Hi my name is Joe Janikian. I was born in 1955 in Sofia, Bulgaria and raised in the United  States. 
 In September 2007 I attended my paternal aunt's funeral in Plovdiv, Bulgaria and was genuinely  surprised by the large number of people who showed up and introduced  themselves as my relatives. I knew some details about my family then, but this  event catapulted me into creating and maintaining this family tree website.  It goes back to my great grandfather "Haji" Ovannes Djanikian who was born around 1850 in Çorlu  (pronounced Chorloo) and had 6 surviving children. Yes, I know what the term haji means to most  of the muslim world, ut in nineteen century Turkey the term was used to address any   important member of society. Together with his two brotheres, Ovanes owned a steel foundry  which the largest employer of the town and named after the family as the Janikian Foundry. The  brothers produced high quality steel products used in making girders for road and railroad  construction and contributed during the construction of the Orient Express. There are railroad  trusses still in use today bearing the "Janikian Steel Foundry" logo on them. Haji Ovanes's 6 children all married and probably due to the family's wealth and contribution  to the war effort, escaped deportation and death during the Armenian Genocides between 1895 and  1918. They but packed up and quickly departed out of Çorlu in 1922 at the end of the Greco - Turkish war fearing reprisals against Christian Armenians. The entire Armenian quarter was set  on fire and most Armenians were put to death in Smyrna (Izmir) at the same time after the Greek  army was defeated by the Turks. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Fire_of_Smyrna One daughter moved to Istambul, the other moved with her husband's family to Greece. All  four sons moved to Nova Zagora for a time and eventually moved on to Plovdiv, Sofia  and Yerevan. 
 If you think you can contribute or correct mistakes in this family tree, I  would love to hear from you. Today, descendents of Haji Ovanes Djanikian live in the United  States, Canada, Spain, France, Armeni, Greece and Bulgaria. Scattered like the rest of the  Armenians into the Armenian Diospora.
 Joe Janikan