California Biographies Source: History of Fresno County, California, with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the county who have been identified with its growth and development from the early days to the present (1919) History By Paul E. Vandor Illustrated, Complete In Two Volumes Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, California, 1919 Notes: Missing+page1185-1186 Transcribed by Peggy Hooper This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm REV. GEORGE HAROOTUNE FILIAN.� A ranching evangelist who, with his wife, leads the simple life, devotes every minute to useful activity of some kind, and gives freely of all his surplus earnings, is the Reverend George Harootune Filian, the well-known author and lecturer, whose literary and ministerial accomplishments are familiar to thousands in many parts of the United States. He farms with success on his ranch of fifty-three and a half acres three-quarters of a mile south of Parlier ; but unlike many who gladly take the fruits of the earth and hoard them for their own selfish ben- efit, the Reverend Filian devotes all the excess of the gross income of $7,000 a year to the relief of his countrymen. He was born at Antioch, in Armenia, on January 20, 1853, in the place where, according to Biblical narrative, the Disciples first were called Chris- tians. His father was a banker at Antioch. Nine boys and four girls were born to these parents, and three of the family became ministers. George was the twelfth child, and as almost the youngest, received perhaps more than the usual tender care from the mother, who was Rosa Chalikian before her marriage. The paternal grandfather was John Filian, and there is an interesting story as to the origin, from his time, of the family name. He was an orphan child ; and as he grew to maturity, he became exceptionally large and muscu- lar. He was therefore nicknamed "Filian," which in the Armenian language means "son of an elephant," or gigantic; and this name so stuck to him that it was transmitted to his children and their descendants. He began life poor, but was a hard worker and he became one of the largest and wealthiest farm- ers in the vicinity of Antioch. Grandfather Filian died in Armenia at the age of seventy-five. George's father, also George Filian, inherited his father's business ability, and becoming a banker, he grew to be one of the wealthiest men at Antioch. He loaned money to silk-growers in that vicinity, for the country round about Antioch has become famous for its silk culture. He also died aged seventy-five, and the mother passed away in her seventieth year. George's father owned seven or eight farms near Antioch, and so he was able and disposed to do well by his children. The lad went to school and learned the Armenian language. He was christened in the Gregorian Church, to which his parents belonged ; but in 1856 he was converted by American Congregational missionaries � Messrs. Powers and Morgan, then preaching at Antioch � and thereafter he went to the American missionary schools in Armenia, and in 1873 he entered on the academic course, and studied English and the Bible until 1876. Having finished the regular school course, he began to preach as an evangelist in different Armenian cities, and in 1878 he started for America, still further to equip himself. He sailed from Samasoun by way of Constan- tinople, Gibraltar and Great Britain, landing at Cardiff and re-sailing from Liverpool; and finally, on July 4, 1878, he arrived at New York City. "There he started at once to work for a living; and when he had made such headway that he had laid aside a part of his earnings, in 1879 he matriculated at Oberlin College ; in 1880 he entered the Union Theological Seminary in New York. He studied the Bible there, and then continued as a student in the Chicago Theological Seminary; and was graduated in 1882, after which he was ordained as a preacher of the Congregational ministry and lectured in the states of the East and Middle West. In the fall of that year he went back to Armenia, where he was married, on November 15, to Miss Housdiane Minasian, an Armenian but a native of Constantinople. She was the daughter of a wealthy merchant, Bedros Mi- nasian, proprietor of the "Minasian Armenian Store" there; her mother was Sirpuhi, also a native of Constantinople. After the marriage, Mr. Filian entered upon his life work as a minister and evangelist. Soon after being ordained, Mr. Filian was a Congregational minister at Wheaton, Ill., the scene of his elevation to the pulpit, and there he first began to get that real understanding of the American people and the institutions of this country. He has crossed the Atlantic five times. His second trip to America was made for the purpose of raising money for the erection of a church at Marsovan in Armenia. He was able to get together $20,000, returned to Armenia and had built a church to hold 1,500 souls. This edifice he turned over to the Protestant congregation at Marsovan; but the Turkish author- ities, learning of the event, banished him and massacred the members of the church, at the same time that they appropriated the edifice, and converted the church into a Mohammedan mosque. It was the first year of the new century that witnessed Mr. Filian's ad- vent in Fresno, for then he came and built the Armenian Presbyterian Church in J Street. He left the Congregational, and joined the Presbyterian Church in order to associate himself with the new movement ; and although the congregation was organized in 1900, only two years were required for the erection of a suitable church home. In 1903 he came to Parlier and bought his ranch referred to, and for fifteen years he has worked to steadily improve it. Mr. and Mrs. Filian have one child, Rose, who is now the wife of Ohan Ohannesian, the well-known attorney at Fresno ; and they have two children, Theodore G. and Elsie H. Besides lecturing on Armenian problems, Mr. Filian wrote several books that have had notable sales and have undoubtedly effected great good. "Ar- menia and Her People" was published by the American Publishing Company at Hartford, Conn., in 1896, and was a volume of 374 pages. His next work was "Heavenly Lights," a book of his sermons set in 415 pages, and run from the press of the American Tract Society. It was printed in the Armenian language, and Mr. Filian paid for printing this himself. The volume has been circulated and read by his fellow-countrymen, in America as well as in Ar- menia, and he has never made a penny out of the transaction, which has thus helped to spread the Gospel. In addition to the above, he has the man- uscript, written in his own hand in the Armenian language, for a greatly enlarged edition of "Heavenly Lights" and this will soon be published as a five volume work. This he will also pay for himself; for he takes Christ at his word, and believes that "it is more blessed to give than it is to receive." His illustrated lecture on "Armenia and Her People" is presented with more than two hundred and fifty beautifully colored lantern views of Armenia, Con- stantinople and the Holy Land. Among other publications of the Reverend Mr. Filian is a fifteen-page pamphlet, "Armageddon and the Battle of Armageddon," which was copy- righted in 1913. In it the author definitely locates the battlefield, and predicts that a great world war will take place in 1914; and he goes so far as to prophecy not only the participation of European nations in the great affray, but says that even the United States will be dragged into it. It is remark- able that the gist of this pamphlet, which is based on the prophecies in the scriptures, was also given in his "Armenia and Her People," published in 1896, and which was dedicated to the martyrs of Armenia who lost their lives in defense of the Christian faith.