When my Dad was here in October he spoke with his sister for the first time in thirty years. Its not like they were lost to each other as we always knew where she was, its just that because Lebanon and Israel are still in a state of war since 1948 they cant speak to each other.
Like a lot of people from South Lebanon my Aunt Hasiba and her husband Chafik Atmeh lived and worked in Palestine. Now most of my uncles did the same prior to 1948 as did most people from Derdghaya. One of the reasons they worked there was the Palestinian Lira was worth eight Lebanese Lira's. Most people came back when the war started but there is a lot of people that couldn't make it back to Lebanon and remained in Israel. Most live in Haifa, Jish and Nazareth.
My Aunts family were one of the ones that never made it back. My Aunt came back but was put into a Palestinian camp in Tyre. With a new born and her husband staying in Haifa she decided to be reunited with him as life in the camp was hard. She made contact with the Red Cross and they took her back across the border to Haifa where she was reunited with her husband.
My Dad and Aunts story isn't one of not knowing about each other and meeting for the first time but of siblings torn apart by war and not having a lot of contact. My dad has been lucky as he has seen or spoken to Hasiba several times over the last 60 years, where as my other Aunts and Uncles haven't had that luxury as they have always lived in Lebanon.
As we live in Australia contact through the 70's and 80's was always there. I remember as a child the 3am wake up call from my Aunt. But over time for one reason or another we lost contact then my father moved back to Lebanon in the mid 90's so there was definitely not going to be any contact because of the war in 1948.
A couple of years back when I started doing the family tree I got curious about her and her family but how was I to contact her or find someone that could help me. I came up with an idea that I might be able to contact her through the church in Haifa but as with most things it just sat on the back burner while I just plodded along with other things that were easier. While I was in Lebanon in 2010 my Dad believed she had passed away around 2000 as they had visited her husbands family in Ein Ebel and that's what they believed. I found it hard to fathom and I suppose I needed proof of that.
When I got back to Sydney I searched for a church contact in Haifa. My mum told me that her husband was Maronite so I emailed the Bishop of Haifa asking whether they knew of her or her family. Like with most things you don't get your hopes up, so I wasn't surprised that I didn't receive reply to even confirm they had received the email. Maybe 3-4 months later I had someone add me on Facebook with a message saying they were my Aunts granddaughter. I nearly fell over.....
Messages were hard to understand as they were in Arabic written in Latin fonts. Eventually I spoke with Aunts grandson via MSN and learnt they had received my email via his wife's brother who was a priest. I was so stoked to have spoken to one of them I was also over the moon to learn my Aunt was still alive and well though she was bedridden since taking a fall in 2000. I eventually spoke on the phone to my Aunt on New Years day 2011 and all she was worried about was making sure her brothers and sister were ok especially my Aunt Hichmeh as they are the only girls.
So now with the help of Skype we are always in contact and Dad and his sister got to talk and see each other through the wonders of the Internet.....
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Saturday, December 24, 2011
Boulos and Latife
I Spoke to my dad about how his Grandfather Boulos Geryas Khoury met his grandmother Latife Sawaya as she wasn’t from the Derdghaya. In those days the villagers predominantly married from their own villages.
Her family were farm hands and were working in a nearby village named Mazraat el Twairy which is between Srifa and Ghandouriye. This village was run by a rich Christian family called Bayt el Machahbar. Boulos met Latife there and they married in Derdghaya.
Boulos worked as a builder and was working for the Machahbar family when he met Latife. The Sawaya family are originally from Kfarhouna near Jezzine and were working in Mazraat el Twairy as ploughmen.
Later when my Grandfather Najib was about 3-5 years old maybe even younger, Boulos travelled to America to raise money to buy some camels. A man that owned a couple of camels in those days was considered well off. Camels were used like trucks are used these days for transporting produce between ports. This was in the early 1900’s. No one can give me an exact date and I can’t find his immigration papers in America.
In America he died working on the rail road’s from the cold in winter. Around that sort of time frame a lot of the villagers were either moving to America permanently or going there to work for a year or 2 and coming back with the money.
After Boulos passed Latife was left as a single mother. Unlike today where single mothers are looked after, woman had no way to earn a living so she remarried fairly quickly. She married a man Daoud Zarka. Together they had another 4 children. My grandfather was still very young, around 5 years old.
Daoud Zarka from what I understand also died young. My father tells me he was either drafted into the Ottoman Army not as a soldier as he was Christianbut virtually as a slave. He died during that time or was killed when Derdghaya was attacked by bandits in 1919.
