Recently while researching I have kept coming up people marrying into the Farhat family from Tibneen. Over the years I have found there has been a close bond between families from Derdghaya and Tibneen, Farhat, Rassey, Khoury and Rahall families just to name a few.
So I figured to make my life a little easier I'd start working on the Farhat family....I think I was kidding myself. I knew that they were a big family but figured how many different Farhats could be in Michigan where I was researching. Like the Khoury's in Derdghaya they are all cousins related through grandfathers and great grandfathers.
I started digging through birth and death records...then onto census records. The glory I had was that the Farhats I was looking at were all from Tibneen. I linked a few families but every time I thought I was getting there I'd run into a road block. I think two guys were brothers then realise they were cousins....onwards and upwards.
In the end I decided it was going to be too hard and have just left it for another time....
Wednesday, July 22, 2015
Saturday, February 14, 2015
Lebanon Trip
I'd been thinking about visiting Lebanon since my last trip in 2010, so when my cousin decided she was getting married I decided that I would kill two birds with one stone. Attend the wedding and do some research.
There was only so much research I could do online and talking to the elders, I needed to get hold of some church records or the 1932 Lebanese Census records which are kept in Tyre.
One of the first things I did when I arrived in Derdghaya was I went for a walk with my daughter around the village looking at all the old ruins and taking pictures of them. I posted a few of these on Facebook and started getting responses from people saying it was their ancestral home, others started asking if I could find their ancestral home. So I decided part of my daily ritual was to go for a walk a couple times a day seeking these houses out. My Dad came along on these walks, giving me the history of the houses and who had lived in them. From the original owners to the current owners to how long some had laid in ruins. It was fun learning the histories of these old ruins, if only the stones could talk.
I stayed in Lebanon for almost three weeks and one of the things I enjoyed the most was the constant stream of people that just popped in for a coffee and a chat at my Dads or at my Uncles. I got to meet people like the Moukhtar and the Head of the Municipality who were very insightful and free with the knowledge they had about Derdghaya's history and people.
The most valuable resource I got was the church records. I managed to get copies of the old church registries. For legal reasons I didn't copy anything newer than 70 years old as I know that's the standard for most legal documents. This way I also didn't impinge on any living persons privacy. The church records weren't totally accurate as pre 1920 they are only a collection of memories as the church was burnt down in 1920 and the records lost in the fire. Post 1920 you have the date of birth as well as the date of baptism.
These records were personally fulfilling as they listed both my grandparents date of birth. Since my last trip there had been a lot of conjecture about when they were born. Some said my grandfather was born in 1895, other 1900 and some 1905. Well it turned out he was born 2nd February 1902. My grandmothers date of birth was listed as 1910 on her tizkera (Lebanese ID card) but was born in 1906. I was also able to glean a lot of information like when my great grandmother was born and died and who her parents, siblings and uncles were. This was all unknown to me let alone my other family members. Now I have another avenue of research that I will eventually look into.
The other thing these records have done is give me a lot of information that I didn't have. I have whole new branches that I didn't know existed and will probably keep me researching for the next few years. A lot of the miscellaneous families that I didn't know who they were related to, have now been merged into the branches where they should be.
So in the end it was a trip well worth while....
There was only so much research I could do online and talking to the elders, I needed to get hold of some church records or the 1932 Lebanese Census records which are kept in Tyre.
One of the first things I did when I arrived in Derdghaya was I went for a walk with my daughter around the village looking at all the old ruins and taking pictures of them. I posted a few of these on Facebook and started getting responses from people saying it was their ancestral home, others started asking if I could find their ancestral home. So I decided part of my daily ritual was to go for a walk a couple times a day seeking these houses out. My Dad came along on these walks, giving me the history of the houses and who had lived in them. From the original owners to the current owners to how long some had laid in ruins. It was fun learning the histories of these old ruins, if only the stones could talk.
