The Turkish genocide and deportation of the Armenian people took place between 1915 and 1923. During this time, many children were separated from their families or became orphans when they were forced out of Turkey. Refugees were taken to camps, such as one in Corfu, Greece, where most of the Georgetown Boys would eventually come from.

 

Relief committees sprang up all over the world as countries such as the United Kingdom, France and Canada began to send money and staff to support the refugee camps in Greece and Egypt. The Lord Mayor's Armenian Fund of London, England (also known as the Lord Mayor's Fund) was created in 1916 to help with the resettlement of Armenian War refugees. Canadians interested in providing aid to Armenian refugees would have first been involved in the Lord Mayor's Fund. Then, around 1921 or 1922, the Armenian Relief Fund of Canada began rallying support as well. As the organization grew and more clear objectives were proposed, the organization became known as the Armenian Relief Association of Canada.

 

It was this group, with the help of the Lord Mayor's Fund, that arranged to bring orphaned Armenian boys to Georgetown, Ontario.

 

After much consideration, planning and selection, the first group of 50 boys living in the Lord Mayor's Fund orphanage in Corfu boarded the steamship S.S. Minnedosa for their voyage to Canada. They arrived in Georgetown on July 1, 1923.

 

Over a year later, a second group of 40 boys left Corfu on the S.S. Braga and arrived in Canada on September 30, 1924. A third group of 8 boys came from Shemlan, Lebanon and arrived on August 1, 1926. A final and fourth group of 11 also arrived from Lebanon on July 27, 1927.

 

Cedarvale Farm, located on Highway 7, had been purchased by the Armenian Relief Association and became the boys' home in Georgetown. The boys were all between eight and fifteen years old when they first arrived in Canada. None of them spoke English and the Cedarvale staff didn't speak Armenian, making communication sparse. Eventually, a bilingual teacher, Aris Alexanian, was brought from Hamilton to teach the boys.

 

The boys were all assigned numbers by which they were identified for activities and their daily chores. Even once their farm days were long behind them, their assigned numbers would stick with them. One of the boys, Paul Adourian, said in a Toronto Star interview that, "I got so used to knowing the boys by their numbers that to this day I can identify them more quickly and accurately by their number than by their name."

 

While living at Cedarvale, the boys' duties included serving tables, washing dishes, peeling vegetables, cleaning and performing other chores, as well as milking the farm's cows, feeding the pigs, looking after the poultry and horses, and chopping wood. Their chores and education at Cedarvale were meant to prepare them for when they aged out of the farm and would go work for farmers across Ontario. By 1925, the eldest boys began to be placed in farm homes. Although the expectation was that the boys would work and continue to attend school, it was often at the farmer's discretion and education was not always a priority.

 

By 1928, all of the boys had been placed in farms around Ontario and the Armenian Relief Association sold Cedarvale Farm to the United Church to become the Cedarvale School for Girls. The administration and legal affairs of the Georgetown Boys was also taken over by the United Church at this time.

 

Many of the boys kept in touch with each other. Some went to the US and others moved overseas, while others remained in the Greater Toronto Area. About 25 of them joined the armed forces during World War II. Although grown up and with families of their own, whenever they reunited in Georgetown for picnics, they were affectionately referred to as the Georgetown Boys.

 

In 1973, the 50th anniversary of the boys' arrival in Canada was recognized with several projects. This included researching and recording their history, which inspired one of the boys, Jack Apramian, to write a book, The Georgetown Boys. It was published in 1976.

 

On July 1, 1984, a plaque was unveiled on Cedarvale Farm to recognize the significance of the area and its history. Important documents and records were sealed behind the plaque as mementos, including a message from then-Premier of Ontario, William G. Davis; messages from two of the "boys", Paul Adourian and Jack Apramian; a complete list of the Georgetown Boys with their assigned numbers and arrival dates; and other documents.

 

In his dedication at the unveiling of the plaque, Jack Apramian said, "The people of Georgetown, our first Canadian neighbours, befriended us during the mid-twenties, and often came to visit us at Cedarvale – our beautiful, first Canadian home. So closely associated with the town that its name was given to us."

 

Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch wrote the book, Aram's Choice, based on their story in 2006. The book was then adapted by Director Sam Hancock into a play for the Georgetown Little Theatre's Youth Company in 2008.

 

Halton Hills designated Cedarvale, the Armenian Boy's Farm Home, as a historical heritage site in 2010.

 

In 2023, the 100th anniversary of the boys' arrival in Georgetown was celebrated by the descendants of the Georgetown Boys at Cedarvale Park. It marked an important anniversary, not just for national and local history, but also for the families.