Latife lived a long life of 105 years having many grandchildren
Friday, December 16, 2011
Camille Chamoun
Camille Chamoun was President of Lebanon from 1952 - 1958. What I didn't know was that we had a connection to him. I'm not related to him, but he was my Grandfathers Geryas Salibi's lawyer and became a family friend.
As the story goes.....it was 1939 and there was a dispute in Souk El Gharb over a woman. A Syrian man had taken up with one of the local girls. Her family was against this and threats were made from all parties involved. There was also a bad element stirring the pot from both sides.
The Syrian came to the town centre armed with a knife and stabbed two men, one from Souk El Gharb and the other from Bekheshtay. The Syrian started shouting where are the brave men from the Salibi family, my grandfather was nearby. He took a walking stick from an old man and hit him across the arm disarming him of the knife, at the same time another man pulled a pistol out and shot the Syrian man.
During the investigation my Grandfather was questioned and not wanting to be involved denied he was in the town centre, but there was several witnesses that had sworn he was the one that disarmed the man with the knife. Because he had lied he was thrown in jail. The shooter fled and was hidden away from authorities for a few years before he was able to make his way to Africa.
My Grandfather was thrown in jail for 4 months before he was able to be released on bail. Investigations seem to take a while and in 1941 he again was thrown in jail when they reopened the investigation. He again spent a few months in jail. These were hard times on his young family as he was the only bread winner and had 3 children under 6 years old.
It finally made it to court and he was found innocent of all charges. I don't know what he was actually charged with as my Mum was only about 7 years old and cant remember. But my claim to fame is that Camille Chamoun got my Grandfather out of jail.
As the story goes.....it was 1939 and there was a dispute in Souk El Gharb over a woman. A Syrian man had taken up with one of the local girls. Her family was against this and threats were made from all parties involved. There was also a bad element stirring the pot from both sides.
The Syrian came to the town centre armed with a knife and stabbed two men, one from Souk El Gharb and the other from Bekheshtay. The Syrian started shouting where are the brave men from the Salibi family, my grandfather was nearby. He took a walking stick from an old man and hit him across the arm disarming him of the knife, at the same time another man pulled a pistol out and shot the Syrian man.
During the investigation my Grandfather was questioned and not wanting to be involved denied he was in the town centre, but there was several witnesses that had sworn he was the one that disarmed the man with the knife. Because he had lied he was thrown in jail. The shooter fled and was hidden away from authorities for a few years before he was able to make his way to Africa.
My Grandfather was thrown in jail for 4 months before he was able to be released on bail. Investigations seem to take a while and in 1941 he again was thrown in jail when they reopened the investigation. He again spent a few months in jail. These were hard times on his young family as he was the only bread winner and had 3 children under 6 years old.
It finally made it to court and he was found innocent of all charges. I don't know what he was actually charged with as my Mum was only about 7 years old and cant remember. But my claim to fame is that Camille Chamoun got my Grandfather out of jail.
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
John Smith Urquhart
Recently while visiting her brother my mother in law was told that some one has done a family tree and written a book about her family from her paternal side. We already knew that there was a book about her maternal side...the Foley family tracing them back to the First Fleet.
The book is called John Smith Urquhart...No longer a man of Mystery. I started doing a search for the book but haven't been able to locate any where to buy it from. It wasn't published by a publishing house, it was printed in a Xerox shop. I have rang said shop and got the authors name and I'm pretty sure I have messaged the right person on Facebook so the wait begins.
While searching for the book I ran a search on Ancestry.com just in case they had a Family Tree on there. I found several but not the authors one. But from the ones I seen a couple of people have spent a lot of time and money gathering information as the tree goes back to the early 1600's which makes me quite envious. I actually really appreciate the work some people have put into there tree's as I personally know how much time it takes.
Other than Urquhart I found that my mother in laws family from the Stokes side had a tree that went even further to the 1400's. I wish I was able to track the Khoury's back that far.
The book is called John Smith Urquhart...No longer a man of Mystery. I started doing a search for the book but haven't been able to locate any where to buy it from. It wasn't published by a publishing house, it was printed in a Xerox shop. I have rang said shop and got the authors name and I'm pretty sure I have messaged the right person on Facebook so the wait begins.
While searching for the book I ran a search on Ancestry.com just in case they had a Family Tree on there. I found several but not the authors one. But from the ones I seen a couple of people have spent a lot of time and money gathering information as the tree goes back to the early 1600's which makes me quite envious. I actually really appreciate the work some people have put into there tree's as I personally know how much time it takes.
Other than Urquhart I found that my mother in laws family from the Stokes side had a tree that went even further to the 1400's. I wish I was able to track the Khoury's back that far.