I stayed in Lebanon for almost three weeks and one of the things I enjoyed the most was the constant stream of people that just popped in for a coffee and a chat at my Dads or at my Uncles. I got to meet people like the Moukhtar and the Head of the Municipality who were very insightful and free with the knowledge they had about Derdghaya's history and people.
The most valuable resource I got was the church records. I managed to get copies of the old church registries. For legal reasons I didn't copy anything newer than 70 years old as I know that's the standard for most legal documents. This way I also didn't impinge on any living persons privacy. The church records weren't totally accurate as pre 1920 they are only a collection of memories as the church was burnt down in 1920 and the records lost in the fire. Post 1920 you have the date of birth as well as the date of baptism.
These records were personally fulfilling as they listed both my grandparents date of birth. Since my last trip there had been a lot of conjecture about when they were born. Some said my grandfather was born in 1895, other 1900 and some 1905. Well it turned out he was born 2nd February 1902. My grandmothers date of birth was listed as 1910 on her tizkera (Lebanese ID card) but was born in 1906. I was also able to glean a lot of information like when my great grandmother was born and died and who her parents, siblings and uncles were. This was all unknown to me let alone my other family members. Now I have another avenue of research that I will eventually look into.
The other thing these records have done is give me a lot of information that I didn't have. I have whole new branches that I didn't know existed and will probably keep me researching for the next few years. A lot of the miscellaneous families that I didn't know who they were related to, have now been merged into the branches where they should be.
So in the end it was a trip well worth while....
Lack of Blogs
I just realised that since I started this blog in 2011 that each year I have written less and less. I don't know why because I have so much to write about, must be just laziness. I also think it might be the fact I think certain things might need to be kept private.
I try my best not to mention individuals as I think they should be kept private. I also have been told plenty of stories and tales of valour or misdeeds and think it is better not to tarnish a person or their family as who am I to judge someone over something that may have happened a century ago.
Also looking back at some of the earlier blogs, so much has changed. What I know now contradicts a lot of what I knew then and shows the journey that I have taken in the four years the blog has been alive. The thing I have enjoyed most about this blog is that it has introduced me to a lot of new family members and enlightened a few others into looking into their family roots.
I'm hoping 2015 will bring more inspiration to write many more blogs....
I try my best not to mention individuals as I think they should be kept private. I also have been told plenty of stories and tales of valour or misdeeds and think it is better not to tarnish a person or their family as who am I to judge someone over something that may have happened a century ago.
Also looking back at some of the earlier blogs, so much has changed. What I know now contradicts a lot of what I knew then and shows the journey that I have taken in the four years the blog has been alive. The thing I have enjoyed most about this blog is that it has introduced me to a lot of new family members and enlightened a few others into looking into their family roots.
I'm hoping 2015 will bring more inspiration to write many more blogs....
Saturday, July 19, 2014
DNA
A while ago I was given some information that a cousin from the Elia family had done one of those Genealogy DNA tests and had a hit. I was given the name and it was someone from the Rizk family.
With a Rizk match I was a little bit excited as the Khoury family was originally Rizk and I like to always increase the family and get to know more cousins.
Well I didn't really do a lot of digging as I didn't have much information so I let it go. But a couple of days ago a cousin asked if I had ever done a DNA test which got me thinking about it again. So went back to the original message I received and decided to start doing some internet searches using the email address I had. I got a couple of hits on Google giving me a location.
I was able to find a Facebook profile and found even though the person was living in Australia they are originally from the US and the name was spelt Rask not Rizk. I searched Ancestry.com and came up with some online family trees that showed the family was from Hadchit in North Lebanon. This to me is quite interesting as when I was in Lebanon in 2010 my uncle told me that we are also related to the Rizk family in the Bsharre are....Hadchit is not far from Bsharre.
Now where this gets interesting is that going back to the story of Boulos Rizk the founder of our village his family fled from Forzol after killing the local Governor. I was told the family came to the south but there is no reason why they couldn't have crossed the mountains to the Hadchit area.
I'm hoping this opens up to a new branch in the family and I get a reply to the email that I sent.
