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.
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