Around the 1930s-1940s, my great grandfather, Donabed Moorab Markarian and his wife Akaby Altoonian came here with my 3-year-old grandfather, Hyke Markarian. They fled Armenia because they did not feel safe and need to support their new child. When my great grandparents moved to Massachusetts they were very very poor. This later led to my grandpa developing an ear infection and due to the lack of money and medical care, continue to be infected for months with no treatment. Later in his life, this infection would impair his hearing, causing him to lose most of the hearing in his left ear. He would end up getting a bone taken out of his ear and using hearing aids to improve some of his hearing.  My grandpa grew up in Massachusetts and met my future grandma. In 1963, they had my father in Massachusetts. My grandparents, when my dad was a young age, flew over to California. There he would later marry my mom, then have me.

– NM

Relationship:  Great-grandchild of im/migrant or more Great-grandchild of im/migrant or more