With a Rizk match I was a little bit excited as the Khoury family was originally Rizk and I like to always increase the family and get to know more cousins.
Well I didn't really do a lot of digging as I didn't have much information so I let it go. But a couple of days ago a cousin asked if I had ever done a DNA test which got me thinking about it again. So went back to the original message I received and decided to start doing some internet searches using the email address I had. I got a couple of hits on Google giving me a location.
I was able to find a Facebook profile and found even though the person was living in Australia they are originally from the US and the name was spelt Rask not Rizk. I searched Ancestry.com and came up with some online family trees that showed the family was from Hadchit in North Lebanon. This to me is quite interesting as when I was in Lebanon in 2010 my uncle told me that we are also related to the Rizk family in the Bsharre are....Hadchit is not far from Bsharre.
Now where this gets interesting is that going back to the story of Boulos Rizk the founder of our village his family fled from Forzol after killing the local Governor. I was told the family came to the south but there is no reason why they couldn't have crossed the mountains to the Hadchit area.
I'm hoping this opens up to a new branch in the family and I get a reply to the email that I sent.
Tuesday, January 7, 2014
Merging Branches
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.....
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.....
Wednesday, November 6, 2013
Cemetery Searches
The last couple of months I have been doing research in Lansing's cemeteries. Well I physically haven't as I live on the opposite side of the world. But through the Find a Grave website a couple of volunteers have been doing some arduous leg work finding out information and photographing headstones (if they exist).
One surprise finding was the headstone of Zahia Abraham, wife of Beshara Ibrahim Rizk (Charles Abraham) and daughter of Said Zarka (Abu Tohme). She had been a bit of mystery as I had never really known her proper first name. In the Elia family tree that was given to me she was listed as Zakia and Nadia, I was never able to ascertain her proper name. I came across her immigration papers listing her as Zohia (same as Zahia just different because of pronunciation). Through using Lansing City Directories I was able to find out she named herself Sarah.
A picture of Zahia's gravestone was sent to me among others as the volunteer assumed she was related to me because it was in a section of graves where most were originally from Derdghaya. One problem was that the writing on the headstone was in Arabic. I sent the picture off to a friend and to my cousin to translate it. The first translation came back as "The late Bahia, wife of Beshara Ibrahim. Born 1799 Died 1924". I thought I have not heard of this person so they must not be from Derdghaya. My cousin sent me through her translation "The late Zahia......" Well the 1799 threw me a little, who was this person that lived till they were 125 years old. Later that night for some reason I started thinking about it again and it dawned on me who she was. I disregarded the birth date of 1799 and assumed it was 1899, it had to be Zahia (Sarah) Abraham. I was quite happy with myself solving this little puzzle.
Later someone asked for me to post the picture on the Derdghaya Facebook page. Her grandson even commented on what a great find it was which makes me think nobody knew where was buried.
It turned out in that burial plot 289 there was there was twenty people buried. Out of that twenty: seven of them were originally from Derdghaya. Six of them children.
Buried there are:
Zahia Abraham
Lewis Haddad child of Rizk Khalil Haddad and Martha Hanna Elia
Mary Abraham child of Charles Abraham (Beshara Ibrahim Rizk) & Zahia Said Zarka
Charlie Abraham child of Charles Abraham & Zahia Said Zarka
Lewis Ayoub child of Majed Hanna Ayoub (Rizk) & Nazera Elias Simon (Shamas)
Betty Jane Zarka child of James Khalil Zarka & Leah Mike Ferris
Anna Williams child of Said Williams & Almaza Daher
In Plot 290 six of the twenty people buried are from Derdghaya and again all are children:
Anna Rashid child of Elias Rashid Zarka and Mariam Said Zarka
Melbena John child of Said Hanna Elia & Susan Azar Khoury
Rose John child of Shaheen Hanna Elia & Martha Khaled Khoury
Laula Jebran child of Khalil Jebran Raad & Hanneh Sleiman Khoury
Mary Ferris child of Mike Ferris (Habib Fares) and Effie (Afife) Assaad Zarka
George John child of Naim Hanna Badawi & Nayfe Badra
One surprise finding was the headstone of Zahia Abraham, wife of Beshara Ibrahim Rizk (Charles Abraham) and daughter of Said Zarka (Abu Tohme). She had been a bit of mystery as I had never really known her proper first name. In the Elia family tree that was given to me she was listed as Zakia and Nadia, I was never able to ascertain her proper name. I came across her immigration papers listing her as Zohia (same as Zahia just different because of pronunciation). Through using Lansing City Directories I was able to find out she named herself Sarah.
