Family Tree
FAMILY: Are you aware that if we died tomorrow, the company that we are working for could easily replace us in a matter of days. But the family we left behind will feel the loss for the rest of their lives. And come to think of it, we pour ourselves more into work than to our own family, an unwise investment indeed, don't you think? And some of us often treat strangers and coworkers better than members of our family. Do you know what the word FAMILY means?
FAMILY =
Father
And
Mother,
I
Love
You
Pass
this on to everyone that you care about. I just did... courtesy of Rouba
Khayrallah who got it from Zeina Khairallah
Abdel Ahad, Abi Cair, Abi Kheir, Abi Saleh, Abou Jaoudeh, Abou Nader,
Abou Nakhleh, Abou Saab, Abou Samra, Aoun, Ataya, Azar
Baaklini, Bader, Badr, Badir, Bou Azar, Bou Kheir, Bou Jijm, Bou Saab, Bou
Zeid
Chaaya, Corban, Chalhoub, Chidiac, Chidyak
Dagher, Dahdouh, Dahdooh,
Eid, Emad,
Ghosn, Gosn,
Hawi, Hawy, Halabi, Halaby, Harik, Hariq, Hareek, Imad,
Jafet, Jaffett, Jardak, Jurdac, Jordaq, Jurdaq, Jurdak, Jerdac, Jirdak,
Kasouf, Kassuf, Katoul, Kiamy, Kiame, Kiameh, Kiame, Khamis, Khoury, Korban,
Khneisser Khnaisser, Khuneisser, Khenaisser, Kenicer, Khneiser, Khonaysser,
Khunaysir,
Mahfoud, Makdissy, Matar, Mattar, Mojaess, Moujahes, Majors, Moujaes, Mjaess,
Merhej, Mirhege, Merege, Mouchrik, Moshrik, Mushrek
Nasr, Nasser, Nasir, Naufal
Rahbany, Rahbani, Rihbany, Rehbani
Saadallah, Saadeh, Saadih, Saliba, Samaha, Semaha, Sawaya, Sayegh, Sabbagh,
Shaya, Shaaya, Shalhoub
Shidyak, Shidiak, Shweiry, Choueire, Choueri, Shuwairy, Shuweiry
Tabsharani, Tabcharany, Tebeshrani, Tooma, Touma
Yaacoub, Yacoub, Yafet, Yaffett, Yared, Yarid,
Zghaib, Zgheib, Zeidan, Zeydan,
Summer project opportunity:
$1,000 - $2,000
Build Shweir Family & Church Records data base in Excel
Yes, we want to preserve our family history, genealogy and traditions
and reward one or more person(s) who is (are) serious to do great genealogy
work
we have sample of the searchable Excel data base that we can provide you
Also, we already have digital photos of 50-70% of church records.
Assignment 1: obtain digi photos of the rest of church records.
Convert to searchable Excel data base.
Assignment 2: Build family trees based on church records, interviews,
& other sources - photograph Shweir residents, especially the elderly.
For inquiries, or to submit your qualifications and/or a proposal, please write to (in code): anwar2 (at) shweir (dot) com
Salimie Mujais: Gradma; Antoine Salim: grandfather
Searching for relatives:
Salimie Mujais: Gradma; Antoine Salim Grandfather
From:
Gilda Nazario [mailto: gnazario at stumpwebsterlaw dot com ]
in code
Sent: Thursday, July 20,
2006 5:41 AM
Subject: Mujais & Salim
Family tree
Hello, My name is Gilda Sada Nazario. My parents were: Boulos Sada and Marie Louise Mujais Sada.
My mother's family was from Dhour Shweir, her maiden name was Mujais. My grandmother's name was Salimie Mujais and my grandfather was Antoine Salim, he was a Professor at the American University in Beirut in the 1940's. Both my parents and my grandparents are deceased and I am trying to see if we have any family over there in Dhour Shweir, and hopefully everyone is safe.
Thank you and I hope to hear from you soon.
Sincerely,
Gilda Sada Nazario
Hello Gilda,
Thank you for
your inquiry.
I will post this info on the Family Tree web page of Shweir.com as well as
the Bulletin Board.
Just in case someone can shed some light about your family.
Also I will copy some knowledgeable Moujaes family members as well as my
cousin Riad who is the librarian at the AUB.
Best regards,
Anwar
From: graham.corban (at) actrix dot co dot nz
Sent: Sunday, July 16, 2006 2:25 AM
Subject: Greetings from New Zealand
Hi Anwar
My name is Graham Corban and I live in Hamilton, New Zealand. Recently I visited Shweir (19th-24th June), trying to find information on my grandfather and great-grandparents. I met a lot of wonderful people, including Sandy, who is the secretary to the Major, Dr. Nabil Ghosen. They gave me your contact details and suggested I get in touch with you as you have the birth records for Shweir and Ain El Sendianeh.
I was wondering if you could find the birth records for my great-grandparents who were:
Gasson Yarid Corban, died 27th June 1935, aged 75 years (born 1860)
Saleemie Yarid Corban, died 25th March 1954, aged 80 years (born 1874) and my grandfather who was:
George Gasson Corban, died 1971 aged 64 years (born 1907) [these details may not be exactly correct but should be very close].
I would very much appreciate any help you could give me.
No doubt you are saddened and concerned as I am with the recent developments in Lebanon. It seems as if conflict is never far away. I hope the situation can be resolved although I must admit it doesn't look good at this stage.
Kind Regards
Graham Corban
_________________
Dear Garaham,
Thank you for your kind email.
Yes, I am in the process of doing a data base for our ancestors and hopefully do family trees to help visualize the relationships. I have made digital copies of about 50-60% of the available data form the Catholic and Greek Orthodox churches.
My objective is to transform the data from digital images into a searchable database by first or last name, town etc in Excel format. I will enlist the help of bright students to help in completing the data from the rest of churches and then convert them to searchable data so I can better respond to your requested search.
In the mean time, I will post the info on our Family Tree Web page just in case any of our readers can better respond to your search. If all goes well, we should have the data complete within 6-12 months. Inshallah.
Sincerely,
Anwar
*********************
Searching for Salami and Medawar Families
-----Original Message-----
From: Anwar2 at shweir.com]
Sent: Monday, February 27, 2006 6:54 PM
To: 'Marie-Joëlle Salami'
Subject: RE: Searching for Salami Family from Shweir or Ajaltoon
Hello Marie-Joelle,
Thanks for staying in touch and for the beautiful
pictures.
I will be happy to post the pictures on the "Family tree" web page soon and will
post something on the BB with a link to the pictures.
Hope you will get more responses.
Best regards,
Anwar
-----Original Message-----
From: Marie-Joëlle Salami mj_salami at hotmail .
com ]
Sent: Monday, February 27, 2006 2:22 AM
To: Anwar2 at shweir.com
Subject: RE: Searching for Salami Family from Shweir or Ajaltoon
Hello Anwar
Waleed Moujaes's wife has been very kind and introduced
me to one of her uncles who might help me in my research.
I've found the 2 photos joined herewith, but I don't know how to publish
them on your site : They were taken in 1936 in Dour el Shweir. The lady in the
middle was my mother in law, Aimée SALAMI. She was just married and was visiting
her husband's cousins the MEDAWAR or MADAWAR, who ran a hotel in Dour. Perhaps,
people seeing the photos on Shweir.com, might recognise somebody or remember
part of the story..... Many thanks for help
Marie-Joëlle SALAMI,
France
Hello MJ,
Sorry that you had difficulty reaching me at Shweir@shweir.com. We had to abandon that email address due to getting about 100-200 junk and spam emails a day. Yes, you were able to reach me on . (I had to abandon anwar at shweir.com for the same reason). I copied and pasted your Guestbook entry below for reference.
We hope with the church records info that we are working on and feedback from other people from Shweir.
One knowledgeable young person is Waleed Moujaes and he recently married a wonderful lady from the Salamy family in Los Angeles. Her brother is a Greek Orthodox priest. Perhaps they could help. By means of introduction, Here is a link to their wedding: http://www.shweir.com/waleedmichelle.htm
Waleed Moujaes email is waleed.moujaes at globeexpress dot com I will copy Waleed on this. Waleed and Michelle, can you help?
Best wishes,
Anwar
-----Original Message-----
From: Marie-Joëlle Salami
Sent: Wednesday, November 09, 2005 8:12 AM
Subject: Fw: Returned mail: see transcript for details
Hi !
What else can I do to reach you ?
MJ Salami
Your name: SALAMI Marie-Joëlle
Your message: We are a French couple, but my husband's grand-parents were Lebanese. They moved to Egypt by the end of the 19th century : Simon SALAMI was a hairdresser in PortSaid. He had at least a sister, Anne SALAMI and a brother, Nemet Allah SALAMI who was a maronite priest in Egypt. Their parents' name was Habile and Theresa SALAMI. We heard they were from Ajaltoune or from Shweir. We'd like so much to learn about the family but we don't know how to proceed to find information.
Date: 1 November 2005 - France
Author | Topic: Family Tree - Elias, Nicholas & Mitri Choueri | ||
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Brazil - Shweir Families Reunite after 100+ years: Bou Zeid Family...
It started by an email sent from Mr. Luiz Renato de Oliveira Chueire from Brazil to George Matar Mr. Luiz was asking if someone could help him to find relatives in Shweir because his grand-grand father KHATTAR BOU-ZEID came to Brazil from Shweir around 1880 and his family name was Bou-Zeid,
Mr. Luiz was asking G. Matar if “Bou-Zeid” family exists at Dhour and if someone could help him and he wanted information about how to get to shweir because he intended to visit Shweir on March 2005.
For me it was a pleasant surprise when G. Matar introduced him to me by email. I was glad to go on with this in order to find out if he is really a relative of my husband and after several researches and after asking the elder in Bou-Zeid family and several email with Luiz, I definitively and with proud introduce Mr. Luiz Renato de Oliveira Chueire as a relative and one of a huge Bou-Zeid family in Brazil
Luiz is a 45 years old, and he lives at the city of Curitiba, southern Brazil, a city with 2 million people. He is married and has 2 sons. The reason he was asking about relatives is that he was traveling with his wife to the Middle East and thought if they could pass by Lebanon to visit the land and the roots of his grand-grand father who came to Brazil from Shweir around 1880.
It was a great surprise for Luiz to find relatives in Lebanon after one century of the emigration of Khattar Bou-Zeid, his grand grand father. Khattar, when arrived in Brazil, changed both first and last names: Instead of “Bou-Zeid” which was not a Portuguese name, he adopted the name “Moises Chueire”.
Khattar also came to Brazil with one brother, named EID. They were around 15 to 18 years old. In Barzil they married brazilian ladies, and formed big families. They were christians, and for any reason they have not kept the links with Lebanon.
Luiz was traveling to the Middle East and intended to visit Lebanon if he find relatives. One of his friends knew about Shweir Website and that’s how Luiz contacted G. Matar who introduced him to me.
So, before coming to Lebanon, Luiz traveled to a city in Brazil where one of khattar’s daughters (Luiz aunt) called Zaine, who is 95 years old, and get some information from her about his grand-grand father that she might have.
She had only one picture of her father, at the time he arrived in Brazil.(Please see the attached photo: PIC1.jpg). The man in the right side of the picture, who has the name "Moises" on top of his image, is her father (Khattar) and the grand-grand father of Luiz. The picture was shot in Sao Paulo, a few days after he arrived here, in 1891. He was around 18 years old at that time.
The other two gentlemen are two cousins, also from Lebanon, who came to Brazil with Khattar Moises.
They left Lebanon seeking for better opportunities, and they decided to go to America. They had little idea of South and North America, and Luiz aunt does not know if they knew they were coming to Brazil or if they decided their final destination during their trip.
Luiz aunt also said that one of Moises´s sisters went to Argentina at the same time, and maybe two others to the States.
Khattar father’s name was Abdalah, and his mother´s, Zaine.
After a few months in Brazil, Moises wrote to his family asking them to send his younger brother, Eid to join him in Brazil. He did that because Eid was a terrible young man, so in order to help his parents Moises brought his brother to live with him.
This is all Luiz get from his aunt, whose name is Zaine, for her grand mother.