Monday, October 17, 2011
The Genealogy Gods...
When I'm researching there are some things that can really bug me, for instance I might come across a name that I know I need but cant place the name any where and no one can help with it no matter how much I ask or look. My dads no help because he's the cause of it some times, he has a habit of just throwing names up at me with out being able to tell me who they are or what to do them with me.
Normally I would dwell on them for days and weeks but lately I've found that as soon as a name is thrown at me within a couple of days I have found an answer. For instance I while ago I was talking to my dad about how pretty some of the old Lebanese names were...I say were because they don't get used anymore. He just starts rattling of names of people Farha, Diahabiye, Almaza, Wardie, Habka and Barbara, these are all woman that are my grandfathers first cousins.....I think great more names to fill gaps as tracing the female line is always very hard. I placed all of them except Barbara and Habka. This is around 12 months ago and I made no head way at all. Then a couple of days ago Barbara and Habka's name come up in conversation again and same thing dad cant remember who their father is and says I might have to talk to my Uncle Youssef as he's the oldest family member and would know....great another brick wall.
Then last night the genealogy gods opened their hearts to me and by sheer accident I found Barbara Khoury's name amongst the Ancestry.com's many files in a Passport Application from 1923 and low and behold there's her fathers name Shebly John Khoury. I tell my dad and he agrees saying he remembers a family in the village called Bayt Bu Shibly.
Over the last few months this has been happening regularly where I need information or find some ones name and have no clue what to do with them, then all of a sudden its like I'm steered to the answer and for that I thank my ancestors who seem to be watching over me and hand feeding me the information I need.
Normally I would dwell on them for days and weeks but lately I've found that as soon as a name is thrown at me within a couple of days I have found an answer. For instance I while ago I was talking to my dad about how pretty some of the old Lebanese names were...I say were because they don't get used anymore. He just starts rattling of names of people Farha, Diahabiye, Almaza, Wardie, Habka and Barbara, these are all woman that are my grandfathers first cousins.....I think great more names to fill gaps as tracing the female line is always very hard. I placed all of them except Barbara and Habka. This is around 12 months ago and I made no head way at all. Then a couple of days ago Barbara and Habka's name come up in conversation again and same thing dad cant remember who their father is and says I might have to talk to my Uncle Youssef as he's the oldest family member and would know....great another brick wall.
Then last night the genealogy gods opened their hearts to me and by sheer accident I found Barbara Khoury's name amongst the Ancestry.com's many files in a Passport Application from 1923 and low and behold there's her fathers name Shebly John Khoury. I tell my dad and he agrees saying he remembers a family in the village called Bayt Bu Shibly.
Over the last few months this has been happening regularly where I need information or find some ones name and have no clue what to do with them, then all of a sudden its like I'm steered to the answer and for that I thank my ancestors who seem to be watching over me and hand feeding me the information I need.
The fountain of information.....
My dad has been back in Australia for the last couple of weeks and has been a fountain of information for me. Though I talk regularly on the phone to him its not the same as having him here telling me the stories or telling how so and so is related to us.
What I have found is that if I ask him straight up who this person is most of the time he wont know or cant remember. So I've come up with a cunning plan in that I just get him talking about Derdghaya or a family member and then just throw in the odd question or two and he generally just answers them with out realising. Some times a query gets answered that I wasn't asking for in a story he maybe telling or as happened the other day he tipped some of my research upside down because I realised 2 people I had as brothers were actually father and son or he starts firing of names I hadn't even come across.....so its been a bit of a journey.
Some of the stories he has told me have changed some of the things I had believed and opened up new paths for me to head down which is a good thing because some of my research was headed towards dead ends especially when it came to the Khoury's. He always said to me the Khoury's were the most travelled from Derdghaya but I have never really been able to open those door quite fully but have now gained a bit of an insight which way to go.
So onwards and upwards we push in this never ending family tree...
What I have found is that if I ask him straight up who this person is most of the time he wont know or cant remember. So I've come up with a cunning plan in that I just get him talking about Derdghaya or a family member and then just throw in the odd question or two and he generally just answers them with out realising. Some times a query gets answered that I wasn't asking for in a story he maybe telling or as happened the other day he tipped some of my research upside down because I realised 2 people I had as brothers were actually father and son or he starts firing of names I hadn't even come across.....so its been a bit of a journey.
Some of the stories he has told me have changed some of the things I had believed and opened up new paths for me to head down which is a good thing because some of my research was headed towards dead ends especially when it came to the Khoury's. He always said to me the Khoury's were the most travelled from Derdghaya but I have never really been able to open those door quite fully but have now gained a bit of an insight which way to go.
