as early as 1905, the year of his arrival from England, in 1910, he seemed to be living in NH. Federal census data indicate that a Gregory H. Botrivian, listed as a 28 year old, single male was working as a hired man making and repairing cabinetry and living in the farming household of Charles H. and Ella F. Talmage in Marlborough, NH. Though the census data indicates he and his parents were born in Turkey, Asia, Gregory’s race is listed as mulatto. Botrivian/Bartevian was a non-citizen resident of the US, having arrived in 1905 who could read and write.

Three years later, Gregory was back in Boston and on May 22, 1913, he declared his intention to become a US citizen. His paperwork indicates he was white with a dark complexion and black hair with brown eyes; 5’7” tall and weighed 135 pounds. Records he provided for his naturalization stated that in 1905, Gregory resided on Charles Street in Boston and worked as a cabinetmaker. Bartivian arrived in Boston on about September 17, 1905 from Liverpool, England on the ship Saxonia. He agreed to renounce his allegiance to Mohammad V, Sultan of Turkey. Also in 1913, the Boston City Directory listed Gregory Bartevian, a 30 year old cabinet maker, as a resident of 159 Charles Street in Boston (having moved from Shawmut Ave, Boston, his residence in 1912). Also living with Bartevian on 159 Charles Street were: Ignateus Bartivian, a 39 year old music teacher who had just arrived from Armenia, Turkey; Alexander Savastino (barber), Harry Petkof (furrier), Barnet Pavey (tailor), Jacob Winer (bottler), Harry Govsky (tailor), Israel Kaufman (butcher) and Joseph Charak (bookbinder)- all in their 20s.

1913 Gregory Bartevian’s Declaration of Intention to become a US Citizen

In 1918, the Boston City Directory shows that Gregory Bartivian had moved to 112 Myrtle Street in Boston, apartment 151A and was still working as a furniture maker. That same year, Bartevian was drafted into WWI. His draft card indicated that he indeed did live at 151A Charles Street in Boston, was 38 years old (born Oct. 5, 1880); he was a white and naturalized and self-employed as a cabinetmaker at his home. His nearest relative was Ignitas Bartivian of 392 Shawmut Ave in Boston.

An article in the Boston Globe dated May 22, 1919 reports that an employee of Gregory Bartivian’s antique store, Naum Kay, stole oriental rugs from the store in December 1916 and disappeared. Bartivian learned he had fled to Philadelphia. The two met and got into a fist fight in May 1919; Kay was found guilty of the crime.

In 1920, Bartevian was still living at 151 Charles Street, Boston; he was reported as being 37 years old on the federal census, single, having arrived in the US in 1905 and naturalized in 1915. He could read and write and was the proprietor of an antique shop at the time. Bartevian’s business was well established well into the 1920s. A report produced by the Boston Board of Temperance, Prohibition and Public Morals recorded that Gregory Bartevian noted his antique business thrived during the Prohibition years, stating he sold three times as many goods during Prohibition as he did in the year following the law's repeal.

Sometime around 1923, Bartevian married a woman named Vera, who was born around 1894 in VT and her parents were born in MI. At the time of the 1930 census, the couple lived at 83 Revere Street in Boston, with their children, daughters Patricia, 6 years old and born in MA and Pricilla was 4 years old and born in MA.They had a 20 year old maid in the house named Rosabelle Little who was born in NH. Gregory was still the proprietor of an antique shop.

By 1942, Gregory and Vera Bartevian had moved to Newton, MA but he still had his antique store on Boylston Street in Boston. On June 5, 1983, Gregory Bartevian died in Newton, MA and is buried in the Newton Cemetery with his wife Vera, who died in 1987.

As of 2024, Bartevian Inc.is still an antique/consignment store at 160 Boylston St # 160, Boston, MA 02116 and was operated by Gregory and Vera’s daughter, Patricia as late as November 2022. For more information about the Bartevian family and their life in Boston, consult Patricia Bartevian’s book “The Bartevians: A Boston Family” (2021).

While the Bartevian family’s story centers around the Boston area, they did come to own a summer residence New Hampshire during the 1920s-30s. Gregory Bartevian’s relationship with the Talmages, Boston socialites with a summer home in Marlborough, NH, led him to acquire a New England farmhouse in nearby Washington, NH. According to daughter Patricia’s memoir, The Bartevians: A Boston Family, the Armenian immigrant attended an auction of New England antique furnishings at the Ebenezer Jaquith homestead in Washington while staying with the Talmages as their personal buyer.

Following his marriage to Vera Retan in 1922, the couple opened a public tearoom at the Jaquith homestead. The Sip & Sup at Jaquith Mansion (1778) sold tea, cinnamon toast, jams and jellies, maple sugar candies, homemade root beer and apple sider. In addition, Gregory ran an antique shop and auction house in the barn specializing in “Colonial-era and Oriental” antiques. They soon realized that the antique business was more lucrative in Boston and focused their energies on bringing NH antiques to their big city store. The family continued to commute to their New Hampshire home on holidays, weekends, and summer vacations for years to come. The Bartevians: A Boston Family includes many family photos of their time in southwest New Hampshire including images with Mount Monadnock in the background.

GENEALOGICAL SUMMARY

GREGORY BARTEVIAN was born October 5, 1886 in Van, Turkey to Hagop “Joseph” Bartevian. He married VERA M. RETAN on October 5, 1922 in West Newton, MA. They had: Patricia Elizabeth Bartevian (1923-2023) and Priscilla Genevieve Bartevian (1925-2006). Gregory died in 1982 in Newton, MA at the age of 102. His wife Vera died in 1985.