Luiz came back also from his visit to his aunt with the below list with all the sons and daughters of Khattar Bou-Zeid:
Khattar married three times. His first wife was Maria de Oliveira, from a traditional family in south Brazil at that time. They married on June 20, 1896, and their children are:
- Latife, born April 7, 1898; she lived a long life, and had children;
- Zarife, born November 29, 1899; she died on November 11, 1903;
- Graciliano, born August 12, 1901; he lived a long life, and had children;
- Salim, the grand father of Luiz, born May 28, 1903; he died in February 1943; he married Aurelia Franco (who died in 1982; her father was from Lebanon, also; his name was Miled Zahur, and he came from Beirut). Their children are Paulo, born in 1928; Carlos (Luiz father), born in 1932; Zelia, born in 1938; and Maria José, born in 1942;
- Waldemor, born January 15, 1905; he died one year later;
- Amélia; born June 12, 1906; she lived a long life, and had children;
- Waldemor (the same name of his brother, who had died), born April 13, 1908; he married and had children;
- Zaine, born July 13, 1909; she is alive, and has a very good health; she has one son;
- Aristoteles, born August 8, 1911; he married and had children;
- Nair, born May 10, 1913; she lived a long life, and had children;
- Cesar, born November 10, 1914; he married and had children;
On February 20, 1916, Maria de Oliveira died, at the age 33. She and Khattar had 11 children, but two died when were young, so 9 grew up. Only one of them is still alive.
On July 10, 1917, Khattar married with Nhá. This is her nickname. She was a very simple and humble woman, and probably Khattar was looking for someone to help him with his 9 children, who were from 18 to 3 years old.
Their children are:
- Joao, born April 10, 1918. He is alive, and has three sons and two daughters;
- Lady, born May 20, 1919; she is alive, and has two sons;
- Anice, born January 23, 1921; she died young;
- Rubens, born July 1, 1922; he did not marry, and died some years ago;
On August 28, 1923, Nhá died. On June 28, 1924, Khattar married with Amazilia. Luiz had the chance to meet Mrs. Amazilia, but her health was not good, and he know little about her life with Khattar.
Their children are:
- Alceu, born September 9, 1925; he is alive, and has children;
- Washington, born November 15, 1926; he died, and had children;
- Dalva, born February 9, 1931; she is alive, and has one son and one daughter.
A Huge family. We knew all these dates because Luiz aunt, Zaine, has a hand written paper with these notes, which were dictated by her father, Khattar, before he died.
Eid, the brother of Khattar also formed a big family. One of his grandsons, Afranio Chueire, is a very good friend of Luiz. And may be in the future he will prepare a list with this branch of the Eid Chueire (Bou-Zeid) Family Tree.
And at the end, the trip of Luiz to the Middle East was confirmed. He and his wife Marise were at Shweir in March 17, 2005. Unfortunately they only had one day to spend with Bou-Zeid family at shweir- Lebanon. They took a taxi from Beirut and arrived at the”Seha” in Dhour around 9:00 AM, I was waiting for them. It was really an amazing day!
See also attached photos of Luiz and his wife from their visit to their family at Shweir.
Silva Awad
Bou-Zeid
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Silva, what a great story. That makes all the effort behind Shweir.com worthwhile.
Below is the original post:
Author | Topic: Accomplishments of Shweir.com | ||
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We hope to hear a similar Happy gathering and story of the Francis Family... as in the post below.
Dib Franciss from Brazil searching for Shweir relatives
Dear Anwar,
I don't remember when I read on the BB that someone from Brazil, his family name
was Francis, is asking about his family in Shweir, where you couldn't give him
an answer. I will give you this information may be it could help.
Francis family were in Shweir and they had a house in the town. In Mar Butrus
Church you can see the name of Salim Na3oum Francis who donated in 1963 to the
church, for the name of his grand father the priest Yousef Sawaya 1889 and his
father the priest Youhana Sawaya 1863, (the part where the priest stands during
the mass, I don't know what to call it), as you can see in the pic.
Like the Yafeth's and others who left Shweir, Francis's have nobody in town any
more by this name, but they have relatives with the Sawaya's, Abdil Ahad,
Khnieser etc. If you remember where Nasir Casino was, this place was for Salim
before he sold to Mattar.
The last Francis was Salim Na3oum Haykal Francis. His brother was Nasib who left
to the USA long time ago but came back to Shweir, for a short period, after his
brother's death.
This is all what I could get until now, I hope you could send this info to the
young Shweiry in Brazil.
Riad
-----Original Message-----
From: Riad Khunieser [mailto:rk26@aub.edu.lb]
Sent: Sunday, November 06, 2005 10:14 PM
Subject: Fw: Francis Family
Dear Anwar,
I sent you this email one week ago and got no reply, may you be you haven't received it.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Riad Khunieser"
To: "Anwar2" <at shweir dot com>
Sent: Monday, October 31, 2005 11:07 AM
Subject: Francis Family
Dear Anwar,
I am sure your visit to Shweir this year was fruitful in every way, but to me it was more than that. Your work with the churches record is an excellent job done even it isn't finished yet. While I was looking at the records in the laptop which you left, and which I am keeping at home, I found so many good information about many persons we were trying to find any info. about. To make it short; I am sending you what I found about the Francis family in the Catholic Book. Please if you find it worth sending to our young man in Brazil, do it. If you do, please tell him that we are still looking for the old files and what we have got till now goes to this period of time (1856).
Michael Haykal Francis (Ibn Farah) born:23 Feb.1856 baptized: 18 Feb. 1857 in Mar Boutros Church in Shweir; Married to Nour Al 3ayn Abdallah Abd Al-Ahad Feb. 3 1886; died; 1908
Najibi Michael... born; Nov. 13,1891; baptized Dec. 1 1891 Mar Boutros
Adel Michael ... born; Dec 7, 1892; baptized Jan 3, 1893
Naim Michael ... born May 2, 1897; baptized June 29, 1897
Malbina Michael ... born Jan. 13, 1901; baptized Feb.2, 1909
Naom Haykal Francis (Abou Farah) born Aug.
6, 1858 baptized Sept. 14 1858 in Mar Boutros
Married
to Youlyafi Al-Khoury Yousif Sawaya (this is what I could read), Jan. 4, 1888;
died 1922
Salim Naom ... born; July 5 1889 baptized Sept. 2 1889; died Feb. 8, 1963
Salimi Naom ... born Jan. 12, 1896 baptized Feb. 6, 1896
Nasib Naom ... born Mar. 2, 1898 baptized Apr. 16, 1898
Tenuous Daher Francis (Abi Farah); married to Mariam Michael Francis Feb. 18, 1900
Toufic Tenuous ... born May 27, 1903; baptized June 29, 1903
Michael Tenuous ... born Nov. 12, 1910; baptized Dec. 11, 1910
Simian Tenuous ... born May 6, 1907 baptized June 23 1907 died Dec. 5, 1912
Riad
Author | Topic: Tribute to Mama Rose - Rose Nasr | ||
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To read the Tribute of Mama Rose on the Shweir Bulletin Board, Click Here
----- Original Message -----From: Hilda M Kachmar ( hkachmar (at) comcast.net )Sent: Tuesday, July 13, 2004 4:13 PMSubject: Picture of 1922 Shweir group photoDear Mr. Matar:
In looking carefully at the well preserved picture, I think that the young man on the right ( with fez) of the top row may be my father. I know he must have attended Shweir High School because he was from the town of Btegrine and he told me it was too small. He told me that his uncle was one of the school teachers. My father's name was Assad Sawaya Sawaya and he emigrated to the Americas in 1928-1930, when he was about 18-20 years old. He settled in Havana, Cuba where he married my mother, Hilda, in 1948. I know we have a lot of family in Lebanon, but will not be able to travel to find out more information. My father has or had a cousin named Rachid who became a businessman in Venezuela. He had two sons whom I met years ago, Bahyet and Mounir, and a daughter whom I also met. It's been a long time since my father died and we have lost touch with most of the family. I have cousins who travel between the US and Lebanon and their last name is Harik.
Is there anyway someone can corroborate that the man in the picture is my father, Assad Sawaya Sawaya, from Btegrine.
Thank you for your help.
Hilda (Sawaya) Kachmar
Searching for origin and meaning of Khnaisser family... By Paul Knieser
----- Original Message -----From: pjxk2 @ aol.com (email on left has two spaces before and after the @ to avoid spammers harvesting emails for privacy and to minimize junk mail.Sent: Friday, November 21, 2003 2:35 PMSubject: re: Khnaisser family tree on linehi-- You have a wonderful web site. In the above family tree, I was just curious if you or anyone I might contact could tell me the origins or meaning of the family name Khnaisser. I would appreciate any information.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Paul Knieser
Olean, NY
USA
----- Original Message -----From: pjxk2 @ aol.comSent: Friday, November 21, 2003 7:54 PMSubject: Re: Khnaisser family tree on line
Hi again--Thank you for such a speedy reply to my first email.My name is Paul Knieser and I am half Lebanese from my father's side of the family. My grandfather came from Salima in 1895. He is of the Beshelany family. He died in 1922 when my father was only six years old. Although there were ten children in their family none of the had much knowledge of the family background. I have two aunts still suriving today, one of them is 90, and neither of them knew their grandparents names.For many years, I have had a copy of Fr. Stephen Beshelany's book on the History of B'shele and Salima with all of the wonderful generology and historical information. Unfortunately it was in Arabic and no one in my family was ever able to read it. Having had the book vor over 30 years I finally decided it was time to unravel the mystery and I hired translators to help me get the book into English. It has taken a fair amount of money and an even greater amount of time to accomplish the task. Half of the book is ready for the printers and I expect to have the final half ready within a couple of months. It has been a project that has taken years but makes for wonderful reading and research. There must be at least a hundred thousand people alive today whose ancestors are discussed or mentioned in the book. . It allows us to trace many, many families back historically for 400 years naming every major male ancestor along the way.The meaning of Knieser that you related is the same story that I have always heard but I keep checking because I can't seem to make sense out of that in my own mind. So many Lebanese names are from the trade or business of the people, or tied to geographic regions, that I can't understand how some one could come up with a name of "Little Finger"...strange. I wasn't aware of the many different spellings of the name.I was surprised at your story of the three brothers of European origin and would love to hear anymore details of the rumor or tales. One of my aunt's who died as a child in the 1918 influenza epidemic reportedly had blond hair and blue eyes...not exactly traditional Lebanese characteristics.In my mind I have been trying to think of ways for people to share information, photographs, etc., that they have and what I was picturing is what seems to have been accomplished with shweir.com. I conceive of a similar site devoted to the families in the book but as of the moment I lack the computer skills and the time to accomplish it.Thank you, so much, for the information that you shared. I anxiously look forward to any further information that you or your contacts may be able to provide.If I can provide you with any other information, please, don't hesitate to ask.Sincerely,Paul
Searching for Hanna/Yousef/Joseph Abdel Ahad
angelic ahad, Member # 162 posted 01-23-2003 06:59
PM
------------------------------------------
Last name(Ahad),(abdel ahad) (Abed El Ahad),
First name- Hanna, yousef, Joseph, (Nagla???)
(some of the information may not be accurate...all from memory)
My father came to the United states in the late 1960's. My birth certificate
shows his name as Joseph Ahad. My older brother (John) shows Abed El as a middle
name and Ahad as the last. we were told that the men our family reversed fist
and middle names through each generation...John(hanna) Joseph....Joseph
John(hanna). We are not sure the correct transilation of joseph in arabic. My
father arrived in the united states through New York. He married a armenian
woman named Helen(my brothers mother).
We’re not sure the circimstances of our fathers resons for leaving lebanon. He
never discussed his family. It seemed to be a depressing topic for him. I belive
our grandmothers name could be Nagla, Nalia, Nashrella(not sure). I recently
discoverd through a friend located in beirut....that they are still living. We
have been on so many sites and directiorys searching but havent came up with any
good leads.
My father begain living in the San Jose bay area of california in the 70's. he
was divorced from Helen. In the 1990's Married a woman from Belize named
Ottila(a very sweet woman). And was eventually divorced again. He seemed to
dissapear round 1998. He is still living as the s.s office will not provide any
more info on him. He is old and due to an accident in the 70's may not have a
good memory of much of his life.
Me and my brother are searching for any information on any family living in
lebanon.....as well as any info on my fathers whereabouts here in the united
states.
He has blue/green eyes, speaks english, arabic, french, chrisitan.
