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Very neat. My ancestors are not European, they are Lebanese, but I was able to find their last name in the countries they emigrated to long ago in Europe, and t

Very neat. My ancestors are not European, they are Lebanese, but I was able to find their last name in the countries they emigrated to long ago in Europe, and the cities make sense, although there's more than I thought in certain countries! For those interested, depending on where you live, you can access Ancestry.com through the Public Library for free. In Ottawa, that was case, although as of Jan. 1, 2022, you have to go in person. Through there, you can search by name or even place of origin, and you can see the immigration records. May of which even have the photos! I noted some people that went to Brazil and could see the entire person and his family. I'm sure many people don't know that. I was able to see my Grandfather's record to Canada in 1925 New Brunswick, and my Great Uncle's record in 1911 to Omaha, Nebraska. I'm also told my Great Grandfather came to the US in 1901, but I have been unable to track his record, because after having manually reviewed 1000+ records, I can tell you with confidence that spelling errors are rampant. You had names change from say Smith, to Sally, and you can see the scratches as the records were modified. It's hilarious! Also, they even misspell the names in the same record. So searching is very, very hard, and instead you have to put in a broad search, like city (which can also be misspelled), and then manually look through the records. The only thing that I can say that is pretty accurate is the year. So that should be your starting point. Good luck!

james-redwood 5y ago
I’m curious to hear about the migration story? We’re there many Lebanese immigrants in Europe in the 1800s?
- unfocused 5y ago
  Hi, I don't have any numbers, but I wouldn't say there was a lot, because European cities were pretty established, so hard to start a new life there. But I do know that people from my Mom's village were doing trades with Europeans, and my Great Great Grandmother, was called Marianna and my Great Aunt was called Juliette. They also could speak French in the early 1900s, well before WW1 or WW2. Many people think that French was introduced after WW2 during the French Mandate, but Lebanese have been travelling overseas for a long time, and had ties to many countries. I think I read somewhere that even going back to 1600s they had ties to France. On the other hand, there are also ties to Greece from the Orthodox side that date back > 1500 years. But getting back to Europe, I would say mass migration were popular to South America, especially Brazil (from my Dad's village, many people went there, in addition to the US, and North America. I even met a Lebanese friend from Curaçao, and when I was at his house, they didn't speak Lebanese, they spoke Papiamento! Basically, they adapt and learn whatever language is needed. Remember, Lebanon was once a Roman Province (although Latin wasn't spoke everywhere), and before Greek language was prevalent, and before that, Syriac (western aramaic). In the year 600, Arabic started moving in. So having to learn new languages is not new in our history. So far, what I've done is take my Dad's stories, and try to link them to actual records, and so far he's been right! He loves history, and my mom is a walking encyclopedia of family names. They know the villages the names come from. Oh, I even found graves listed in the US from early 1800s with the name Khouri, and it was of a soldier. I suck at US history, so whatever war was back then, there was a Lebanese person there.
Ra8 5y ago
Have you tried looking into the Ellis Island records for your Great Grandfather? https://heritage.statueofliberty.org/ https://heritage.statueofliberty.org/ I was able to find some of my ancestors who came to the US from those records. People usually came by ship and New York City was one of the main points of entries to the US.
- unfocused 5y ago
  Thanks for the tip! I just tried it quickly, but will need to try many more combinations. The last name of my Great Grandfather is Khouri, which means Priest, and is very, very common. However, when we found his record in 1925 in Canada, it was spelled "Elkhoui". Note the missing 'r', and they attached "El" to it. So as you can see, I would never have guessed it, and we found it by manually searching by timeline for anyone from "Lebanon", or "Syria", or even "Turkey", as data entry was usually done by just a person that may have never heard of that language, and just "guessed". Remember, IDs are a modern invention, so back then, it was not standardized.

james-redwood 5y ago

I’m curious to hear about the migration story? We’re there many Lebanese immigrants in Europe in the 1800s?

unfocused 5y ago
Hi, I don't have any numbers, but I wouldn't say there was a lot, because European cities were pretty established, so hard to start a new life there. But I do know that people from my Mom's village were doing trades with Europeans, and my Great Great Grandmother, was called Marianna and my Great Aunt was called Juliette. They also could speak French in the early 1900s, well before WW1 or WW2. Many people think that French was introduced after WW2 during the French Mandate, but Lebanese have been travelling overseas for a long time, and had ties to many countries. I think I read somewhere that even going back to 1600s they had ties to France. On the other hand, there are also ties to Greece from the Orthodox side that date back > 1500 years. But getting back to Europe, I would say mass migration were popular to South America, especially Brazil (from my Dad's village, many people went there, in addition to the US, and North America. I even met a Lebanese friend from Curaçao, and when I was at his house, they didn't speak Lebanese, they spoke Papiamento! Basically, they adapt and learn whatever language is needed. Remember, Lebanon was once a Roman Province (although Latin wasn't spoke everywhere), and before Greek language was prevalent, and before that, Syriac (western aramaic). In the year 600, Arabic started moving in. So having to learn new languages is not new in our history. So far, what I've done is take my Dad's stories, and try to link them to actual records, and so far he's been right! He loves history, and my mom is a walking encyclopedia of family names. They know the villages the names come from. Oh, I even found graves listed in the US from early 1800s with the name Khouri, and it was of a soldier. I suck at US history, so whatever war was back then, there was a Lebanese person there.

Ra8 5y ago

Have you tried looking into the Ellis Island records for your Great Grandfather? https://heritage.statueofliberty.org/ https://heritage.statueofliberty.org/ I was able to find some of my ancestors who came to the US from those records. People usually came by ship and New York City was one of the main points of entries to the US.

unfocused 5y ago
Thanks for the tip! I just tried it quickly, but will need to try many more combinations. The last name of my Great Grandfather is Khouri, which means Priest, and is very, very common. However, when we found his record in 1925 in Canada, it was spelled "Elkhoui". Note the missing 'r', and they attached "El" to it. So as you can see, I would never have guessed it, and we found it by manually searching by timeline for anyone from "Lebanon", or "Syria", or even "Turkey", as data entry was usually done by just a person that may have never heard of that language, and just "guessed". Remember, IDs are a modern invention, so back then, it was not standardized.