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.
Saturday, July 19, 2014
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.
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
Long lost Great Grand Uncle...
Well its been almost a year since my last post; wasn't through a lack of information, stories or finds but I think from a lack of creativity. So i thought I'd share finding a great great uncle.
I had always known that my grandmother had an uncle that had emigrated to America in the early 20th century. When speaking to my father or mother they had always mentioned that she had two uncles Elias Rashid who lived in Derdghaya and Peter who had emigrated to America married and raised a family there. My father remembered meeting him when he returned to Lebanon in the 1950's.
Now through a little bit of digging through immigration records I found that my grandmother had more than the two uncles. Her grandfather Rashid Zarka had five boys Salim, Sleiman, Elias, Peter, Boulos and my great grandmother Mariam (He possibly had another daughter Malakeh). After explaining who Salim was my father knew him but had either forgotten who he was or had never knew as its possible that he had passed away when my father was young.
I never really had any information on Sleiman or Boulos which always bothered me but I thought they must have died as young men as back in the early years it was common for people to succumb to things like influenza outbreaks. Boulos is still a mystery but this week I found Sleiman (Solomon) in Michigan by accident.
I had been searching through some new records that had become available to the public when I came across a death certificate for Solomon Zarka Rashid, this twigged my interest as a brick wall I had may have come tumbling down. I spent the next couple of days digging and scratching through records on line and I made a little bit of headway. I found where he had lived in Lansing, where he had worked over the years and most of all I had discovered his wife's name Zakia Farhat and the name of a son.
So now the challenge is to expand on this family and make contact with some living relatives and add to my posse of cousins.
I had always known that my grandmother had an uncle that had emigrated to America in the early 20th century. When speaking to my father or mother they had always mentioned that she had two uncles Elias Rashid who lived in Derdghaya and Peter who had emigrated to America married and raised a family there. My father remembered meeting him when he returned to Lebanon in the 1950's.
Now through a little bit of digging through immigration records I found that my grandmother had more than the two uncles. Her grandfather Rashid Zarka had five boys Salim, Sleiman, Elias, Peter, Boulos and my great grandmother Mariam (He possibly had another daughter Malakeh). After explaining who Salim was my father knew him but had either forgotten who he was or had never knew as its possible that he had passed away when my father was young.
I never really had any information on Sleiman or Boulos which always bothered me but I thought they must have died as young men as back in the early years it was common for people to succumb to things like influenza outbreaks. Boulos is still a mystery but this week I found Sleiman (Solomon) in Michigan by accident.
I had been searching through some new records that had become available to the public when I came across a death certificate for Solomon Zarka Rashid, this twigged my interest as a brick wall I had may have come tumbling down. I spent the next couple of days digging and scratching through records on line and I made a little bit of headway. I found where he had lived in Lansing, where he had worked over the years and most of all I had discovered his wife's name Zakia Farhat and the name of a son.
So now the challenge is to expand on this family and make contact with some living relatives and add to my posse of cousins.
Saturday, June 16, 2012
A Hard Life....
Along the way when you are researching there is always some people that intrigue you. I've come across a couple of people like that and Majeed Rizk is one of them. I first came across his name on the electoral roll for Derdghaya, the reason his name stood out is that his first name is quite unique. In Derdghaya I hadn't come across anyone else with that first name.
Once again his name came up again while I was researching the Simon/Semaan family in Douglas, Arizona. He had married Nazera Simon the daughter of Elias Simon and Missaadi Rizk and he and Nazira had two boys.The name I came across on a WW1 enlistment and 1920 Census was Majeed Ayoub....Lebanese take on the fathers name as a surname sometimes, I explained it in the first or second blog post. But here he has taken on his grandfathers name Ayoub Rizk.
The Ayoub family name isn't from Derdghaya so it had me dumbfounded for a while. I remembered seeing the name Majeed on the electoral roll so I went back to it and found it was the same person, as Nazera and the children's names were listed. I spoke to my father about the name and he told me that he remembered an Ayoub Rizk mentioned in stories, so I assumed that Majeed was his son until I found his father Hanna's emigration records coming through Ellis Island.
I next came across his children names on the 1930 census at a boys home....St Francis home for Orphan Boys in Detroit, Michigan. But there was no sign of either Majeed nor Nazira in the 1930 census. I knew Majeed hadn't died as he remarried in Derdghaya and had another 5 children. I spoke with my dad again and after racking his braid said he remembered a couple of people came back to Derdghaya from America after having shot someone over cheating playing cards and that Majeed was one of them.
This still left a question mark over Nazera as there was still no sign of her. I just put it down to the fact that like so many others she had died from some epidemic that seemed to sweep the world and left it at that.
Then about a month ago I went up to Brisbane for a wedding and thought I'd make a couple of visits while I was there. I visited Nellie (Khoury) Rizk. Nellie's father and my grandfather are first cousins. But little did I know was that Majeed Ayoub was her uncle.....her mothers brother. During the conversation we were having about all things Derdghaya and family she mentions her uncle Majeed, my ears just pricked right up. I asked her if it was the same person and it turned out it was.
I then found out the whole story of Majeed Rizk....He hadn't killed anyone but his wife Nazira had been murdered by their next door neighbor. The lady next door was good friends with Nazira but was a victim of domestic violence, one day while she was being beaten by her husband Nazira intervened and was then set upon by the neighbour who ended up murdering Nazira in his rage. Majeed came home after work to find his wife dead. They say he was never the same after that. He packed up the kids and headed back to Derdghaya where after some years he remarried.
A couple of weeks before meeting Nellie I had been told of a story that happened in Derdghaya where a man was accidentally killed in a dispute over some land....he was just an innocent bystander when he was shot in the neck. The person that told me the story didn't know who had fired the gun.
