“That Great, Happy Reunion”
Rebecca and Nishan Sherinian with three of their children: Arick, George, and Herond, circa 1902.
Nishan and Rebecca Sherinian lived in the town of Zara, where Nishan ran a store. On October 3, 1888, Nishan encountered the Latter-day Saint missionary Ferdinand F. Hintze, who taught him and his family about the gospel. Nishan and his father-in-law, Nigoghos Sherinian, accepted baptism a mere three days later, on October 6. Just a few days after the baptism, Elder Hintze ordained Nigoghos an elder and Nishan a priest and left them in charge of the Church in their area. In 1891, Rebecca was also baptized and began serving as the local Relief Society president.
“But from the day of our baptism, it seemed to us that the adversary arose against us in full force,” reflected Nishan. When Nishan went on a short mission, his half-brother mismanaged his store and Nishan became the target of an unjust property lawsuit. He lost his money and spent 90 days in jail. During this time, their first son, Yervant, contracted pneumonia and died.
In 1898, Nishan served another short mission with Elder Anthon Lund and others, traveling to Aintab, Aleppo, and the surrounding areas to preach and meet with groups of Armenian Saints living there. Rebecca provided Nishan with a handmade Turkish rug for Elder Lund to take back for the Salt Lake Temple. Rebecca had spun raw wool and dyed thread and woven a beautiful original pattern.
Church History Museum curators in the 1980s removed Rebecca’s handspun, hand-dyed, handwoven rug from the apostles’ council room and preserved it in the Church’s historical collections.
President Lorenzo Snow received the rug and had it placed in the Apostles’ meeting room within the temple. While Nishan was preaching in Aleppo, Rebecca wrote to report that their son Hasoo had cancer in his thigh bone. Nishan returned to Zara in June. In July, their daughter Araxy suddenly died of pneumonia, and one month later Hasoo also died.
In 1902, in the midst of mounting ethnic tensions between Turks and Armenians, Nishan and Rebecca, their three children, and one of Nishan’s cousins left Zara and emigrated to Murray, Utah.
In 1904, two small boys from neighbor families antagonistic to the Sherinians pushed a pile of carelessly stacked lumber onto their three-year-old son, Krikor, killing him. “This was a very sorrowful time, for we were still strange to the land and people,” Nishan said. “However, we still gave thanks unto the Lord for ‘He giveth and taketh away. Blessed be His holy name.’ For He had raised up for us many good friends who helped us in our ordeal and watched over us with tender care.”
Nishan served a third mission in 1923, traveling to California. Rebecca joined him in Fresno. Two years after the completion of their mission, Rebecca’s health declined, and she died on New Year’s Day, 1928.
In addition to his other contributions of time and service to the Church, Nishan helped translate the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price into Western Armenian.
Nishan dedicated his autobiography to his children: “May God, our Heavenly Father, accept our humble prayers and through our unshaken faith and hope, greet us in the life eternal, that we may be with our entire families in that great, happy reunion in His celestial kingdom.”