A picture of Zahia's gravestone was sent to me among others as the volunteer assumed she was related to me because it was in a section of graves where most were originally from Derdghaya. One problem was that the writing on the headstone was in Arabic. I sent the picture off to a friend and to my cousin to translate it. The first translation came back as "The late Bahia, wife of Beshara Ibrahim. Born 1799 Died 1924". I thought I have not heard of this person so they must not be from Derdghaya. My cousin sent me through her translation "The late Zahia......" Well the 1799 threw me a little, who was this person that lived till they were 125 years old. Later that night for some reason I started thinking about it again and it dawned on me who she was. I disregarded the birth date of 1799 and assumed it was 1899, it had to be Zahia (Sarah) Abraham. I was quite happy with myself solving this little puzzle.
Later someone asked for me to post the picture on the Derdghaya Facebook page. Her grandson even commented on what a great find it was which makes me think nobody knew where was buried.
It turned out in that burial plot 289 there was there was twenty people buried. Out of that twenty: seven of them were originally from Derdghaya. Six of them children.
Buried there are:
Zahia Abraham
Lewis Haddad child of Rizk Khalil Haddad and Martha Hanna Elia
Mary Abraham child of Charles Abraham (Beshara Ibrahim Rizk) & Zahia Said Zarka
Charlie Abraham child of Charles Abraham & Zahia Said Zarka
Lewis Ayoub child of Majed Hanna Ayoub (Rizk) & Nazera Elias Simon (Shamas)
Betty Jane Zarka child of James Khalil Zarka & Leah Mike Ferris
Anna Williams child of Said Williams & Almaza Daher
In Plot 290 six of the twenty people buried are from Derdghaya and again all are children:
Anna Rashid child of Elias Rashid Zarka and Mariam Said Zarka
Melbena John child of Said Hanna Elia & Susan Azar Khoury
Rose John child of Shaheen Hanna Elia & Martha Khaled Khoury
Laula Jebran child of Khalil Jebran Raad & Hanneh Sleiman Khoury
Mary Ferris child of Mike Ferris (Habib Fares) and Effie (Afife) Assaad Zarka
George John child of Naim Hanna Badawi & Nayfe Badra
Saturday, November 2, 2013
Update....
Last post I was talking about the children of Rashid Zarka. Well last week I was speaking to my father about what updates I had made over the last few months. I mentioned how I had brought so many different branches of the Zarka family under one Grandfather.
In between all this banter I mentioned his Great Grandfather Rashid Zarka and his children, when he tells me that his step Grandfather Daoud Zarka is another of his children. I had always suspected something along those line but could never quite find the proof. Well my fathers words are proof enough. They haven't been proven wrong yet.
The conversations I have with my father can prove to be fruitful when doing research, you just need to get him in the right mood poke and prod at the right time. He has wealth of knowledge about Derdghaya, its history and all the families.
In between all this banter I mentioned his Great Grandfather Rashid Zarka and his children, when he tells me that his step Grandfather Daoud Zarka is another of his children. I had always suspected something along those line but could never quite find the proof. Well my fathers words are proof enough. They haven't been proven wrong yet.
The conversations I have with my father can prove to be fruitful when doing research, you just need to get him in the right mood poke and prod at the right time. He has wealth of knowledge about Derdghaya, its history and all the families.
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