Thank you and god bless
angelic ahad
lilyrain@sbcglobal.net
Searching for relatives of the Zeidan Rahbany Family
From: Nabeel Michael Barakat (Saed)
Email: barakanm@lahc.edu
Location: Los Angeles , California
Hi to all. I am so happy to have found this site. I've been trying to find and
learn about my parents family and home land for a very long time.
Originally my father is from beit Saed from Rashia Al Wadi, and my mother is
from Dhour Shweir (Rahbani, Zeidan) My uncle is Fuad Zeidan, Abo Iskander,
worked with the Middle East Air lines. I have relatives in Betighreen ... .
Anyone that reads this message and can help me connect I would be very thankful.
Searching for Abicair, Moujaes &
Sawaya
Abicair (Abi Kheir) Family Tree, Ayoub Moujaes Family (1888) & Boutros
Abraham Sawaya (1889)
Shirley Abicair-Mudford | |
I am the daughter of Naim
Abicair (Bou Kheir) and Najla Marida and niece of Aziz Bou Kheir. My dad &
mother migrated to Australia in the 1950's separately and met and married in
Australia. They had 8 children. I have visited Lebanon a number of times,
most recently in 1999 with my husband and two daughters.We have since added
a son to the family. We stayed with my Auntie Rita in Shweir and my husband,
Ross(Australian) and children really enjoyed their stay. I have visited most of my relatives in Shweir on my visits and I am interested in putting together our family tree. Has anyone started this as a project in Shweir relating to my family? I would be happy to hear from anyone that can help me. Hi to all my cousins.
3 January 2003 - Melbourne, Australia
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alex ayoub | |
your site has helped put me in
touch with family of my great grandfather ayoub moujaes who came to
australia in 1888 with his son nayef. response from waleed and mounir
moujaes has helped answer many questions which have been asked by family for
many years as nayef passed away in 1936. my hearty good wishes to all
relatives from the moujaes family wherever they are and may this be a happy
and prosperous new year. alex ayoub
24 December 2002 - sans souci, sydney.australia.
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nick saway | |
hello everyone and merry
christmas. I was wondering if anyone ever heard of a Batrous Abraham Sawaya
who was born in Shweir in 1889. That was my great grandfather. He came over
to America sometime between 1900 and 1905 I think. He had a niece Saleemie
or Salima Sawaya that lived in Harahan, not too far from where I live. Any
info would help. I'm trying to help my grandma figure out our family tree.
22 December 2002 - new orleans louisiana
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Shweir.com Note to Shirley, Alex & Nick: - Welcome to your hometown website. Thank you for taking the time to post on Shweir.com Guest Book and share Family Tree info with us. To expand exposure, I will copy your message and add it to the Family Tree web page.
First Published Family Tree to post on Shweir.com
Cousin Anwar, -I know you like to work with the family tree of Shweirieh. Attached are four images of an article I was reading yesterday in the journal (Kab - Elias, Bekaa, Nov.-Dec. 2002) |
and I want you to read it because I think you |
Thank you Riad, this is Great information with reference about many families, some goes back up to 400 years, including Merhej, Sawaya, Shweiry, and Moujaes families. I did not have a chance to read all of it yet, but I wanted to post it ASAP, before I call it a night.
If anyone wish to translate for the benefit of our cousins who do not read Arabic, I will be happy to post it.
Thank you Riad for the wealth of information that you continue to find.
Searching for descendants of
Faris Simeon Moujaes
(1877-1953)
----- Original Message -----From: alan ellisTo: "A. G. Kenicer" in code <anwar2 at shweir dot com>Sent: Thursday, December 05, 2002 7:08 AMSubject: helloI have just found this site and registered.What a godsend!I thought the search for family history would be long and hard,but in this world of gadgets,gizmos and geegaws,Dhour Choueir was just a few k/strokes away with it's own site.Except for the phonetic translation of arabic!!! How many ways is there of spelling dhour choueir,dhour el-chweir,ect,ect,as well as mujaas,majais,moujaes,ad infinitum.I hope that I can contact someone,as I have quite a bit of interesting things that belonged to my greatuncle,Faris Simeon Moujaes(have I finally got his name right?)born circa 1877,died 1953.Lebanese people that I asked,have always told me that shweir is a beautifull place.Maybe oneday,the grandson of a shweirian emigrant should go and have a look. regards, alan
----- Original Message -----From: Alan EllisTo: "A. G. Kenicer" in code <anwar2 at shweir dot com>Sent: Thursday, December 05, 2002 3:35 PMSubject: pronunciation
Thanks for your welcome to shweir.com. Your newest member has a question.In Australia,my g/father used the name Charles Louis Simon even though he was a Sayegh.I asked my mum this morning,if she could remember his real name.She remembers as a child that arabic speakers called him (sounds like) el-yes.Could this be Elias. Mum is 90 y.o. and never spoke arabic,being born here of Lebanese parents,who being in business,anglisised their name and only spoke to the children in english.The parents did speak to each other in arabic if needed,which is why mum could only understand some words,but not speak them.Thats assimilation.Hope you can help with g/father pron. regards, alan.
Yes, Allan, we have Sayegh family too in Shweir... and Yes, el-yes is nick name for Elias... so, based on what you wrote, your grandad original name wad Elias Sayegh. Hope with our readers, they can put more pieces to the puzzle.
-----Original Message-----
From: Matar, George [mailto:gematar@sbec.com]
Sent: Saturday, December 07, 2002 11:15 AM
To: 'Shweir Web'; alan ellis
Cc: Nabil Matar; Matar, George; Alfred Moujaes; Habib Moujaes; Waleed
Moujaes
Subject: RE: hello
Again hello Allan,
Author | Topic: LONG LOST RELATIVES FOUND | ||
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----- Original Message -----From: Don JohnsonTo: "A. G. Kenicer" in code <anwar2 at shweir dot com>Sent: Wednesday, November 27, 2002 10:14 PMSubject: Dr. Khalil Saadeh
After finding and viewing your website and seeing the picture of Dr. Khalil Saadeh, I thought y'allwould like a picture of his family minus their youngest child, Grace.DJ
Anwar, Thanks for the updated pictures. I do not have any other pictures of Dr. Saadeh, but I know there are more
Dear Sirs:
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Zaidan Rahbany Roots Via Ibrahim Rahbany
Thanks to Riad Khuneisser for sending a picture and data on Ibrahim Rahbany obtained from the Yaffet Library archives of the AUB...
The caption below reads: Ibrahim bin (bin or ibn means son of) Mitri (lived in Btater, Chouf) ibn Elias bin Mansour bin Bader bin Zaidan bin Mansour bin Jeryes al Rahbany (who lived in Ain Sindyany, Shweir) ibn Yaacoub bin Mikhail, bin Mousa Abi Saad (from Rahia, Akkar) ...
(there is another sentence about the Ruhbaniah clan, I did not feel I can adequately translate its true meaning... click on the picture, read it and if you are able to translate, send me an email "A. G. Kenicer" in code <anwar2 at shweir dot com> so I can post it)
The above links of the family tree could take it back to the 1600 or 1700's.
To read more or see the book by and about Ibrahim Mitri Rahbany, click on this link to take you to the book section of Shweir.com: http://www.shweir.com/books.htm#brahim%20Mitri%20Rihbany
Where are the Zeidans or Zaidans?
I'm a real shweiri although I haven't been to shweir. My father Tufeek Habib
Zeidan (born in 1903) left Shweir with his parents (Habib Zeidan and Tamam Dawud
Hawi) during Wolrd War One. He ended up in Palestine where he married in 1936.
In 1948 he left Palestine to Shweir hoping to come back to take his family to
Shweir. He stayed in Shweir about seven months with his uncles, the Hawis. When
he went back to bring the family to Shweir he was stranded in Palestine. My
grandmother Tamam Hawi
passes away in 1970 wishing to be buried in Shweir.
My father passed way in 1979 lamenting the fact that he couldn't be buried in
Shweir. Despite his extensive stay in Palestine he remained a genuine
Shwiri refusing to give up his distinctive Shweiri dialect. Both didn't cease
telling us stories about their native village. Sometimes , Shweir comes up in my
dreams. Can anybody (especially the old generation) shed light on the history of
our family? Where are the beloved Zeidans and Hawis?
Please don't hesitate to write me. Many thanks.
Joseph Tufeek Zeidan
Associate Professor
Department of Near East Languages & Cultures
Ohio State University
1735 Neil Ave.
Columbus, Ohio 43210
zeidan.1@osu.edu
Interestingly my grand-father's name is also Toufik and he had four sons including my father Faissal...
We just put a rough draft of the family and as soon as we have enough information we will happy you send a copy...
Manal and Faissal Zeidan Rahbany
----- Original Message -----
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Author | Topic: Help with Ellis Island | ||
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Author | Topic: Need Info. on the Naufal Family | ||
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1890's, Daghers from Shweir to Mussaytbeh, Selma Dagher, WWI, Odette Haddad... ??? Need more info...
Author | Topic: a great lady from Shweir/Mussaytbeh | ||
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From:
Abdallah Tabet
Sent: Sunday, June 30, 2002 2:48 AM
Subject: photos "a great lady from shweir"
these are three photos, the medal, and Selma Dagher and Did Rizk the
year of their wedding 1920.
best regards
abdallah tabet
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Remembering Teta Mary Moujaes
-----Original
Message-----
From: Emile Ferris [mailto:emferris@bellatlantic.net]
Sent: Saturday, April 20, 2002 11:51 AM
To: CVNacol@aol.com
Subject: RE: Dear Habeeb
<<a copy of this message is being forwarded to the rest of the
family, for their information>>
Thank you
Habeeb for your response to my e-mail. I did follow your instructions and was
able to locate the picture (although faded) of my favorite person and my
father's cousin, Mary Moujaes. May
she rest in peace. Not only was she beautiful, she was also so kind and
helpful to us when my sister-in-law, the children and I relocated in Jal-El-Dib
in January, 1962, until my late brother, Samir Farès Abi-Saleh joined us from
Libya. So were uncle Salim and his family. We were always welcome in their home,
which was at the intersection down the road from our apartment next to the
school run by the Nuns, across the street from the Post Office, I believe. By
the way, Kahlil's uncle, whose name I don't recall (probably Bahige), is married
to my cousin, Blanche Sawaya; they lived diagonally across the street from
our apartment in Jal-El-Dib. All of us, brothers and sisters and most of the
nephews and nieces, were born in Alexandria, Egypt. My late dad, Farès Habib
Abi-Saleh and my late mom, Tamam Nassif Elias Aoun, were born in Shweir and
Jezzine, respectively. We are now scattered all over the Globe, in Lebanon,
the U.K., the USA, Canada, Luxembourg, Switzerland and Australia, where one of
my cousins live with her children.
Teta Mary's
brother, Bergis Abi-Saleh, was a master carpenter. He also had had his
political troubles, so did uncle Salim in 1962, when the PPS tried to overthrow
the government of Fouad Chehab. My grandfather, Habib Abi-Saleh was also a
carpenter and he died building a house in Shweir. That was the main reason
for my late grandmother's emigration to Alexandria, where she had a brother. My
grandmother's dad was a Greek Catholic (Melkite) priest, and to this day, the
Sawaya family is know as "Beit el Khoury" (the house of the parish
priest). My father's cousins in Dhour Shweir were: Botross, Halim, Hala and
Soraya. My grandmother's cousin, Naim Bey Sawaya had a school in the
Metn, where my dad had his educational formative years. Of
course, he was pulled out of the school when the family emigrated to Egypt and
was self-educated, always reading books and a number of newspapers - which we
all enjoyed reading as well: Al-Ahram, published by the Takla (Lebanese)
brothers, Al Masry (the official newspaper of the Wafd Party, whose founder
was Saad Zaghloul), Al-Mokattam, that was published by Gebran Tueny (the
father of Ghassan Tueny of Al-Nahar - I met Mr. Tueny in a conference held in NY
about the Middle East, back in 1992, I believe, and I mentioned to him that my
dad was a friend of his late dad), Al-Bassir, where my dad worked for over 40
year, and was its manager, and Le Phare Égyptien, a French newspaper, published
by a Greek journalist by the name of Geronimo. Of course, all these newspapers
are now extinct, so is Al-Ahram, as a free newpaper. Only its name and that of
its founders appear on its front page. The newpaper was nationalized by Nasser
in the beginning of the revolution, which took place in the summer of 1952. We
also had access to AL-HODA, which we used to get from New York. As you may have
guessed, we are fluent in Arabic and French. We all attended French schools in
Alexandria, the boys, Collège Saint-Marc of the Christian Brothers Schools and
the girls, the French Nuns.
