Originally when I started this journey I was only researching the Khoury family. I quickly realised that to compile the Khoury family tree I would have to research the rest of the families from Derdghaya, particularly the larger families like the Zarka, Badawi, Raad, Rizk and Elia families.
When I compiled the Zarka family tree it pretty much remained as 11 or 12 different branches, though I knew I could probably combine some of the branches I didn't want to until I could be 100% correct about them. The hardest thing about all of them was that like most families they emigrated all over the world; from the US to France to West Africa to England to Australia.
Facebook has been a wonderful resource for research and for meeting new cousins I didn't even know about. Through meeting these cousins I have been able to not only make new acquaintances but also broaden my knowledge about family and Derdghaya history. Through making friends or asking questions in the Derdghaya group most people have been more than helpful with information or photo's.
It is through Facebook that I met one of my greatest resources when it came to the Zarka family. It was just from a simple message of introduction that the Zarka family tree would almost all be merged under one grandfather. Louie Zarka is this great resource.
Louie Zarka was born in 1919 in Lansing, Michigan to Geryes Assaad Zarka and Hanneh Jebran Raad. His father took the family back to Lebanon in 1921 with the family returning to Lansing in 1954. So not only was I able to garner information about the multitude of families from Derdghaya in Michigan but also the families in Derdghaya.
From the merging of seven branches of the Zarka family tree I found my grandmother Jamilleh and Louis are second cousins.
I still have several branches left which I think should be combined together. I had always been told there was two separate branches of the Zarka family that came to Derdghaya from a village nearby called Beflay and from some where else.
One branch sorted now organise the other.....