So onwards and upwards we push in this never ending family tree...
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Infant Mortality
I been doing a little research the last couple of days and it hit me about how high the infant mortality rate was back in the early 1900's. Some families I looked at lost 3-4 children either at birth or shortly afterwards. My own Grandmother lost 2 children as infants. I suppose we take child birth in hospitals for granted these days compared to the early 20th century where it was done by midwifes with no formal training at home in the villages. Some times a hospital could be hours away.
Speaking to my Dad about one such midwife he was saying it was a trade passed down from one generation of female member to the next....something we find extraordinary but I suppose in those days it was an honour to hold such a position in the village.
I suppose other things that caused deaths in infants was influenza out breaks which I have found has coincided with many of these child deaths.
Even with the heart break of losing children they still kept on having children with families numbering 8-10 children very often compared with modern families where if they contained 4-5 children they are considered big.
One family member had 16 children that lived out of a possible 18. He married the first time and had 8 children and when his wife passed away remarried and had another 8 children with his second wife. His youngest child was born when he around 63 years old. All I have to say is thank god for TV.
Speaking to my Dad about one such midwife he was saying it was a trade passed down from one generation of female member to the next....something we find extraordinary but I suppose in those days it was an honour to hold such a position in the village.
I suppose other things that caused deaths in infants was influenza out breaks which I have found has coincided with many of these child deaths.
Even with the heart break of losing children they still kept on having children with families numbering 8-10 children very often compared with modern families where if they contained 4-5 children they are considered big.
One family member had 16 children that lived out of a possible 18. He married the first time and had 8 children and when his wife passed away remarried and had another 8 children with his second wife. His youngest child was born when he around 63 years old. All I have to say is thank god for TV.
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Habib Family Rmeich
A while back I was doing some research into the Zarka family. I've compiled quite a family tree for them without ever being able to link all the families. While doing this research I came across two Zarka women who married into Habib family in Rmeich which is in the Bint Jbail area in South Lebanon. I wasn't really able to gain any information on them so they just went on the bottom of my list as unknowns needing further research.
Then last week I happen to be reading some history about villages in South Lebanon when I got to Rmeich. On their Facebook page they have the history of the village which was quite interesting. But what was most interesting of all was they listed where all the families in the village were originally from. Most families were from the Kesarwan region but low and behold the Habib family was listed from Derdghaya originally.....so now the question is what was the original family name as there is no Habib family from Derdghaya. I'm hedging my bet that they are originally Zarka.
I've contacted the admin from the Facebook page who was quite helpful and will speak to some people and find out for me.
24/12/11 As I found out recently the Habib family are originally Rizk family not Zarka
Then last week I happen to be reading some history about villages in South Lebanon when I got to Rmeich. On their Facebook page they have the history of the village which was quite interesting. But what was most interesting of all was they listed where all the families in the village were originally from. Most families were from the Kesarwan region but low and behold the Habib family was listed from Derdghaya originally.....so now the question is what was the original family name as there is no Habib family from Derdghaya. I'm hedging my bet that they are originally Zarka.
I've contacted the admin from the Facebook page who was quite helpful and will speak to some people and find out for me.
24/12/11 As I found out recently the Habib family are originally Rizk family not Zarka
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Its the little things......
Its amazing what you don't know about your family when you start your family research. I never claimed to know much but I quickly learnt that I knew absolutely nothing. I started with my grandfathers name and my grandmothers names, I even had my Grandmothers maiden name wrong.....I thought it was Rizk when it was actually Zarka.
I wrote in all my uncles and aunts their spouses and children. These were things I knew so didn't really have to ask anyone. The only gap I had was that of my aunt who lives in Israel who was never able to return to Lebanon after the war in 1948.
I then decided I wanted to go further back to my great grandfather easy enough as my Mum could answer that....they always called my grandfather Najib Boulos so his father was Boulos Khoury. My great grandmothers name was a little bit of a mystery but after a week my mum remembered her name but didn't know her maiden name.....quick email to my cousin and that was answered. I was starting to think this is easy......how wrong I was.
I asked my mum what were my grandfathers brothers and sisters names....."oh he was an only child" my mum answered. Well that messed every thing up as I had compiled a long list of Khoury's from Derdghaya using the last electoral roll from 2009. How was I to link all of them now.
Another thing I noticed was that between my oldest uncle and my aunt who was the second youngest there was a 6 year gap. This is some thing you dont see in families of that generation. Children were born every year or every 2 years never a gap of 6 years. On further discussion with my mother she said that my grandparents had a baby boy called Boulos that died as a baby. This was tied into a story that my grandfather never allowed any of my uncles or my father to name their children Boulos as the name was cursed. So in our branch of the family their isn't a Boulos Khoury to be seen, considering its the name of our founding father.
