Petros Ferdinand Nishkian, 32°
(Jun 13, 1863-Feb 23, 1925)
Lafayette Lodge, Boston, MA

1892 - 32° Consistory of Western Missouri, Kansas City

Member, Ararat Shrine

Occupation: Chemist for Midland Poultry Food; Chief chemist for Armour & Company; Manager, Vineyard Park Hospital.
Interred: Mount Washington Cemetery, Independence, MO

Petros Nishkian attended Roberts College in Constantinople and then Pennsylvania College in the United States where he pursued a chemistry. In 1886 he was chief chemist of John Taggart & Company's animal fertizer works. He went to work for Armour Packing Company as their chief chemist in 1889. He developed the concept of a commerical application for balanced food rations for poultry that became a widely sold product for commercial poulty producers. He expanded his application to food rations for steers that allowed for faster fattening of the animals. Use of his food rations with dairy cows produced 33% more milk than had been produced with any other feed in this country or in Europe. In his later years Brother Nishkian became manager Vineyard Park Hospital at 25th and Locust in Kansas City.

When Petros Nishkian became a member of Ararat Shrine he sent his photograph, showing him wearing his shrine fez and attire home to his parents in Armenia, Turkey in 1894. The photo fell into the hands of the agents of the Turkish ruler there who misinterpreted the name, Ararat on the fez along with the shrine symbol of a sword and crescent to refer to Mount Ararat. This in turn led them to believe that Brother Nishkian had joined a society advocating the overthrow of the Turkish government and responded by imprisoning his family and confiscating their property. Brother Nishkian enlisted the aid of a fellow Scottish Rite brother, noted attorney and Scottish Rite brother, Thomas Morrow, of Morrow, Fox and Moore to gain the assistance of the United States government in appealing to the Turkish government to release his family. After suffering more than a year in prison his family was finally released but their property was not restored to them so Dr. Nishkin arranged for them to join him in the United States.

Dr. Nishkin was a member of Lafayette Lodge in Boston, Massachusetts. In 1892 he became a 32° Mason in the Valley of Kansas City Scottish Rite. He also became a member of the Ararat Shrine in Kansas City, Missouri.