Sixety Five Years

Last night I was surprised when I had a message from a distant cousin asking if I wanted to speak with his Grandmother.

A little background.....Philips Grandmother is married to Sitti Jamileh's first cousin Philip Salim Zarka. They have lived the last 65 years in Israel (Palestine at the time), having not been able to return during or after the war in 1948.

So after replying to Philips message we switched over to Skype. Philips Grandmother Em Atef is 86 years old and god bless her she remembers everybody from Derdghaya. She was so impressed with herself remembering people she says to me not bad for someone who only lived in Derdghaya for a year and a half. I have to say her knowledge of people was very impressive

The biggest joy I got was that she remembered my grandfather. First question she asked me was who is your grandfather....Najib Boulos auntie.....she answers with joy in her voice ah, Najib Boulos was one of my favorite people, a great man. This bought great joy to me as I never knew my grandfather but everyone has spoken in this tone about him. She then asks who my father is.....Sami auntie I reply, again she espouses what a nice person my father is.

We spoke for around an hour about Derdghaya its current and former residents, family and friends. I have to say it was a pleasure to have spoken to Em Atef and hope one day to make a trip and meet her.  I think next time I talk with her I will do an interview with her about her life as she knows a lot about the family.

Picture Tells a Thousand Words.....

I while back I found a picture of my Great Great Uncle Peter Rashid (Sitti Jamilleh's Uncle) and his family, it was taken for a passport for their return to Michigan from Lebanon in 1923. He had left for America early in the 20th century settling in the Lansing area in Michigan. Here he met his wife Nora and they started a family. To my knowledge he only ever returned on 2 occasions, around 1920 and some time in the early 1950's.

I had already met a couple of his Grandchildren (They would be my first cousins twice removed) through Facebook, so I decided to post the picture in my Old Family Photos album and tagged my cousins.

Well just through tagging one of my cousins I ended up meeting several more. It was such a joy to meet them and everyone has been very kind with their time and knowledge about what they know about their Grandfather. I was also able to supply them with Zarka family tree's which was greatly appreciated.

I have come to the conclusion that sometimes its the little things that bring families together no matter how far they are apart or whether they have ever met.....

Finding New Cousins

In August last year I wrote about finding new family members. That post seems like a lifetime ago now as I seem to get into contact with close and distant cousins nearly every week.

I grew up here in Australia and never had any cousins around because my family was the only one that emigrated. We had some family friends from my Dads village Derdghaya but realistically at the time I didn't realise they were distant cousins.....you have to go back 4 generations to find the connection.

In the last month I have found that my fathers first cousins family live in Melbourne....I was quite shocked, I don't think my Dad even knows this. My parents came to Australia 41 years ago, but I think its been only in the last five years that they have moved to Melbourne. I now have a phone number and more contact and maybe a trip to Melbourne maybe in order.

I've also been able to contact more and more people from Derdghaya whose families have emigrated to America nearly a century ago. This sort of spins me out as they have been the ones that have wanted to know more and more information and have also been willing to provide me with what ever information they have.