It is my
understanding that Naim Bey Sawaya was the founder of the public school system
of Lebanon. His late wife's family, Lahoud, was prominent in the political and
military scenes of modern Lebanon; her brother, the General Jamil Lahoud,
was also a member of parliament; her son, Georges, was a high ranking officer,
and I believe that the current president, Émile Lahoud, is a nephew.
Enough of name dropping!
Please tell
me how you are related to Teta Mary. I kept a terrific memory of the years we
spent with her company and that of the Moujaes family.
Sincerely,
Emile
-----Original Message-----
From: CVNacol@aol.com [mailto:CVNacol@aol.com]
Sent: Saturday, April 20, 2002 1:43 PM
To: emferris@bellatlantic.net
Subject: Re: Dear Habeeb
Dear Mr Ferris,
Yes, this
is the same Teta Mary that I was
referring to. She was not only wonderful, she was gorgeous! To see her picture
at Shweir.com click on the site directory, then scroll down to a black and white
picture of Jamil Khneisser. He is the one with the sword and shield on the
right. Click on the picture, and you will get to some real old pictures. Scroll
down and you will see a picture of a handsome man dressed in traditional clothes
by the name of Khalil then you will see a picture of her with a hand gun. Tell
me, how are you related to her? Lert me know if you find it.
Habeeb M. Nacol
Baaklini's from Bzebdine family Tree courtesy of Bishop Sam Jacobs
I would like to share
with you that I have put on the Bzebdine.com web site a list of the Baaklini
descendants from Shweir. it is under Family Tree. It definitely is not complete
but it is a start. If there is additiional information I would appreciate if you
would email them to me: sjacobs@aol.com or leave a message on the board. I am
still trying to complete the file for the Baaklini and Germani descendants
from
Bzebdine. I hope our site one day will be as effective as yours is. God bless.
Bishop Sam Jacobs
Author | Topic: A NEW SHWEIR>COM STORY |
Elias
Khonaisser Member |
posted
10-21-2001 10:04 PM
again, i would like to share with you a shweir.com breakthrough in bringing family closer together and i am thankful for this great nation we live that has developed and progressed our times so as to pave the way for such tools as the internet. i would like to share with you a story that has started and in which i am thrilled to learn the details. i received an email from Jacqueline Forti and i would like to share it with you here for many reasons first to show how important this web site has become and how vital it is. and second because i will need all your help here from 3ammo nabil to 3ammo george to 3ammo habeeb and all of you people cause not even my father remember this part of the family. here is the email: To: Elias Nasr Khonaisser- Ahlan Ahlan! Dear Elias I was surfing thru the shweir web site ! Let me introduce my self to you. My name is Jacqueline Forti Your great grandmother Salima is the sister of my grandfather Salim Choueri. I had the hnor and the privilige to meet your grandmother Aida, and Grandfather Elias who is my mothers ist cousin. And most of all I met your father Elias when he was i think 4 or five in 1962 that is when I was in Lebanon and up at dhour o know where i came from. I don't know if you heard their names my mother is Marie,I had 2 Aunts Adlere and Rose and an uncle Alfred all are deceased. My Grandmother 's name is Khaytoom but i just cant remenber her family;s name. You also had a great great grandaunt by the name of Affifa. I still have pictures with your grandmother Aida, and your aunt Noha. Also the Mukhtar is a cousin to me , and what a pleasure it has been for me to find my identity and where we came from. By the way iI was born in Alexandria Egypt. That part of the family that went there. I have a son who is 31 years old he is a Science High school teacher. And I want him to know where his ancestors are. It is such a pleasure for me to write to you. I found your e-mail on the web. I had also posted an e-mail and what a an honor to hear from all family members. I hope you will get my e mail. God bless you and your family. Jacqueline Forti IP: Logged |
Elias
Khonaisser Member |
posted
10-21-2001 10:10 PM
ok this is really exciting for me and i would like to mention that the writer made a mistake in the email my father's name is NASR and not Elias. my dad was watching the LBC news at 8 i receive this very interesting meail he is 2 feet away from me and i am like do you know a jaqueline forti and he says no and i am like you told me you visited Alexandria Egypt in 1975 so my mother pops in and says maybe it is the people that Nadim Nasr ( god Rest his soul) brought to our house and my mother is like are they from NY and i say YES do you know them?? and silence reigns. my father says he visited Alexandria Egypt in 75 and met Nassif Sayegh and he says this person was a lawyer. that is all he remembers but the email was so detailed i will need TANTE AFIFE'S HELP Tante Afife i hope you are reading this can you help?? i will email you anyway. i am going to reply to her and i will keep you all posted on how this progresses isn't this exciting?? so all of you help3ammo Nabil can you help maybe?? Anwar anything?? Elias [This message has been edited by Elias Khonaisser (edited 10-22-2001).] IP: Logged |
Webmaster Administrator |
posted
10-22-2001 02:15 AM
I will be happy to do whatever I can, cousin... after all I met you on Shweir.com... Although I do not know the people mentioned in the email, I will be glad to post it on Shweir.com "Family Tree" web page so that it will always be available for anyone reading that section to share what they know and hopefully fill in the gaps. When I posted the first draft of my grandmother's family tree, George Samaha, not only filled in the gaps but had so much more details that he took us back to 1635... wow... that is the power of sharing. And now we have a more comprehensive Samaha FAmily Tree that showed us how the Samaha, Tabsharani, Khenaisser, Harik and many other families are related... Thank you cousin George. Elias, I hope you will receive similar fortunate responses. Anwar |
Habeeb
M. Nacol Member |
posted
10-22-2001 07:05 AM
Elias, I am so glad that you brought Jacqueline's story to the web page. I have corresponded with her a couple of times, but did not have the know how to transcribe her interesting story into Shweir.com. She has so many friends and family in Shweir, and hopefully all her questions will be answered. Jaqueline, welcome to the family and hope to hear from you often |
Dear Jaqueline,
I was on my computer when I received your lovely note. I am taking the liberty
to forward it to Anwar Kenicer, the webmaster of Shweir.com. I am hoping that he
prints it on the page so that some of our readers can fill in some of the
information that you requested. If you browse some of the pictures of the sight,
you will see a picture of teta Mary. She was undoubtedly one of the most
beautiful women in Shweir. She was gorgeous as an octogenarian!
The children of Elia abu el Rous's names are Edward, Robert--the one that
tragically died in a car accident, and the two girls Sonia, and believe it or
not Jaqueline.
As for me, I live in Beaumont, Texas and came to the America in 1961. I have
heard of Khaitoom, but for the life of me I cannot remember her last name. My
youngest brother is George, one of the co-finders of Shweir.com, and is known as
the Mukhtar bil Maghreb.
It was so good to hear from you, and hope to hear from you again. Please, write
to Shweir.com and I am certain that some or all of your inquiries will be
answered. We hear regularly from Shweirieh from both Australia and New Zealand.
It is possible that they may also help.
Best wishes, Habeeb
----- Original Message -----From: Simoneforti@aol.comSent: Tuesday, November 20, 2001 3:14 PMHello Anwar!
Hi Cousin this is to wish you and all your family a Happy Thanksgiving and May God give you all what your heart desires!
I just want to tell that yes Elias Nasr e mailed me and I did send him pictures I had he was astonished how close we were related! Believe me it just so beautiflul to find these people on the web from you as a future cousin, to Mukhtar who is a cousin, and to HabibNacol, my God
it is just so overwellming!
I also forgot to tell you that my grandfather Salim married my grandmother they were cousins ( you know we were always told the family half is greek othodox and half greek catholic) because of intermarriage between cousins. And they were married in Choueir. May be one of the elders God
Bless them would remember the Family name of Khaytoom! Also I assume you would have heard of the Maamari,well Tammam Maamari was my mom's 1st cousin, she had Nicolas, Georgette and I think Elaine who married Elias Abou Rous, whose son had a car accident in dhour, and Jacqueline and Sonia. I did meet all these people .
Web Master you are the best I am sure someone will remember. I will keep you posted.
Thanks,
Jacqueline Forti************************
*****************
Anwar I
just received a phone call from my cousin Abisaleh! She has asked a few
Lebanese from Shweir who are a bit ancient and they say that:
THE FATHER OF KHAYTOOM IS THE BROTHER OF THE MOTHER OF HALOUN SAWAYA.
PLEASE HELP! for the life of me i don' t understand it!
*********************
Also I
told you my Grandfather Salim and Najib Kiamie travelled togher when they were
young my grandfather settled in Alexandria and Najib came to the States. Please
This is so much History!.
Thank you Anwar! I know you will find the puzzle. Hope to hear from
you- Vive le SHWEIR
Jacqueline Forti
***************************
Kabalan Gergis Dahdouh Family Tree
Congratulations to Walid Dahdouh for being the first from the Summer Computer workshop program to provide us with his family tree... the Kablan Gergis Dahdouh Family Tree.
And here it is... Click on the chart on the right. > > > > > > >
Walid, can you write some history about your family (see sample of others below) and email it to me? thanks, Anwar
December 20, 2001: Walid comes through again with some new and old photos and articles to transfer these treasured data into the digital realm.
I bet Walid is working on the stories that will go with these old pictures... Look at these newspaper articles from around the world!
The tall article came from Sat. edition of Lake Charles, Louisiana, USA.
And lets look at these photos... those without a caption, hover your pointer on the picture and it will give you some hints about it in the lower left corner of your screen.
The Iskandar Baaklini, Amin Nasr Khnaisser & Michel Shaya Khnaisser Families...
During a visit to Houston, Texas, to attend Shweir on the Beach 2001, I had the pleasure of reconnecting with my second cousin Samih Baaklini whom I have not seen since he was just a young boy back in Shweir 30 years earlier. It did not take long for us to revisit the good old times and peruse through some of the old photos. Samih lent me some to scan and feature on this web site. Here they are.
Anwar
Baaklini's, Nasr & Shaya Khnaisser
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Iskandar Baaklini & Mar Abda Tower |
Baaklini Family |
On the roof with mount Sanneen as a backdrop... L-R: Abdo, Chebl, Iskandar, Albert & Samih |
Circa 1965 L-R: Michel Shaya, Rizallah Nasr, Albert Baaklini, ?, Affaf Shaya K., Elaine Shaya Baaklini, Egenee Shaya K., Shaya (peeking), Samih B., Janeene Shaya K., Amin Nasr K.& Adballah Shaya Khnaisser |
First
Communion... June 1968 In this picture, there are two boys &n a girl from the Corban Family, Tony Halabi, Na3eem Ataya, Gaby Francis & Samih Ataya... Do you recognize any others??? ... |
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June 1968 Samih & Aboona Hannoush |
Amal Chebl and uncle Albert Baaklini |
Abdo & Samih Baaklini |
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Samih & Grandma Eginee Shaya K. |
1962 - 1963 Michel Shaya K. & Iskandar Baaklini |
Samih & Summer |
Elias Shaya Khnaisser from Ohio watch Riad, Samih, & Janeen |
George
Ghosn Eid Khneisser Family Tree
From an email sent on May 17, 2001
My full name is Charbel Elie Girgi Ghosn Eid Khnaisser. I would like to give you a portion of our family tree if it would of interest. I am a Computer and Communications Engineer and I currently work with a Corporate ISP in Lebanon called Arabia Business Group. Please let me know if I can do anything for our community.
*******************************
******************************
In the early 1900's, Deeb Mirhej was a policeman for the Baladieh. He and his wife Saada (Yazbeck) were called Abou Mikhayel and Imm Mikhayel after their oldest son Mikhayel. They had three sons: Mikhayel, Naamatallah & Sabeh and three daughters: Alia, Afifi and Mariam.
(Please click on the chart on right to enlarge it and see the total picture > >)
(Photo on left is of Sabeh Deeb Mirhej).
The sons emigrated to Brazil and are believed to have settled in or near Sao Paolo, Brazil. We do not know much about their families and would very much love to add them to this family tree.