Well that filled one gap but my mother just figured there was a mistake in registering children's births. When I was in Lebanon I asked my father and he told me there was a baby girl that was born called Randa that also died as a baby. He didn't know how she died but baby Boulos had died when he was suffocated by his blanket.
These are just some of the little things that help connect the jigsaw together. There are more stories of murderers and wars against raiding bandits which I'll going into later.
I wrote in all my uncles and aunts their spouses and children. These were things I knew so didn't really have to ask anyone. The only gap I had was that of my aunt who lives in Israel who was never able to return to Lebanon after the war in 1948.
I then decided I wanted to go further back to my great grandfather easy enough as my Mum could answer that....they always called my grandfather Najib Boulos so his father was Boulos Khoury. My great grandmothers name was a little bit of a mystery but after a week my mum remembered her name but didn't know her maiden name.....quick email to my cousin and that was answered. I was starting to think this is easy......how wrong I was.
I asked my mum what were my grandfathers brothers and sisters names....."oh he was an only child" my mum answered. Well that messed every thing up as I had compiled a long list of Khoury's from Derdghaya using the last electoral roll from 2009. How was I to link all of them now.
Another thing I noticed was that between my oldest uncle and my aunt who was the second youngest there was a 6 year gap. This is some thing you dont see in families of that generation. Children were born every year or every 2 years never a gap of 6 years. On further discussion with my mother she said that my grandparents had a baby boy called Boulos that died as a baby. This was tied into a story that my grandfather never allowed any of my uncles or my father to name their children Boulos as the name was cursed. So in our branch of the family their isn't a Boulos Khoury to be seen, considering its the name of our founding father.
Well that filled one gap but my mother just figured there was a mistake in registering children's births. When I was in Lebanon I asked my father and he told me there was a baby girl that was born called Randa that also died as a baby. He didn't know how she died but baby Boulos had died when he was suffocated by his blanket.
These are just some of the little things that help connect the jigsaw together. There are more stories of murderers and wars against raiding bandits which I'll going into later.
Friday, August 12, 2011
Meeting new family....
When I started this journey I never knew where it would lead me but it was a journey I had to make. It has brought me into contact with some wonderful people I never knew and would never have known if it wasn't for my desire to know my family history.
On Facebook there is a page for our village Derdghaya. I once noticed a post on there from a gentleman named Emile John, he was looking for relatives from the Elia family. His father had emigrated to America sometime in the early 1900's. I didn't ignore the post but really knew no information at that stage.
Some months later I messaged Emile saying I would ask one of my cousin if she could find out some information as I had noticed Elia family on her friends list......this came to nothing as she couldn't garner any information about Emile's family. Some months later I was getting into some research and decided I'd make a trip to Lebanon to see me Dad and at the same time ask him some questions about the family and do as much research as I could in the month I would be there. I decided to contact Emile to let him know and get some information to use while I was there.
Well Emile had compiled a Family Tree with some help from his cousin Tamine. I had it emailed to me and to my surprise realised that a lot of Elias and Khoury's had married each other, though I had no idea who they were or if they were related to my Khoury's but logic told me they were.
Well the second day we were in Lebanon we headed off to my Dads place in Derdghaya for a couple of days. After dinner one night I broached the subject of the family tree with my Dad who seemed a little surprised at what I was doing but at the same time impressed at what information I had been able to garner on my own. I opened the subject of the Elia family and mentioned Emile's Grandmother Azizi to which my Dad straight away said that's your Grandfathers Aunt. Well not only had there been marriages between the Elia family and the Khoury's but we were actually blood relatives.
So from just an enquiring question on Facebook I ended up finding a cousin I never knew that I had. Today even though I have never met Emile I consider him a friend and have been able to share a lot of information together to make the family tree much larger than what it was to start with.
Moral of the story is when you are researching never disregard any information you come across and sometimes by helping others it broadens your horizons.
On Facebook there is a page for our village Derdghaya. I once noticed a post on there from a gentleman named Emile John, he was looking for relatives from the Elia family. His father had emigrated to America sometime in the early 1900's. I didn't ignore the post but really knew no information at that stage.
Some months later I messaged Emile saying I would ask one of my cousin if she could find out some information as I had noticed Elia family on her friends list......this came to nothing as she couldn't garner any information about Emile's family. Some months later I was getting into some research and decided I'd make a trip to Lebanon to see me Dad and at the same time ask him some questions about the family and do as much research as I could in the month I would be there. I decided to contact Emile to let him know and get some information to use while I was there.
