Here is a brief history of my great grandfather from my mother’s side…
Constantine Mirzayev was an Azerbaijani born in 1877 in Karabagh, Azerbaijan. He changed his name from Constantine Gharamanov to Constantine Mirzayev (Mirzayans) after escaping to Iran due to the Russian Revolution. He was first married to Varia Yeganov from Shamakhen (mother of Ninna, Ania, Siranoush, and Christopher) then Nadiejda Baghdanov (mother of Nikolai and Alexander).
Constantine Mirzayev studied accounting in Georgia, and due to his natural business talents moved up rapidly in organizations. He was in the timber business with his brother Artem and was the largest operator in Russia with seven factories. He was involved in the import and export of wood and rice to and from Iran. His company owned five ships (one named Ashot Yerkat, another named Armania) for timber and oil transport in Astrakhan. In Kokand, he owned electrical stations and two cotton factories. He also held oil shares with Emmanuelle Nobel in lieu of discovering and producing oil in his region of operations, Baku.
When the Russian Revolution took place and the Tsar was overthrown, he and his family fled Russia. Most of their assets and wealth were seized by the revolutionaries. With only gold coins in their possession, he arranged for one of his daughters (Ninna) to escape. She managed to do so in secrecy on one of his timber transport ships. She, with her five other siblings who fled via other means, eventually made it to Iran, where they started a new life. Today, the entire remaining family lives in the United States.