  I have found out over the years bits and piece of my history. It's always been just bits, though. I know my mom's family is Irish and until I was about 21, I thought I was Irish and Italian. Not so. My mom told me that I was Turkish/Assyrian. I did not know what to think, but I kind of just said, "ok, that's fine'. Then more and more I find out that my grandfather and his mom fled their homeland due to the Turkish people killing the Catholics in their country. Wow.. That was sad! That as so upsetting to me. I loved my grandpa Charlie and thinking about him and his mom running away from these bad people trying to kill them because of their religion was so upsetting to me.
I was close to my grandpa Charlie as a child. He died when I was 7. Now I have found out more than I ever thought I would know and it's so exciting and yet sad. I have engulfed myself in Armenia and the Genocide and anything I can find out I apply to my family research began as a yearning for knowledge of my whole family history has split off into groups. The Kennedy/Higgins side of my family will be the easiest to research, and I am putting that off in favor of my paternal grandfather's family, the Foronjy's.
I decided, at my therapist's urging and my own curiosity as well, to dive head first into this search. I began witht he internet, of course. I spent a few weeks getting so frustrated by the websites like Ancestry.com, which wanted more money than I could afford for the information I truly want. One day, I got a link to a great site which linked me to the Ellis Island information site. Here when I did a search for Foronjy, suddenly the first piece of the puzzle was in my hand and I burst into tears. I KNEW where we came from, I finally had an inkling of this part of my heritage, and I finally knew, after years of hearing what it might be or could be, I finally knew our family's true Armenian last name. It was such a breakthrough. My roommate thought I was losing my mind. Completely the opposite. I finally had this piece of my past I had wanted for so long. And now I have decided to really go through with it all.
The first known Foronjy seems to be a man named Habib Fouronnchian who arrived at Ellis Island on May 22, 1913. He was 22 years old, and single. He left from the Port Le HArve in Seine-Inferior, France on the ship NIAGRA.&nbsp; His place of birth was Ohomay, Armenia and his last residence before coming to America was in Diarbehor, Turkey.This same man in 1919 became a US citizen, and at that time, his name was changed, at his request supposedly, to Habib Foronjy. In 1930, Habib would have been 39 years old. In the 1930 census, a 39 year old man was counted among the Foronjy family in Brooklyn NY. His name is Rskalah Foronjy, and i believe he is my great-uncle, my Grandpa Charlie's big brother.
In this household there is also listed a 61 year old woman named Susanne,my great-grandmother,&nbsp;and a young man named Shukey, who became Charles Foronjy, my paternal grandfather. There were 11 people with the same last name in the Brooklyn NY census of 1930, and i have identified a few of them. One is Naseb aka Ralph Foronjy, another great-uncle, who's grandson, Eric I have corresponded with.
Eric is my first link to the other parts of the Foronjy family. I am hoping his dad, Richard will be able to fill out the Family Questionnaire i have created. I also found out from my mom that my great-granfather, Nusry Fouronnchian, was murdered by the Turks in the Genocide. He was murdered by them because he was Armenian, and because he was a Christian. Many people do not realize that the Armenian Genocide is the first mass genocide of our century, and not the Holocaust. In fact, Adolf Hitler, while persuading his associates that a Jewish holocaust would be tolerated by the west stated "Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians? " it's so sickening and even moreso now that i truly know one of my family was included in this mass-murder of good people. i've talked so much now i feel drained. Please, if you are interested in my stories and my search, keep reading. I may make a separate blog just for my studies and research, until then, Thanks for reading and if you'd like to learn more of the Armenian Genocide, urlLink go to this site. Thanks again, all. 