Now what we know more about are the families of the daughters who stayed in or in close proximity to Shweir.
The following is a bit of information of what we know so far...
Afifi married Jibran Halabi. They had no kids.
During WWI, the family needed to escape to safer areas. Afifi and Alia were in their teens when they were loaded onto a camel, inserted one in each pouch on the side of a camel and made the long and arduous journey to Syria (either Damascus or Souweida). The friction from the uncomfortable camel ride with each step rubbed their skin raw. After they recovered in Syria, Alia met Abdo Hishmeh and they got married.
In the 1930's, after their parents died, the three sisters sold their house which was located above Mar Jeryes for 300 L.L. to Najib Shalleeta, aka Da3week.
Photo on left is of Alia Mirhej Hishmeh.
When things calmed in Lebanon and Shweir, Alia visited her family in Shweir often. Her oldest son Elias and daughter Antoinette were born in Shweir. Alia's family grew up in Damascus. Her sons became some of the top photographers in Damascus. Shortly after WWII, her daughter Antoinette married George Shaya Khnaisser and returned to Shweir. Most of the Hishmeh family now live in or near Brooklyn, NY. USA.
After Antoinette's husband, George, died, she and her family emigrated to California, USA
Mariam lived close to Mar Jeryes, near her sons, Jeryes & Shehadeh's homes. She had many cows and when my mom used to visit, she would go to the barn, milk some fresh milk and offer it to my mom still warm. (Now that gives a whole new meaning to fresh milk).
My Grandmother Alia used to refer to the mother of Edmon Halabi, owner of ABC, (I believe her name was Maheeba) as her cousin. Another of Alia's cousins were Mariam Min3em, wife of Ignatious Halabi, John Mirhej, Edward Bou Azar Mirhej.
Any one who knows more in formation to connect the missing branches, please contact webmaster, Anwar Kenicer, at the following email address: in code to avoid spam: anwar2 (at) shweir (dot) com
*************************
Pedro Merege | |
I appreciate to contact
members of Mirhej family, I'm grandson of Nicolau Merege (Naamatallah
Mirhej), and I have found the Shweir's site at the Google search.
Today I have sended the family tree of my grandfather by e-mail
30 August 2005 - Curitiba - PR, Brazil
|
----- Original Message -----From: Email in code: datum (at) onda (dot) com (dot) brSent: Tuesday, August 30, 2005 12:32 PMSubject: Deeb & Saada Mirhej Tree
Dear Sir, My apologies by my poor english. I'm from Curitiba, Pr, Brazil,.I am looking for my relatives in Lebanon, throug the Google I have located the official Shweir's site.My name is Pedro Merege, son of Pedro. My grandfather was Nicolau Merege (Naamatallah Mirhej), son of Deeb and Saada Mirhej.Mikhayel, Naamatallah & Sabeh Mirhej, had his names translated here to Miguel, Nicolau an Antonio Merege, Miguel and Nicolau lived in Itapeva, (São Paulo state), and Antonio lived in Jabuti (Paraná state), but no so far of his brothers in Itapeva. The thre brothers get maried with brasilian wifes and had a lot of sons... descendants. Today the descendants are living in some cities of São Paulo and Paraná states at south of Brazil. Someones of my relatives are assembling the trees of Miguel an Antonio families. I have attached the tree of Nicolau (Naamatallah). As soon as possible, we will send some photos of family (I think that we have a photo of Deeb, Saada, Alia and Afife.In my search, I've encountered anothers Merege, here in Brasil, some Mirhej in Colorado USA, and some Mehrige in Brooklyn NY, USA, can they to be descendants of Alia or Mariam, and relatives too?Thank you by the opportunity of meet Shweir and part of our origins. Best RegardsPedro Merege
----- Original Message -----
**********************
From:
Datum Email in code:
datum (at) onda (dot) com (dot) br
Sent: Sunday,
September 25, 2005 2:23 PM
To: Anwar2
Subject: Some Photos
Dear Cousins Anwar, Here some photos that my grandfather received of his sister Alia, your grandmother, someone at foto 6 are your father. In future mails I send some old letters.
Abraços (like we speak in Brazil)
Pedro
So Pedro, here are some pictures of some of the descendants:
Afifi Merhej w/Alia's Fm |
Alia Merhej Family: Malak, Antone, Joseph, Samir & John Hechme & Antoinette Khnaisser |
Only living son of Mariam Merhej Bou Nakhle Jeryes w/ wife Evelyn |
Grandson of Mariam Saeed Shehadeh Bou Nakhle at his dughter's engagement |
Granddaughters of Mariam Sonia, Amal, Salwa & Loudy |
Above, 1st pix: Afifi who was married to Gibran Halabi w/ Elias Hechme
& daughter Therez, Violette Oke &
Antoinette, wife of George Shaya Khnaisser, w/ sons: Anwar, Souheil and Sami
infront of Khnaisser house in Shweir.
**************************
Pedro, I tried to post the family tree you
sent in Word doc attachment, but the format did not show well on web.
Please sent to me your address via email so that I can send to you one of the
best Family Tree software.
While you are at it, send me your phone # so
that possibly we speak in English and/or Arabic.
We will even try to learn some Portuguese.
______________________________________________
Many Thanks to my distant cousin Wagner Jamil Antonio Merege Choeire for preparing this family tree information about his grandfather's family.
One more branch of the Khnaisser Family Tree
The Hanna Khneisser Family Tree
Click on Chart to Enlarge > > > >
Many Many Thanks to Kimberly Christmas in
Florida, who did this detailed research which became the foundation to
produce this fine chart.
Kimberly is Grand Daughter of Mitchell John (Hanna) and Melvina Hawi (She is
sister to Iskandar Hawi in Florida) and Great Grand daughter to Fares and
Najeibi Khneisser and Great Great Grand Daughter to Hanna Khneisser.
Kimberly, this is quite impressive, thank you very much.
Also, many thanks to Najib Khneisser in Shweir for forwarding the information to us and many thanks to Ghassan Khnaisser in California who helped fill in the gaps to create this Chart.
What a great team effort.
Now, if you can please provide brief narration of history and intresting information and some unique old photos to complement this treasure of a chart... that would be wonderful.
Eventually, we will connect the rest of the Khnaisser branches like those of Eid, Nassr and Shaya.
Calling for Elias Nassr Khonaisser and Shakeep Shaya Khnaisser, can you help out?
Your first cousin to distant cousin, depending on where you are and on which tree,
Anwar George Kenicer
So far, we have the following branches:
Abi (or Abu) Nader
Eid
Nasr or Nassr
Shaya or Shaaya
Any one with more information about a branch or History, please contact webmaster (in code: ) or post your info on the new Shweir Bulletin Board.
I am not an addict to the computer, but from time to time,
I look over the internet and your "shweir.com" to read something about
our emigrants. I reside at Rabiya in winter time and at Dhour in summer. I
want your help to register myself if you feel it is necessary. I shall be
obliged if you can e-mail me the procedures to follow. I am sorry if the
text I shall be sending does not concerning the above addresses. I shall be
grateful if you can pass it to the responsible and advise me if it can be put in
your web page and where. Thank you in advance.
In the course of my preparations to create a family tree of my great grand
father "Elias Mansour Abou Nehme Sawaya" my curiosity pushed me to
look for the origins of my family and of its name.
The following are the results of my researches and my findings:
Part One : Sawaya name:
During the eight Crusade wars {1096 - 1270) to win back, at the urge request of
the Pope residing in Rome, the Holy Land from the Muhamadeens, the Christian
armies coming from Europe, mostly from two catholic countries France and Italy,
were obliged to camp on the plains surrounding Jerusalem to supervise the blocus
of the city or to wait for reinforcements.
Among the Italian military contingents were soldiers coming from a province
located on the North-West part of Italy near the French borders, known as the
"Savoie". This province was created around the year 800 by the rulers
of Sardinia. It was annexed, at the beginning of the XI century to the
"House of Savoie" states as a county and elevated to a dukedom in
1416. This "Savoie Duchy" was integrated in to the French territory in
1860 and became "Le Departement de Savoie" and its population was
known as the "Savoyards".
The "House of Savoie" was a powerful Christian family which ruled
Italy for many years until 1946.
As the crusade wars lasted for more than 100 years a certain relationship took
place between the soldiers and the nomads living on these fertile plains. These
relationships ended by several marriages.
Due to the difficulty to pronounce the grooms' family names, these were altered
to suite the local language and for easier pronunciation The families that
originated from the Savoie or bore this family name became
the "Savoia" which means coming from..... Through the years and
from generation to generation this name was altered to read "Savoya"
and finally became "Sawaya".
Part Two : Shweir name:
In 1244 the Muhammadeens reconquered Jerusalem and declared war against the
Christians. The latter fled toward the mountains and took refuge in the valleys
where the climate was warmer in winter and the lands rich in water springs and
more fertile. The Sawayas took refuge in a valley with several water
springs. They
joined their efforts to improve their way of living. They built their
houses around a powerful water spring which constituted, later on, the center of
the market place of their new village they baptized "Shuweir".
This name is the diminutive of "Shuwar" cliff in English. Effectively
the village is constructed on the base of a small cliff called "Ain el
Kassis" on top of which American missionaries built a well known school.
Part Three : Inhabitants:
Through the years the Sawaya family grew in number and first names became common
among the families. To correctly locate a concerned person the people took the
habit of adding a middle name related to an ancestor of that person. That is
why, the Sawaya family consists , at present, of 8 branches ; "Touma"
Sawaya or "Abou Nehme" Sawaya or "Abou Rizk" Sawaya or
"Abou Boutros" Sawaya or "Abou Zeid" Sawaya ( Abou in arabic
means, the father of...) or "Wakim" Sawaya or "Khoury"
Sawaya or "Assad Chahine" Sawaya.
The same thing applies to the other families that joined the Sawayas in Shweir
in later years and now constitute its population. The following names are in
alphabetical order excluding their branches: Abdel Ahad, Abou Kheir, Baaklini,
Corban, Halabi, Hawi, Kiame, Merhej, Moujaes, Nasr, Rahbani, Sabbagh and Zgheib.
Kindly e-mail your suggestions, which will be much appreciated, to myself and to
"A. G. Kenicer" in code <anwar2 at shweir dot com>
.
Thank you for your cooperation.
Alfred Michel Abou Nehme Sawaya
********************************
Dear Anwar,
>From the time I sent to "Shweir" web page my summary about the origins of the
Sawayas and you replied to me as Anwar Kenicer, I wanted to write to you asking
for some information about your parents. As I recall, my father always said that
the Sawayas and the Khoneissers are cousins and that they used to meet and come
out with one decision for both families.
For your information my grand father Semaan Sawaya owned a tobacco factory in
Shweir and Zahle. My father Michel was the production manager at the Regie des
Tabacs. Our property in Dhour is known as Villa Sawaya on your way to Hotel
Kassouf. I have been a banker for around 40 years. I retired in year 2000 as
assistant general manager from Intercontinental
Bank of Lebanon which was, prior to the civil events, a branch of Continental
Illinois National Bank of Chicago.
The purpose of this lengthy introduction is an e mail sent from above subject to
your address and which I also received on June 23 without any reference to my e
mail address.
For your information, I am receiving, since last year, and from Africa, many
such e mails concerning transfer of funds. With the help and advice of my
connections at the Central Bank I was able to know that they receive regularly
from international institutions, lists of persons involved in such transactions
and who ended by being pursued by the government of their countries of residency
for participating and encouraging the illegal transfer of smuggled funds. Their
advice to me was to stay away from such deals in spite of the enormous
remuneration which is so high to encourage the person to be involved.
I felt it my duty to inform you about that and apologize for disturbing you in
case you already know about such deals.
Best regards.
Alfred
Hello Alfred,
My parents: George & Antoinette Shaya Khnaisser (Many spellings) more info
about Khnaisser and Sawaya's on the "Family Tree" web page.
I get dozens of letters each month from Nigerian crooked people claiming
their need to transfer $8 - $152 Millions to overseas accounts. What they
try to do is get a person's account number and steal what ever money that
unsuspecting person has in it.
I know of a person who spent over $800,000 in his attempt to get his hands
on the promised $45 million. So far he did not get anything. I am aware of
others who were killed when they went to Nigeria and suspected something was
wrong....