Well Emile had compiled a Family Tree with some help from his cousin Tamine. I had it emailed to me and to my surprise realised that a lot of Elias and Khoury's had married each other, though I had no idea who they were or if they were related to my Khoury's but logic told me they were.
Well the second day we were in Lebanon we headed off to my Dads place in Derdghaya for a couple of days. After dinner one night I broached the subject of the family tree with my Dad who seemed a little surprised at what I was doing but at the same time impressed at what information I had been able to garner on my own. I opened the subject of the Elia family and mentioned Emile's Grandmother Azizi to which my Dad straight away said that's your Grandfathers Aunt. Well not only had there been marriages between the Elia family and the Khoury's but we were actually blood relatives.
So from just an enquiring question on Facebook I ended up finding a cousin I never knew that I had. Today even though I have never met Emile I consider him a friend and have been able to share a lot of information together to make the family tree much larger than what it was to start with.
Moral of the story is when you are researching never disregard any information you come across and sometimes by helping others it broadens your horizons.
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Derdghaya....
Derdghaya is the name of the village I come from. I t is in South Lebanon about 15 km east of Tyre. These days the village is no where near as full as most people live in Beirut or have emigrated around the world. There is around 800 registered voters on the electoral roll, though there could be more than twice that if all the emigrants had registered their children.
The village name is of the Syriac language like most village names through out Lebanon. It means a place of pure beauty and is written in Syriac as ܕܪܕܓܐܝܐ
Derdghaya was settled some time in the late 18th century by my Great great great grandfather Boulos Rizk......that's another blog by itself
Most of the villagers farm tobacco, olives, corn, lentils, worked as stone masons or a combination of both. The Church St Georges was built in 1911 so its century celebration was held in March this year. From what I understand there was only a small chapel before the Church was built.
There are around 6 prominent family names being Rizk, Khoury, Badawi, Zarka, Raad and Elia. These families are either related by blood or through marriage generations ago. So if you you from one of those families its likely we are are cousins. The story I was told was that if you married a girl from Derdghaya you had to be a brave strong man and had to move to the village. This is how the village grew.
The village name is of the Syriac language like most village names through out Lebanon. It means a place of pure beauty and is written in Syriac as ܕܪܕܓܐܝܐ
Derdghaya was settled some time in the late 18th century by my Great great great grandfather Boulos Rizk......that's another blog by itself
Most of the villagers farm tobacco, olives, corn, lentils, worked as stone masons or a combination of both. The Church St Georges was built in 1911 so its century celebration was held in March this year. From what I understand there was only a small chapel before the Church was built.
There are around 6 prominent family names being Rizk, Khoury, Badawi, Zarka, Raad and Elia. These families are either related by blood or through marriage generations ago. So if you you from one of those families its likely we are are cousins. The story I was told was that if you married a girl from Derdghaya you had to be a brave strong man and had to move to the village. This is how the village grew.
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Emigration...
In my search I have found family members all over the world. Obviously here in Australia and in Lebanon.....USA, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Canada, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Chad, France and Great Britain.
What has amazed me is how far spread people can get. A lot of families from Derdghaya emigrated around the early 1900's. In those time Lebanon was ruled by the Ottomans and the Christians were probably dealt with a lot harsher than others as they were the only ones that paid taxes. So having said that a lot of the people not just from Derdghaya emigrated overseas with the USA and South America among the favorites.
Another reason that people emigrated was work save money and return after just a year or two. From some research I have done 1907 was a big time for people from Derdghaya go to the USA. On 0ne set of immigration papers I found at least 20-30 names from Derdghaya. They would leave Beirut by ship to France, land at Marseilles travel by train to Havre and then board another ship to Cuba. In Cuba they would either disembark and board another ship for South America, New Orleans or Mexico. The ones that stayed on board would then either got to Philadelphia or Ellis Island in New York. Ellis Island being the main point of arrival.
The majority of the travellers from Derdghaya returned but some of their fellow travellers stayed and made life for themselves in places like Detroit Michigan and Douglas Arizona being the favorites. They predominantly worked as peddlers, merchants or in the motor vehicle industry.
One of these emigrants was my Great Grandfather Boulos Geryas Khoury. I haven't been able to locate his travel papers yet but I'm still working on it. My father tells me that he travelled in the late 1890's or early 1900's. He travelled to work on the railways, save some money and come back and buy a couple of camels.....we may laugh at this idea but it was the way they transported stock around between villages and the ports like Beirut. There's a lot of conjecture about what happened to him but it seems he died while working on the railways but I've never been able to find any documentation of him arriving or being buried any where.