While talking to Nellie she was telling me how much of a wretched life her Uncle had lived and told me how they were doing some work on the road in Derdghaya and from what understand they wanted to take some of his land and he objected to it. In the dispute Majeed finally had enough and went and grabbed an old shotgun he had. He fired a warning shot, but the gun hadn't been fired in so long the barrels exploded and the shrapnel struck this other man in the neck and killed him.
Once again his name came up again while I was researching the Simon/Semaan family in Douglas, Arizona. He had married Nazera Simon the daughter of Elias Simon and Missaadi Rizk and he and Nazira had two boys.The name I came across on a WW1 enlistment and 1920 Census was Majeed Ayoub....Lebanese take on the fathers name as a surname sometimes, I explained it in the first or second blog post. But here he has taken on his grandfathers name Ayoub Rizk.
The Ayoub family name isn't from Derdghaya so it had me dumbfounded for a while. I remembered seeing the name Majeed on the electoral roll so I went back to it and found it was the same person, as Nazera and the children's names were listed. I spoke to my father about the name and he told me that he remembered an Ayoub Rizk mentioned in stories, so I assumed that Majeed was his son until I found his father Hanna's emigration records coming through Ellis Island.
I next came across his children names on the 1930 census at a boys home....St Francis home for Orphan Boys in Detroit, Michigan. But there was no sign of either Majeed nor Nazira in the 1930 census. I knew Majeed hadn't died as he remarried in Derdghaya and had another 5 children. I spoke with my dad again and after racking his braid said he remembered a couple of people came back to Derdghaya from America after having shot someone over cheating playing cards and that Majeed was one of them.
This still left a question mark over Nazera as there was still no sign of her. I just put it down to the fact that like so many others she had died from some epidemic that seemed to sweep the world and left it at that.
Then about a month ago I went up to Brisbane for a wedding and thought I'd make a couple of visits while I was there. I visited Nellie (Khoury) Rizk. Nellie's father and my grandfather are first cousins. But little did I know was that Majeed Ayoub was her uncle.....her mothers brother. During the conversation we were having about all things Derdghaya and family she mentions her uncle Majeed, my ears just pricked right up. I asked her if it was the same person and it turned out it was.
I then found out the whole story of Majeed Rizk....He hadn't killed anyone but his wife Nazira had been murdered by their next door neighbor. The lady next door was good friends with Nazira but was a victim of domestic violence, one day while she was being beaten by her husband Nazira intervened and was then set upon by the neighbour who ended up murdering Nazira in his rage. Majeed came home after work to find his wife dead. They say he was never the same after that. He packed up the kids and headed back to Derdghaya where after some years he remarried.
A couple of weeks before meeting Nellie I had been told of a story that happened in Derdghaya where a man was accidentally killed in a dispute over some land....he was just an innocent bystander when he was shot in the neck. The person that told me the story didn't know who had fired the gun.
While talking to Nellie she was telling me how much of a wretched life her Uncle had lived and told me how they were doing some work on the road in Derdghaya and from what understand they wanted to take some of his land and he objected to it. In the dispute Majeed finally had enough and went and grabbed an old shotgun he had. He fired a warning shot, but the gun hadn't been fired in so long the barrels exploded and the shrapnel struck this other man in the neck and killed him.
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
A Sad Letter on Your Birthday....
Last week I received a copy of a letter a father wrote to his daughter on her birthday. The letter was written by George Azar Khoury in 1966 to his youngest daughter from his first marriage to Lucia Simon. George is my grandfathers first cousin and emigrated to Arizona via Mexico early in the 20th century.
George has always fascinated me while I've been on this journey because he was one of the first relatives I found that had emigrated. I found several instances of him coming through border crossings from Mexico right up until the 1950's.
The letter George sent to his daughter was to wish her a happy birthday. He also tells her about her birth and the death of her mother only days after her birth. He wasn't the most eloquent of writers but you could feel his love and pain through his words.....to tell you the truth it brought a tear to my eye reading the letter. Unfortunately his wife Lucia passed away four days after the birth of her child from renal failure. George writes in the letter that her grief is what killed her as another child had severely hurt herself a couple of days before the birth.
Its amazing what you can learn from a letter. In this letter he writes how when he was young he was studying in a seminary to become a priest but found it wasn't for him as his father had passed away and he had to return home and look after the family. A few years later the village priest who was his uncle passed away and the villagers ask him to become the priest. This is an important thing as at this time our village priests had always been from our village. This has made me curious now to find out who the priest have been in our village church. Derdghaya has supplied many priests and nuns over the years.
George has always fascinated me while I've been on this journey because he was one of the first relatives I found that had emigrated. I found several instances of him coming through border crossings from Mexico right up until the 1950's.
The letter George sent to his daughter was to wish her a happy birthday. He also tells her about her birth and the death of her mother only days after her birth. He wasn't the most eloquent of writers but you could feel his love and pain through his words.....to tell you the truth it brought a tear to my eye reading the letter. Unfortunately his wife Lucia passed away four days after the birth of her child from renal failure. George writes in the letter that her grief is what killed her as another child had severely hurt herself a couple of days before the birth.
Its amazing what you can learn from a letter. In this letter he writes how when he was young he was studying in a seminary to become a priest but found it wasn't for him as his father had passed away and he had to return home and look after the family. A few years later the village priest who was his uncle passed away and the villagers ask him to become the priest. This is an important thing as at this time our village priests had always been from our village. This has made me curious now to find out who the priest have been in our village church. Derdghaya has supplied many priests and nuns over the years.
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