Do not be tempted... The State Dept. has a web site to combat that... I do
not have the link handy now, but will look for it if you need to. I
would like to suggest for you to post the valuable information you listed
here on the Guest Book. Please write as detailed info since there is
another Alfred "Bou-Raad" Sawaya on the Guest Book. You can find him by
entering Sawaya name at the bottom of the GB page and click Search. This
way, many more people would recognize who you are and communicate with you.
Also, join us on the Bulletin Board. the Shweir.com family can benefit from
someone with your knowledge and background.
Best to you and your family.
Anwar
Excerpt from the Shweir BB:
Author | Topic: For those Sawayas' your king is coming back |
james Member |
posted
02-11-2002 08:05 PM
Rome, Feb. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Italy's exiled royal family hopes to return to the country from neighboring Switzerland as early as June, Prince Emanuele Filiberto di Savoia, the grandson of the last king of Italy, told newspaper La Stampa in an interview. Italy's Senate, or upper house of parliament, yesterday voted to lift a 54-year-old ban preventing the male heirs of the family from returning to Italian soil. Two votes are necessary in each chamber to amend the constitution and avoid a referendum. We hope to return ``if not by the summer then at least before the end of 2002,'' the paper quoted Emanuele Filiberto as saying. Vittorio Emanuele di Savoia, Emanuele Filiberto's father, said the family plans to enter the country at Naples, the city from which it went into exile in 1946, and hopes to meet the Pope. Senators voted yesterday by 235 to 19 in favor of ending
the ban, with 15 abstentions. Italians opted to abolish the
monarchy in a 1946 referendum and the ban on entering the |
Klee Member |
posted
02-12-2002 04:57 AM
Good luck Sawayas, your kingdom awaits Princess Hilda, where would you like to visit in Italy after Naples? Maybe a Carnevale, Italian style. IP: Logged |
Ghassan
Zghaib Member |
posted
02-12-2002 11:17 AM
... and since I'm a half Sawaya, from now on you have to address as 1/2 hiness Ghassan Zghaib Sawaya. Now, where's my heritage? IP: Logged |
B.
Hatem Member |
posted
02-12-2002 11:57 AM
James, You think they'd be coming to the Eid al Mughtaribeen? (let it) B. |
Ø
-----Original Message-----
From: Salim Sawaya [mailto:art.dept@dm.net.lb]
<mailto:[mailto:art.dept@dm.net.lb]>
Sent: Sunday, February 03, 2002
7:46 PM
To: Matar, George
Subject: SAYAWA'S ORIGIN
Hi George How are you,
I'm sorry for not staying in touch
with you guys lately even though I'm a faithfull reader on Shweir.com,
especially your jokes, your pictures....
Ø Regarding my old story concerning the Sawaya's ancestry, I found during my search this book untitled "HISTORY OF SYRIA / Including Lebanon and Palestine" by "Philip K. Hitti" The Professor of Semitic Literature on The William and Annie S. Paton Foundation from Princeton University, and here's a clipping from this book backing up my story that the Sawaya's origin is Italian.
Ø
Please send my regards to Elie Abou Kheir and Anwar Kenicer.
By the ways are you planning to visit Dhour this summer??
Best regards
Salim Sawaya
Many thanks George Mkhail Naoome Abou Rizk Sawaya Al Muhtaram for providing us with the following insight on the origin of the Sawaya Family as per excerpts from a book by Najib Afandi Mkhail Savoia titled: Safeenat Al Najat
p 54 |
p 53 |
p 52 |
|
p 57 |
p 56 |
p 55 |
Posted by Salim Bahij Sawaya on March 13, 2001 at 06:36:16:
Hi, my name is Salim Sawaya from Dhour Shweir,I am the art director of Dar assayad publications. I was very pleased when i discovered this site. My fathers name is Bahij Wadih Touma Daoud SAWAYA and he is cousins with “Laila, bint Adib Touma Sawaya” and I think that Mr Jamil Eid from toronto knows my parents. I've been searching for the SAWAYA ancestors for a long time now, and I am trying to verify the accuracy of the story told from father to son in my family. it goes like this:
As foreign princes became more and more numerous and land upon which they can
rule became scarce, they came to the orient to conquer new land. Amongst these
crusaders were five brothers and one sister who came to what was known then as
Syria but unfortunately they were abducted by Arab tribes. While they were
prisoners, an Arab Prince wanted to forcefully wed the girl, but one of her
brothers managed to sneak to the bedroom of the Arab prince and he disguised
himself as his sister and
eventually killed the prince before he could consume his marriage. The brothers
and their sister escaped to Shweir where they hid in the mountains.
Those guys were Italian from the Savoia family, which by time turned into Sawaya for easier pronunciation. twenty years ago when I went to italy for the first time, whenever I said my name as Sawaya the italian people would always correct it and tell me Savoia. And one year ago, I was in Morano, and this guy told me when i said my name: “You are royalty, our king is also a Savoia”. I would like to know if anybody else knows this story, or another one concerning the Sawaya Origins.
Salim, Welcome to your Hometown web site. Webmaster
Posted by Klee on March 13, 2001 at 17:31:53:
In Reply to: Sawaya's Family possible ancestors posted by Salim Bahij Sawaya on March 13, 2001 at 06:36:16:
Hi Salim. This is a very interesting and detailed story and such old stories
often have some truth in them.
I searched the web and found a lot of general information. Summarising it,
apparently the House of Savoy ruled in Northern Italy since the eleventh
century. They trace their lineage to Umberto Biancamano (Umberto of the White
Walls) who became Count of Sabaudia (Savoy) in 1032 and was believed to be
descended from the House of Saxony. Over the centuries, the Duke of Savoy held
numerous titles by hereditary right, including the title of King of Jerusalem
from the 1600's. The ancient chivalric orders of Saints Maurice and Lazarus were
Orders of Chivalry of the Royal House of Savoy, so members of the royal family
could have gone on crusades to the Holy Land. We know that there was a crusader
presence in Lebanon. The Italian rulers also had battles to keep the Muslims out
of southern Spain and battles against the Turks. There was a disasterous Battle
of Malta. The title of King of Italy dates from 1861.
Have you seen the family tree page where there is an item saying "there
were five brothers who came to central Lebanon: two of them, Khnaisser and
Sawaya settled in Shweir, the other two brothers were Shemali and Sfair settled
in Kisserwane, the other brother died in transit, possibly from Germany (whether
they were vacationing in Germany or that is where they came from, we do not know
yet)". The link with Saxony mentioned earlier would be consistent with
this. Often there are meticulous details recorded on royal births so you might
be able to find a link eventually.
You might be interested in further details on the Savoia, the Royal House of
Italy, at
http://www.knightly orders.org/savoia.html
http://www.heraldica.org/topics/national/italy1.htm
http://www.chivalricorders/org/royalty/gotha/savoyhis.htm
Dr. Klee, what a wonderful and thoughtful response.
Great cyber research. Your depth of knowledge is impressive. Thank
you. The team at Shweir.com.
Posted by Hilda on March 14, 2001 at 05:12:03:
In Reply to: Sawaya's Family possible ancestors posted by Salim Bahij Sawaya on March 13, 2001 at 06:36:16:
This is an amazing story...
It is hard to corroborate, but there must be some truth to it...especially when the history and circumstances surrounding the whole thing are taken into account...I guess we will all be related in some way a year or two down the line....
Hilda
Posted by Elie BouKheir on March 14, 2001 at 16:31:59:
In Reply to: Sawaya's Family possible ancestors posted by Salim Bahij Sawaya on March 13, 2001 at 06:36:16:
Hello Hilda, Dr Klee and Salim,
We have so much to be proud of, a rich past and an exciting future with the Shweir.com. The book about Jesus Christ Shroud owned by the Savoya family, the Kings of Turin in Itally. What you are saying Salim is true, the Sawaya's family Ancestors are the royal family of Turin, Itally. I think the book's title is"The Shroud of Jesus Christ", and it is available in the industry.
Elie BouKheir (Treasurer)
More Family Trees are on the way...
Tabsharani - Tebcharani - Jafet - Yafit Families
Yes, Yes. I am very happy to read Arthur's Entry and thank you George
for your comments and forwards to Fouad & Nabil. It looks like
"Dhour El Choueir" is alive and well in Brazil... just look at
Arthur's email address! A thousand welcome to Arthur and the first member
of the Jafet family who is related to Tesharani family and by further extention
to the Khenaisser
family.\ I have added two more names to this response... Sami Techerani in
Brazil and Mansour Iskandar Harik in New York. I will post Arthur's message onto
the Techerani section of the Family Tree web page and it will appear with the
next update.
This will help to do a great and more extensive family tree.
Happy Holidays,
Anwar
----- Original Message -----
From: "Matar, George" <gematar@sbec.com>
Sent: Monday, December 17, 2001 7:43 AM
Subject: RE: New Entry in Shweir Guestbook
Hello Arthur
I read your entry into the guestbook with such delight. To hear from the
Jafet family is an honor to this site we are always so excited to hear from our
people in Brazil. Shweir is so appreciative to all the Jafet
contributions, but mostly for keeping contact with their origins in
Shweir. Nami Jafet's Statue still is the center piece of our village's
SAHA. Right in front of the Baladieh, and you can see it in several
of the towns pictures.
I will copying our Webmaster Anwar on this email, Family trees is his favorite
project on the web page he's going to be so delighted to get this.
Arthur welcome to your hometown web page we are so glad to have you join our
growing Shweir.com Family
George Matar
-----Original Message-----
From: d_elchoueir@uol.com.br [mailto:d_elchoueir@uol.com.br]
Sent: Friday, December 14, 2001 8:37 PM
To: gematar@sbinfra.com
Subject: New Entry in Shweir Guestbook
You have a new entry in your guestbook:
------------------------------------------------------
Name: Arthur Jafet
Email: <d_elchoueir@uol.com.br>
Location: São Paulo, SP Brazil
Time: Friday, December 14, 2001 at 20:36:32
Comments: It is of great honour to contribute to and
paticipate in this
website, related to every aspect of Shweir and its people, in order to
promote cooperation, friendship and consciousness towards our cultural
heritage and origins; between the Lebanese, and shwerites in particular.
My parents are called Benjamin Jafet Neto and Sonia Abdalla Jafet. My paternal family descends from the Tibshranys down towards the Jafet family. Chedid Yafith Tibshrany(1836-1882)-respected educator at the local Orthodox convent school, Mar Elias- was married to Utrosh Farah (1844-1923), also a Tibshrany, from Baskinta. There children were Nami (1860-1923), Benjamin (1864-1940), Bassil (Basilio)(1866-1947), Mikhail (Miguel)(1869-1908), Hala (1872-1937) and Hanna (João)(1875-1959).
Benjamin Jafet was the first of the Jafets to emigrate to Brazil. He married Alzira Assad, son of Assad Makhul Tibshrany and Sada Haddad. Benjamin and Alzira had ten children, in São Paulo: Genoveva, Monira, Elias (my grandfather), Alberto, Eduardo, Alexios, Leonor, Amelia, Emilio and Waldomiro. Elias Jafet married Yvonne Khoury, from Beirut, and had four children: Jacqueline, Benjamin, Marcello and Elias Jr. Benjamin Jafet Neto(grandson of Benjamin Jafet who emigrated to Brazil) is my father. He married my mother Sonia Abdalla and had two children: Fabio and Arthur. In 1985, Mark Gene Farah, from Portland, Oregon, wrote about the history and family trees of certain branches of the Tibshranys.
Whoever is interested in more information, my emails are: arthurjafet@uol.com.br d_elchoueir@uol.com.br
*************************************************
My name is Mansour Iskandar Harik and I would like to commend the efforts of the gentlemen who are working on the Tebcherany family tree. I would like to draw their attention to few things about the Brazil branch which probably they already know. My grandmother was a Tebcherany. Her name was Malake Yazbek Tebcherany .Her father was Hanna Yazbek Tebcherany and she had four brothers and one sister who emigrated to Brazil circa 1905 and were known there as the Yazbek family , similar to the Yafits who are Tebcheranys yet went under the Yafit (Jafet) name. The four brothers were Abs, Mansour, Siman, and Najib. The sister was Shams and got married to the Kfoury family. Abs Yazbek was a highly educated man who was the inspector of the Russian Orthodox Missionary schools in Mount Lebanon (Miscobiyyeh schools) prior to emigrating to Brazil.