I have a theory that like most emigrants from Derdghaya they went through Mexico into the USA. I'm hedging my bets that he either died on the trip or died in Mexico......this is a mystery that I may never find out.
What has amazed me is how far spread people can get. A lot of families from Derdghaya emigrated around the early 1900's. In those time Lebanon was ruled by the Ottomans and the Christians were probably dealt with a lot harsher than others as they were the only ones that paid taxes. So having said that a lot of the people not just from Derdghaya emigrated overseas with the USA and South America among the favorites.
Another reason that people emigrated was work save money and return after just a year or two. From some research I have done 1907 was a big time for people from Derdghaya go to the USA. On 0ne set of immigration papers I found at least 20-30 names from Derdghaya. They would leave Beirut by ship to France, land at Marseilles travel by train to Havre and then board another ship to Cuba. In Cuba they would either disembark and board another ship for South America, New Orleans or Mexico. The ones that stayed on board would then either got to Philadelphia or Ellis Island in New York. Ellis Island being the main point of arrival.
The majority of the travellers from Derdghaya returned but some of their fellow travellers stayed and made life for themselves in places like Detroit Michigan and Douglas Arizona being the favorites. They predominantly worked as peddlers, merchants or in the motor vehicle industry.
One of these emigrants was my Great Grandfather Boulos Geryas Khoury. I haven't been able to locate his travel papers yet but I'm still working on it. My father tells me that he travelled in the late 1890's or early 1900's. He travelled to work on the railways, save some money and come back and buy a couple of camels.....we may laugh at this idea but it was the way they transported stock around between villages and the ports like Beirut. There's a lot of conjecture about what happened to him but it seems he died while working on the railways but I've never been able to find any documentation of him arriving or being buried any where.
I have a theory that like most emigrants from Derdghaya they went through Mexico into the USA. I'm hedging my bets that he either died on the trip or died in Mexico......this is a mystery that I may never find out.
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Today I received a reply to an email I sent. I must have a 1000 or so emails or Facebook message out in world wide web some where, so its always nice when I receive a reply....especially when it has some information I didn't have.
I was sitting up late last night cruising the net hoping to be able to pluck some thing out of the ectoplasm that could be useful in helping me fill the gaps in the tree. Nothing was able to be found so I decided to message someone I thought was related to my Grandmother.....I had been putting it off as I haven't had much luck lately getting a response to my messages or emails......low and behold I wake up this morning and realise I have mail.
Well as it works out he wasn't related to my Grandmother but the information I got helped fill a hole in the tree. I also realised today that I really should learn some French because the email came back in French....God bless google translate.
So now the hunt continues for the relatives in West Africa. Suppose I will send a few more messages and emails out there and see if I can catch a little fishy....
I was sitting up late last night cruising the net hoping to be able to pluck some thing out of the ectoplasm that could be useful in helping me fill the gaps in the tree. Nothing was able to be found so I decided to message someone I thought was related to my Grandmother.....I had been putting it off as I haven't had much luck lately getting a response to my messages or emails......low and behold I wake up this morning and realise I have mail.
Well as it works out he wasn't related to my Grandmother but the information I got helped fill a hole in the tree. I also realised today that I really should learn some French because the email came back in French....God bless google translate.
So now the hunt continues for the relatives in West Africa. Suppose I will send a few more messages and emails out there and see if I can catch a little fishy....
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
In the last post I started it with the following.......
Who do I think I am.....well up until recently I was just plain Souheil Khoury. But now I know I am Souheil Sami Najib Boulos Geryas Boulos Rizk Khoury.
I thought I would elaborate. In Lebanon most people don't have a middle name. Whether your male or you will take on your fathers name as a middle name. This can lead to your surname changing sometimes.
Souheil is my name....Sami is my fathers name.....Najib is my Grandfather....Boulos is my Great Grandfather....Geryas is my Great Great Grandfather....Boulos is my Great Great Great Grandfather and founder of our village Derdghaya. Now I also had the name Rizk in there, Rizk is our original surname. Boulos Rizk founded our village and at some stage became a priest: Khoury means Priest. They would have been referred to as bayt el khoury which means household of the priest, this is where over time the surname would have changed.
In Derdghaya I would be known as Souheil Sami, without a mention of my surname and that would be enough for people to know who I am. For instance if you mentioned my Grandfather Najib Khoury no one would have any idea who you were talking about....but if I was to say my Grandfather was Najib Boulos everyone in town would know who he was.
