Oorfa, the old Ur of the Chaldees, where Abraham, the old patriarch of
the Bible, was born, was called Edessa in the time of Christ. I have
told the story of King Abgar and his conversion in the historical part
of this book. It had about 50,000 population, about 20,000 of whom
were Armenians before the massacres. Out of that number 8,000 were
slaughtered, according to Mr. Fitzmaurice, the British vice-consul
who returned from Oorfa to Constantinople on March 21. The Evangelical
Armenian pastor, the Rev. Hagop Abuhayatian, was also martyred. I knew
him personally. He was educated in Germany, a man of great ability;
a great scholar, and a great and forcible preacher.
A Letter from Oorfa, Jan. 28, 1896.