In the 1920s and 30s he taught Russian and Arabic in Sao Paulo and worked
in commerce with his brothers. He married a niece of the late Nehme Yafit and
had eight children. His siblings had their families as well. Among the surviving
children and nephews of Abs are Oswaldo YazbeK who served on the board of club Monte Libano in Sao Paulo and Dr. Amilcar Yazbek who still has a
clinic and a house in Rue Bon Pastor in Ippiranga in Sao Paulo (excuse my
spelling). I
visited them in 1974 and 1990 and learned that Rue Bon Pastor was totally
inhabited by Shweiriyyeh seventy years ago. I also visited my aunts Labibe and Najla Harik and their families. My aunt Labibe God rest her
soul was married to the late Tannous Daher Tebcherane who is originally from the
Kfar Akab branch of the Tebcheranys.
My grandmother was the only member of the Yazbeks that stayed in Shweir and did not emigrate due obviously to the fact that she was married to my grandfather Mansour Harik, had a family, and for some reason did not want to leave. I hope I did not bore you with these details, and that you will be able to incorporate it in your family tree project.
Regards Mansour Harik New York
Hello
Mansour,
Thank you for this very valuable family history. This is very important
and with your permission, I would like to post it on the "Family Tree"
web page of Shweir.com. Also, I am sending a copy of this to my second
cousin, Dr. Fouad Tabsharani, who is in the process of updating the Tabsharani
family tree.
We invite you to sign our Shweir Guest Book... you will find many people you may
recognize like Sami Tabsharani who is Fouad's cousin and lives in Brazil. Best
regards,
Anwar Kenicer
Hello Mansour,
I'd like to thank you very much for your attention in answering our
questions about the family , especially about Jibb. We know that it was
usual the union between members of the same family, for example, between
cousins.
>From the Jafet (Yafit) family I have the following information:
1 - CHEDID was NAMI's son, who was JAFET TABSHARANI's son (XVIII century)
2 - UTRUCH was FARAJ TABSHARANI's daughter.
3 - Chedid was married to Utruch and had six children: Nami, Benjamim, Miguel
(Michel), Basílio, João (Hanna), e Hala. All the children emigrated to Brazil
4 - Nami (1860-1923) was married to Afife, who was DIB and MALAKA NACIF
TABSHARANI 's daughter. They had thirteen children: Chedid, Nagib, Ricardo,
Frederico, Carlos, Gladstone, Roberto, Emma, Nabiha, Wadih, Malaka, Matilde and
Hortência. Nami's complete name, which appears in his diploma from
Lebanon University is NAMI CHEDID JAFET TABSHARANI. He was the leader of the
Lebanese community here in São Paulo.
5 - My father Gabriel (Gibran) Dib Tebechrani worked for more than forty
years in a textile factory , owned by Raphael and Gabriel brothers, who are
Miguel (Michel) 's son, so they are Nami's nephews. Raphael was married to
Matilde (his cousin, Nami's daughter). Until my father's death , in 1980,
I had some close relation with these two brothers ( while I was studying
at the University, I also worked for them).
6 - My father told me that he came to brazil and that he was close to an aunt,
whose children Antônio, Afif and Malvina I met and I sometimes stayed at their
home. All of them had Jafet as a family name.
I'm telling you all of this just to say that although I know that Jafet and
Tabsharani belong to the same branch , I don't know for sure which is the
closest branch between my grandfather Dib Tabsharani and Jafet. And I'm
greatly interested now that you tell me that the Yasbeck belong to the same
branch; I also heard here in São Paulo that Lutfalla and Assad families
are also related.
I also have some information that says the origin of the Tabsharani family
is related to a region in Lebanon. Our ancestors would be the owners of some
foundries. I have much more information, but it's not clear.
Let's do some research about it.
Thank you very much.
Best regards,
Sami
The Tebechrani -Tabsharani Family are building theirs... Dr. Fouad Tabsharani in San Francisco and his cousin Sami Tebechrani in Sao Paolo, Brazil are putting the finishing touches on their family tree before featuring here on the web.
Today, February 2, 2001, Webmaster met with Dr. Fouad Tabsharani and enjoyed a pleasant lunch near Fouad's office in San Francisco. Fouad gave me a floppy disc which contains a digital picture of the Tabsharani Family Tree.
And H E R E I T IS . . . . . .
Click on the chart on the right to enlarge > > > > >
The following is a copy from the Shweir Guest Book:
-----Original Message-----
From: Magdi Tebechrani [mailto:tebemag@videotron.ca]
Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2002
12:22 AM
Subject: re Tebechrani Family
<< File: Carte pour
Magdi Tebechrani >>
Mr Matar its
by luck that i discovered that the name Tebechrani is a big family, as i
grew in Cairo egypt we were the only Tebechrani in Cairo, except that in the
late sixties , my father discovered another Tebechrani in Alexandria.
I am 51 years old a Pharmacist
married to a french canadian with 2 daughters Dalia and Maggi.
I have a brother Mounir who
live also In Montreal with his wife with 1 daughter Aline and a son MIchel My
father he is 91 years old the only survivor of his family of 6 children, my
mother Marie Dekki she is also alive in Montreal, they left Egypt in the 80's .
what i know that my Grandfather
came to Egypt from Lebanon as young boy with his sister, she get married and
stayed in Alexandria, and my grandfather married an egyptian girl ( MAthilde
Fahmi) and he gets 6 children 4 of them died in the typhoid in the early 40's i
think that hit Egypt, they were 3 Girls and 1 Boy Alphonse who died before he
see his son ( Georges Tebechrani ) who lives in Montreal also.
I hope just to know from what
village in Lebanon my grandfather left.
Strangely i met a lebanese poet.,
when he saw in my drugstore told me that his uncle Nicolas Tebechrani who live
in Beskanta or something like that , that i have the same face ,,hmmmm strange
in fact.
if you would like to see some
photos of my family i'll give you a site to see some. Thanks
in advance. Magdi
the site is
http://communities.msn.ca/TebechraniFamily
----- Original Message -----
From: "Matar, George" <gematar@sbec.com>
To: <tebemag@videotron.ca>;
"'Tebsherani Fouad'" <FOUADT@AOL.COM>;
<bzamboni@hotmail.com>;
"'Manny318@aol.com'" <Manny318@AOL.COM>
Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2002 5:49 AM
Subject: RE: re Tebechrani Family
Good Morning
Magdi,
You might be in luck, Baskinta is across the valley from Shweir located on the
base of Mount Sanin. There is a family tree about the Tebechrani on our web
page, as well as several Tebechrani are in our guest book. I am sorry to
say that our guest book is not that user friendly to locate names by family,
we are working on improving that.
I am Copying Dr Fouad T in
California, Also Sammy in Brazil and Mansour Iskandar
Harik who also contributed to the Tebechrani family tree.
I recommend you to revisit www.shweir.com
<http://www.shweir.com> and specifically
the "Family Tree" sub directory, There is lots of information on
your Family, maybe there is a link somewhere. Good
Luck
George Matar
Name: Sami Tebechrani
Email:bzamboni@hotmail.com
Location: São Paulo, SP Brazil
Date: Sunday, November 19, 2000 at 05:59:12
Comments:
Hello! It’s amazing! I feel at home at. My name is Sami Tebechrani, I’m married to Beatriz Zamboni and we have two children, Alexandre Zamboni Tebechrani and Frederico Zamboni Tebechrani. I live in São Paulo, Brasil. My father Gabriel (Geebran) Dib (Deeb) Tebechrani (1899-1979) was born in Shweir, son of Deeb Tabsharani and Maddoul Saddallah Samaha. He came to Brazil in 1928. My cousin Fouad and I are preparing our family tree to send you. It was a great pleasure to see in my cousins’ messages and pictures: Fouad, Joseph and George (from California); my nephew Gabriel’s message (from Batatais, São Paulo state), and also Rosalie Sawaya and George El Khouri (from São Paulo); my friends George and Georgette Rouston (from El Shweir) who we had been with last August, when my wife and I were in Lebanon. They were very kind and took us to beautiful and interesting places there. Yes, we went to El Shweir to make my dream come true: to meet my uncle Wadih, my aunt Salimeh, my cousins and to get in touch with my origins. Those were marvelous days. Their hospitality was unbelievable. I send my best regards to all my daddy’s countrymen and their descendants.
Webmaster's Note: What a
wonderful message. Hello cousin Sami and family: Welcome home, to your
Shweir. Although we never met, I can see exactly how we are related
by looking at the Saadallah Semaha Family Tree below. My Grandmother
Amalia is #32 and your Grandmother Mother Maddool is #33. They were
Sisters. It is messages like yours that make it worthwhile for our
team at Shweir.com. Our reward is when we read about your Making
connections with long lost relatives.... Visiting your homeland.... Making
a difference in your community and the community of your forefathers. Stay
in touch. We look forward to meeting some day.
Your cousin, Anwar George Shaya Kenicer
Excerpt from Shweir Guest Book postings by Dr. Fouad Tabsharani:
Name: FOUAD W. TABSHARANIJust to add a comment of my childhood memories for you Anwar, our webmaster, and your family. When my Dad Wadih Tebechrani went to work with his uncle Sabeh Saadallah, who was an architect and immigrated to Jerusalem in 1936 two years later he sent for his cousin George Shaya, your Dad to come and work with him. My Dad quit working with his uncle Sabeh and went on his own earning his own wages by driving a truck. When your Dad, uncle George, came from Lebanon he stayed with my Dad and worked with him. My Dad got married in JerusalemCONTINUE.....and uncle George stayed with us. I was born in 1937 and years later I vividly remember your Dad carrying me every where we went up to the age of six years old. Even when we met years later in Lebanon, your Dad even reminded me about how he took care of me, and hinted few stories about how mischievous I was. I think these were the old good days...God bless his soul.
Webmaster's comment
Hello Fouad,
What a pleasant surprise to read some touching memories about our forefathers. These are some things I never knew about my father till now. Thank you very much for sharing these precious bits of our families' history with us.
Your cousin
Anwar
The Baaklinis are working on their family Tree. the following is a copy from a posting on the Shweir Bulletin Board:
Posted by Bishop Sam Jacobs on November 28, 2000 at 17:45:51:
I have been working on the Baaklini Family Tree for over 37 years. My parents were from Bzebdine el Metin. But my father mentioned that there two other Baaklini brothers, one of whom settled in Shweir. I am interested in making a contact with any members of the Baaklini family living in Shweir presently. Please respond. Thanks.
Posted by George Matar on November 29, 2000 at 07:59:32:
In Reply to: Baaklini Family Tree posted by Bishop Sam Jacobs on November 28, 2000 at 17:45:51:
Hello Bishop Jacobs
I emailed all the Baaklini that I have email addresses to, and I am sure they
will be able to help you. Keep us informed and it would be an honor to post your
Family tree on our web page.
Good luck and thank you for visiting our site.
Stay in touch.
Families that are branches of the Moujaes Family Tree
Family Relations
There has always been a controversy, which of the two families are bigger, Moujaes or Sawaya. I don’t know if anybody really kept a count. But regardless both, as all the families in Shweir, are good, I mean great families to belong to.
Families that are branches of the Moujaes Family Tree:
Abboud
Al Khoury (Khoury)
Aoun
Bou Nakhleh
Bou Zaid
Chalhoub
Farris
Ghosn
Houbaika
Jebrail
Mer’ai
Nacol (Nakool)
Nohra (Nuhra)
Naoom
Rustom
Saadeh
Shehadeh
Yacoub
In Brazil, Pierre Moujaes told me that Moujaes family has many sub families including:
Khoury, Ghosn, Aoun, Hobeika, Saadeh, Kablan and Makdissy
Families that are branches of the Rahbani Family Tree
Bou Najm
Emad
Katoul
Kenaan
Matar
Mishrek
Zaidan
The Author will accept and appreciate any comments or
correction.
If you believe I forgot a branch please forgive me, It has been such a
long time since I did a consensus on the village.
