Note Type
Historical NoteNote
In 1880, Garabed Yavrouian, a businessman from Istanbul, founded a tea trade in partnership with Hovhannes Issacoulian in Constantinople. The company, Yavrouyan and Issacoulian Tea, became known for its high-quality loose leaf and packaged teas. After the company seemingly shut down in Constantinople, the sons of the founders, who had already been managing the business, relocated it to Marseille, France, where it continued to operate. An advertisement in the Haratch newspaper marks the company’s 50th anniversary, during which special promotions were offered.
Leon Marghos Yavrouian, son of Garabed, was one of the heirs who moved to Marseille and revived the family business at 23 Rue Sénac just a year after his arrival. His wife Lucie (born 1900) joined him in France, where the couple established their family. Their children, René (born 1925) and Yvonne (born 1931), were both born in France. René later graduated as a public works engineer in 1948. The family is recorded in the 1931 census at 1 Rue de la Chartreuse and later, in the 1946 census at 43 Rue Sénac. It appears that Issacoulian was no longer involved when the business was relocated to France. Beyond his commercial pursuits, Leon played an active role in the Armenian community: a 1948 edition of Miutiun newspaper notes that Levon Yavrouyan had become part of the leadership of the AGBU branch in Marseille. He also held a technical advisory role in France and the colonies concerning tea, as reported in Le Foyer on July 15, 1929. A death notice in an Istanbul newspaper dated January 25, 1952, indicates that he was still alive at that time. Both of Leon’s children have since passed away: René died in 2017 in Boulogne-Billancourt, and Yvonne died in 2020 in Guipry-Messac.
