Levon (Leo) Krikorian “Boots” Fonds F948

F D6

Date of the items: 1960s

Physical description: 5 cm

Title: Levon (Leo) Krikorian “Boots” Fonds

Creator: Levon (Leo) Krikorian “Boots”

Repository: Trent Valley Archives

Reference number: TVA Fonds 948

Scope and contents: Photographs and other documents related to Levon (Leo) Krikorian, nicknamed “Boots.”

Access Conditions: No Restrictions

Finding aid: None, see file listing below

Accruals: No further accruals are expected

Custodial history: Donated by Neil Watts on February 15 2022. Neil was the grandson of Clarence Watts.

Biographical sketch: Levon (Leo) Krikorian, nicknamed “Boots,” was born on July 12 1912. He was an Armenian refugee who survived the Turkish ethnic cleansing of 1916 and 1922. Once in Canada, he became associated with the Holy Trinity Armenian Church in Georgetown, Ontario, which sponsored occasional reunions of Armenian refugees in 1967 and 1968. Leo was a bachelor who was raised by the family of Clarence Watts, who found him sleeping in the back of a car behind his barn. With the family`s help, he ran the Warsaw Lunch in Warsaw, Ontario. He passed away on February 4 1971.

Related fonds at TVA: See F936 Annie and Clarence Watts and F938 Dianne Tedford for more information about the Watts Family.

Access Points:
Warsaw, Ontario
Armenian Refugees
Holy Trinity Armenian Church
Watts Family
Clarence Watts

List of Files:

  1. Georgetown Boys 45th Anniversary and Reunion program 1923-1968. This program contains a concise history of the Armenian refugees.
  2. Photo Album; Pictures are all black and white, sizes up to 10×15 cm, and relate to the following:
    • Photos outside his Warsaw store, in his military uniform, with friends, on special occasions
    • More photos with friends, his first bike which he rode to Toronto on, his military job at a shoe repair shop, his passport, 1969, his grave marker in Warsaw cemetery
    • More photos with friends, his travels to Ottawa
    • Photos outside the shoe repair shop in Toronto where he worked, at the lift locks, large group photo, his first car
    • Boots at the store, Joe and Betty Watts, his friend Haroutun Sarafian
  3. Canadian Weekly Magazine October 28, 1965, containing the article “Whatever I Have This Land Has Given” by John H, Apramian. This is about a friend of Boots who was also an Armenian refugee