This took me a bit of time to get my head around but when I speak Derdghaya genealogy with my father I have to mention names of people in this way or he has no idea who I'm talking about. Another way people are referred to is the father of the oldest son, for instance my father is referred to as Abu Issam.....father of Issam. People have known father for a lifetime and wouldn't know his name was Sami, they have always known him as Abu Issam.
When I was in Lebanon last year I would be up at the shops and people realising I was from Australia would ask me who I was was. If I said to them I was Sami Khoury's son they would look quizzically at me until I told them I was the youngest son of Abu Issam. Then they would welcome me with open arms.
Who do I think I am.....well up until recently I was just plain Souheil Khoury. But now I know I am Souheil Sami Najib Boulos Geryas Boulos Rizk Khoury.
I thought I would elaborate. In Lebanon most people don't have a middle name. Whether your male or you will take on your fathers name as a middle name. This can lead to your surname changing sometimes.
Souheil is my name....Sami is my fathers name.....Najib is my Grandfather....Boulos is my Great Grandfather....Geryas is my Great Great Grandfather....Boulos is my Great Great Great Grandfather and founder of our village Derdghaya. Now I also had the name Rizk in there, Rizk is our original surname. Boulos Rizk founded our village and at some stage became a priest: Khoury means Priest. They would have been referred to as bayt el khoury which means household of the priest, this is where over time the surname would have changed.
In Derdghaya I would be known as Souheil Sami, without a mention of my surname and that would be enough for people to know who I am. For instance if you mentioned my Grandfather Najib Khoury no one would have any idea who you were talking about....but if I was to say my Grandfather was Najib Boulos everyone in town would know who he was.
This took me a bit of time to get my head around but when I speak Derdghaya genealogy with my father I have to mention names of people in this way or he has no idea who I'm talking about. Another way people are referred to is the father of the oldest son, for instance my father is referred to as Abu Issam.....father of Issam. People have known father for a lifetime and wouldn't know his name was Sami, they have always known him as Abu Issam.
When I was in Lebanon last year I would be up at the shops and people realising I was from Australia would ask me who I was was. If I said to them I was Sami Khoury's son they would look quizzically at me until I told them I was the youngest son of Abu Issam. Then they would welcome me with open arms.
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Who do I think I am.....well up until recently I was just plain Souheil Khoury. But now I know I am Souheil Sami Najib Boulos Geryas Boulos Rizk Khoury.
I grew up in Australia not really knowing my grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. Was it hard.....you bet it was. At school people talked about their weekends at Nan and Pops or that they had sleep overs at their cousins. Was I jealous you bet I was because I didn't know my extended family, but soon enough you become a little numb to it and it doesn't affect you anymore. But having said that I did grow up in a loving family environment.
I had to wait till 1982 when I visited Lebanon with my Mum and sister for my Aunts wedding before I got to meet any of the extended family. It was an experience I will treasure forever; I reckon if it wasn't for the fact the country was a war zone I wouldn't have come back.
Through my teens I never really longed to know my family history even though I would sit with the olds when they visited listening to my father and the others gathered talk of the old days in the village and all the characters they had encountered. Some stories I remembered when I started my journey and others I completely forgot about.
I have always wanted to know about my family history but like a lot of people you don't want to trouble your parents with silly questions and my grandparents had since long passed. Eventually around seven years ago I thought I would have a red hot go at compiling my family tree. I think I was naive enough to think I can knock this over in no time at all....how wrong I was, 2600 names and I'm only just scratching the surface.
I grew up in Australia not really knowing my grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. Was it hard.....you bet it was. At school people talked about their weekends at Nan and Pops or that they had sleep overs at their cousins. Was I jealous you bet I was because I didn't know my extended family, but soon enough you become a little numb to it and it doesn't affect you anymore. But having said that I did grow up in a loving family environment.
I had to wait till 1982 when I visited Lebanon with my Mum and sister for my Aunts wedding before I got to meet any of the extended family. It was an experience I will treasure forever; I reckon if it wasn't for the fact the country was a war zone I wouldn't have come back.
Through my teens I never really longed to know my family history even though I would sit with the olds when they visited listening to my father and the others gathered talk of the old days in the village and all the characters they had encountered. Some stories I remembered when I started my journey and others I completely forgot about.
I have always wanted to know about my family history but like a lot of people you don't want to trouble your parents with silly questions and my grandparents had since long passed. Eventually around seven years ago I thought I would have a red hot go at compiling my family tree. I think I was naive enough to think I can knock this over in no time at all....how wrong I was, 2600 names and I'm only just scratching the surface.
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Introduction.....
I've decided to open a blog which will mostly be about me researching my family tree and history.
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