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From: "speirs1" <>
Subject: [India-L] Armenian ancestors
Date: Wed, 3 Jan 2001 19:14:59 -0000

Hi Listers,
I've just recently started using Rootsweb and I wondered whether anyone can help with a knotty search problem.
One of my g-g-grandfathers was Joseph Short, youngest brother of Mary Short, who became the third wife of Ghazziuddin Haidar (Nawab of Oude, later the first King of Oude) and was thereafter known as Sultan Mariam Begum. We know that their mother was Armenian, as Mariam Begum was known as the Armenian Queen. We also know (from the story being passed down through the generations) that their father was a Doctor Short, but never knew his Christian name. Despite considerable research in the OIOC, we have never been able to reliably ascertain his name, find a marriage record or find Mary and Joseph's baptismal records.
On page 564 of his book,"Armenians in India from the earliest times ...", Seth says it was Dr James Short of the HEIC, who had married Mary Minas at Patna in 1813. He gives quite a bit of detail, even mentioning the Bishop and witness's names. However, the only Dr James Short that we have found in the OIOC records is one in the Bombay service, who was sent to Bagdad in 1800 for duty at the Residency there. In June 1803 he was granted furlough on sick certificate to return to Europe, which was extended in 1805. He died at Exmouth in 1807, leaving a will in which his estate was shared between his father and his sisters (i.e. with no mention of a wife and four children!). So he seems an unlikely candidate.
On the other hand, we have a translation of a chapter of Sheik Hussain's Urdu book "Begammat-i-Awadh", dealing with Mariam Begum. This says ...."Sultan Maryam Begam, daughter of Doctor Short of the Consulate of Bagdad, was by nationality Armenian and Christian by religion....". Another book, "Begums of Awadh" by Doctor Miss KP Santha (1980), which was based on translations of many early Urdu books, says ..."she was a Roman Catholic and an original inhabitant of Bagdad...". So both of these sources seem to indicate the same Doctor James Short that we have researched - but there remains the problem of whether he could have married and had four children in Bagdad in 3 years and then not mentioned them in his will!
Any advice would be gratefully received.

Regards,
Malcolm Speirs

Researching BEAN, BESANT, JOHANNES, QUIEROS, SPEIRS, SHORT, STEVENS, WHITE,

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