The above information was provided by Nora Matar Moujaes
An excerpt from an email sent by George Matar:
" .... but Just for the record
we are known as Bou Najm in Dhour....Nobody knew my dad as Elias Matar...He was
known as Elias Bou Najm......we are also known as Bou Najm Rahbani, and Matar
Rahbani not to mention Matar Bou Najm and any
combination of the above. Are we confused yet? I am having a hard time
explaining to my wife what's all that mean. So I explain that the Rahbani is the
Big Umbrella encompassing lots of families and she says Huh?? I guess
Sawaya and Moujaes fit in the same way.
Can you imaging us three discussing this
around a sobia and munching on Kastana, it will be 3 AM in no time flat. I can
almost smell the mazoot coming out of my monitor. How's that for a visual?
An excerpt from an email sent by Hilda Sawaya:
"......the sequence of the names is important
in delineating family 's ancestry. I already explained my name to
Anwar. My name, if it were not for abbreviations, would be Hilda Anis
(dad) Tannous (granddad) Touma (great graddad)
Sawaya, in that name is inherent the fact that Sawaya is the father of Touma and
I don't know who else....Touma had ?13 children and Tannous had seven...
Hence the sequencing of the names is the indicative part... I assume that the
sequencing of the names took the place of saying IBin or bin so and
so...
I hope this makes sense, that is how it was explained to me long ago, I wish
that there is a way to validate it... let me know the right sequence of your
name....if you want ... We can post something to that effect on the web and
we'll see what responses we get..."
Web master's note:
Thank you George Matar. That is the most entertaining explanation about family relations... wait a second... do you smell something... I smell smoke... Hey George, quick, check your monitor, it could be on fire by now... should we call the fire department?
And Hilda, thank you for your insights about delineating family ancestry. Your explanation is going to make it easier for a lot of people to better explain their heritage.
Now as far as the Khnaisser family... they got a double
whammy, aside from having a more than half a dozen sub family names, like
Shaya, Eid, Nassr, Abi Nader, etc., under the Khnaisser "Umbrella",
Khanaisser is spelled in more than a
dozen different ways. The Khnaisser family considers those from the Matar,
Sawaya and Moujaes family names, to be more fortunate with respect to
spelling. At least it is easy to spell your name and the spelling is
consistent. With all the Khnaissers spellings, it would make the
"family umbrella" look like a "family rainbow" of different
Khanisser - Kenicer - Khonaysser - Kheneisser - Can I Sir names... which
compounds the confusion... Are we having fun yet?
Now that the family name issue is coming to the surface, we should do something
about that to clear up much of the confusion and save us some time explaining
how we are related with so many spellings and sub family names.
Any suggestions?
Khnaisser
and Sawaya were brothers... On July 30, 2000, a few Shweirieh got together in San Jose, California. (see "Announcements" page and photos). So what happens when the Moujaes-Matar-Mapar, Kenicer and Sawayas get together. Well, some fun, excitement and surprises happen. Laila, bint Adib Touma Sawaya started the excitement by claiming that the Sawaya family was the largest... oops... time out, we needed a referee... just kidding... so... we called Jamil Eid Khoneisser in Edmonton, Canada. Lo and behold, Jamil told us that many moons ago, Khnaisser and Sawaya were brothers. He said that there were five brothers who came to central Lebanon: two of them, Khnaisser and Sawaya settled in Shweir, the other two brothers were Shemali and Sfair settled in Kisserwane, the other brother died in transit, possibly from Germany or Italy. (whether they were vacationing in Europe or that is where they came from, we do not know yet). Jamil said that he got that information about 40 years ago from Rashid Sawaya who was like a self appointed historian and charted some old family trees. Rashid lived in Intelias then. If you are going from Dhour to Intelias, his house would be on right side near the big Koooe. So, which family is the biggest? It did not matter... the important thing is that we learned a lot more about our families. It was fun and the surprise discoveries were a great bonus. Thank you Victoria Ghada Moujaes & Kamal Mapar for hosting such a great luncheon in your beautiful home and giving the opportunity to explore and learn about our heritage. If anyone knows Rashid Sawaya of Intelias or the next generation of his family, please let them contact us or give us the information and we will contact them. We very much would like to get more info and or copies of the old family trees that he put together or any information they may have in this regard. |
Descendants of Saadallah Samaha, Shaya Khnaisser & Tabsharani families reunite in California
On June 10, 2001, a memorial service was held for Aunt Nejla Saadallah Samaha Likas , she was the last of her generation. It was also an opportunity for the new generation to get re-acquainted and discover how some of us are related. Some of us knew that the Khnaisser's and Tabsharani's were related but did not exactly how, until we looked at the family tree below and low and behold, our grandmothers Amalia (32) and Maddool (33) and were sisters.
OK, here are names to go with the faces. L -- R,
On floor: Anwar Kenicer, Carola Khenaisser,
seated: Emily Pahl (bint Rose Shaya Khnaisser Metaxas 84),
Antoinette Khnaisser, Harriette Varni (bint Hazel Shaya Khnaisser Daher 86), Esther
Klipple (bint Mildered Shaya Khnaisser Eassa 87), Robert Klipple, Elias Khenaisser, Vera
Striech (bint Hazel Daher),
Standing: Margo Tabsharani, Cori Kenicer, Lisa Shaya Walsh, Suzie Pearsal
(bint ibn Rose Metaxas), Tim Balvin, Liz Fendel (bint bint Rose Metaxas), Dr. Fouad Tabsharani and George Tabsharani, sons of Wadeeh Deeb
Tabsharani. To see how they are related, click on the Saadallah Samaha
Family Tree below. The numbers above reflect corresponding numbers on the
Family Tree.
Here is another picture, this time with Kathy Tabsharani who took the above picture, and in case you blinked or were not smiling in the first one...
Imagine the coincidences, Dr. Fouad Tabsharani worked for many years as chief of the Radiology Dept. for the VA hospital in San Francisco which is 200 meters from his second cousin Esther Klipple's home and did not make full connection until this gathering. And until this gathering, most of the descendants of Amalia (32) and Maddool (33) had chance to meet and comprehend fully how they are related.
The story of Grandma Mary Saadallah Samaha, a true pioneer
July 2000 By Anwar George Kenicer
Since we only have one sample of a family tree, I will tell you a story about my great grandmother...Grandma Mary Saadallah Samaha:
Hello, my name is Anwar ibn George and Antoinette Shaya (Khenaisser) K enicer. I have been away from Shweir for about 30 years. In order for you to better relate to the story, I will give you a little bit of background. My grandfather Nicola Shaya Kenicer Amelia Samaha Kenicer (Khnaisser... there are half a dozen different spelling of ...Khenaysser) had eight children, three sons (Dawoode, George and Najib) and five daughters (Lisa "Louise", Zalfa, Zahia "Hazel", Rose, and Malakeh "Mildred"). Click on the Saadallah family tree above for better prespective. My grandfather married Amalia bint George and Mary Saadallah Semaha. The story begins with Mary, my grandmother's mother.
The
reason most of the Nicola Shaya Kenicer family (or all the women in that family)
emigrated to America can be
attributed to the boldness and adventuresome spirit of Grandma Mary Saadallah
Semaha. She was an
early pioneer and possibly a feminist even before people knew what that word
meant? In the late 1800's,
"Grandma Mary" made that bold and fateful decision to come to America.
(Fast
forward) On
Thanksgiving Day in 1989, some family members were gathered at aunt Emily Pahl,
(Rose's daughter) in Hillsborough, California when aunt Emily asked aunt Nejla
Saadallah Likas (her father Elias Saadallah and my grandma Amalia are brother
and sister) on how it so happened that Aunt Louise Jones, Rose Metaxas, Hazel
Daher, Mildred Eassa and aunt Nejla came to San Francisco?
Aunt
Nejla told us that her grandparents, George & Mary Saadallah, lived in
Shweir, Lebanon. They had two sons : Elias and Saadallah,
and two daughters: Amalia "Emily" and Maddool.
Apparently,
Mary was an independent and free spirited lady who got tired of putting up with
her autocratic, "old fashioned" and macho husband.
After one incident too many, she left husband & family and after a
long journey ended up in Detroit, Michigan, USA.
After a
few years, Grandma Mary either sent for her son Elias or he came to Detroit to
bring his mother back home to Shweir. While
in Detroit, he met Badra Shweiry Kasoofe, fell in love and got married.
After a few years, Elias and Badra Saadallah went back to Shweir for 5-6
years. During that period, in 1898,
They had a baby daughter and called her Nejla.
In
the 1880's, Elias' sister Emily got married to Nicola Georges Shaya Khnaisser
(Kenicer etc.) who in turn had a large family as follows: David, Louise (Lisa), Rose, Hazel (Zahia), Najib, Zalfa,
Mildred (Malakeh which means queen), Najib and George. Their father's casual name was
"Abu Dawood" meaning the father of his eldest son David. Abu Dawood
built a dam across a creek to provide summer irrigation for the large tract of
land he owned. Since then, the creek was renamed "Nahr Abu Dawood"
meaning the River of the Father of David. The
Dam is still standing and in operation today.
Some
time in the 1880's, Mary Saadallah moved from Detroit to San Francisco. In 1902,
Aunt Nejla, her parents, Elias & Badra Saadallah, Elias' brother Saadallah
and Lisa (aunt Louise) came to Grandma Mary in San Francisco. Aunt Louise was 17 years old at the time but they claimed
that she was only 12 years old so that she would only have to pay half the cost
of the ticket.
In 1904,
Aunt Rose came from Shweir. She was
14 years old. She stayed with aunt
Louise for a while, then moved with aunt Nejla and her parents.
Jerry
Metaxas, a young & handsome Greek fellow knew aunt Louise. When he met aunt Rose, he fell in Love and planned to get
married on April 18th, 1906. Early
that morning, the big Earthquake of San Francisco hit.
Aunt Nejla recalls her mother picking her up from her little bed moments
before the brick fireplace chimney collapsed on her bed.
They were stuck inside the collapsed house until rescuers broke the stuck
front door and pulled them out. Aunt
Nejla, her parents, Aunt Louise and Rose left S.F. by horse and buggy and stayed
temporarily at a dairy farm some where near Palo Alto.
Uncle Jerry was in Vallejo at the time. He came to S.F. 8 days after the
quake, found Aunt Rose, got license, got married and went to live in Vallejo.
Aunt Hazel came in 1912 or 1913. Aunt Mildred came in 1921 when Aunt Nejla was on her honeymoon.
I am grateful to my aunts and cousins who helped me come to America in 1967 and welcomed me to their homes. I in turn helped bring my family and some school mates.
All of my aunts have now passed away except for aunt Nejla. She is now 102 years old and lives in a rest home near San Francisco.
...
To be continued... any updates or corrections would be appreciated.
We hope that this story will inspire you to write about your family's history and show how everyone is related. Seek out your families elders and write down incidents, stories, family members and people as far back as they could remember. You will end up with a priceless treasure to be passed on from generation to another.
Thank you Aunt Em for asking that crucial question in 1989. It inspired me to begin writing our family's history.
Here is a picture of L > R: Rose Metaxas, Louise Jones, Hazel Daher and Mildred Eassa
Below are pictures of aunt Em, aunt Rose & Jerry Metaxas' Daughter
Saadallah Samaha Family Tree
Click on box on chart on right to enlarge > > > >
Please note that this is a rough draft of our first attempt for a suitable Family Tree format for web publishing. It is incomplete and may contain errors and plenty of misspelling. Take for example the Khnaisser family. It is spelled five different ways and counting within the immediate family and siblings: (Khnaisser, Khenaisser, Khonaysser, Khonaisser and Kenicer). This is due to the phoenetic translation from Arabic to English by the clerk on duty at the passport office.
We will be happy to periodically update (add, remove and correct) the family tree. At least for the time being, it gives us a starting point.
Many thanks to Georges iben Nasseeb and Salwa Saadallah Samaha for sending us updates on the family tree and history that took back the family tree another three generations to 1600s.
3nd version: Please be patient... this is a large file and it takes a bit longer to download it. Since there are same names repeated in the same family, we activated the auto numbering of the software so that it would be easy to refer to a person on the tree. Since we do not have complete information on some segments of families, members of the same family may not be listed in the order that they were born.
The information we have so far on Samaha Ben
Solaiman (#1) is as follows:
He came from Izraa, Horan, Syria in 1635... went to Salfiyeh, Damascus in
1644... to Kobyat North, Akar and Douma in 1664... to Maten and Shweir in
1665...
We hope to feature many family history stories and showcase many family trees. Yours perhaps?