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Religious Vocations
At a time when religion was
very strong in the Mountains of Lebanon and migration to
foreign countries was unknown, many Kfarsghabi men chose the
monastic life and joined the nearby Monastery of St Anthony
the Great in the Kadisha Valley. At one stage, this
numbered over sixty monks, most of who were two brothers
from each household. The Monastery records show that
vocations from Kfarsghab started on 27 February 1710, and
ceased on 17 December 1898 when Br Ephraim Saliba Abood II
joined. Brother Ephraim died on 9 April 1947.
The records also show that the monks from Kfarsghab were of
deep faith and worked energetically for the good of the
community. Two of them became Archbishops and several
Superiors of Monasteries.
Migration to Syria
At a time when work was scarce
and migration to America and Australia had not yet begun,
many Kfarsghabi people were forced to leave their village
and seek work elsewhere in Lebanon and Syria.
It is said that a certain
young woman, the sister of Charlitta Saliba, went to the
town of Robly in Syria and married a young man of the
Zaitouni family. The couple had a son whom they named
Ibrahim. Later on, her brother and his family followed
her to Robly where their descendants are still there today.
Another family from Kfarsghab
went to North Syria, but the name of that family and the
place to which they went are unknown. It is important
to note, however, that the story of the Sabbha family
mentioned in the same history books is doubtful. It is
said that the Sabbha family left Kfarsghab and went to
Aleppo, but there is no one in Kfarsghab who is related to
that family. What is certain however is that the
following Kfarsghabi families migrated to Syria: Beit
Zekkr; Teib-Haish; and Krahli.
Migration Within Lebanon
Some two hundred years ago,
the family of Younan Abou Mansour left Kfarsghab and went to
the township of Tourza in the Besharri district, North
Lebanon. The descendants of that family are still
there, and one of them became a famous monk of the
Halabi-Maronite Order. Another Kfarsghabi, Zakaria
Haddad, went to Tourza where his descendants are known by
the name of Zakaria. His granddaughter, Mirian,
married the late Assad Haddad, a well-known Kfarsghabi.
Also, Masoud from the Hanna family (a branch of the Abou
Ibrahim family) went to Tourza. His descendants are
still living in that township. Finally, the well-known
family of Sheik Hanna Elias in Tourza came from Kfarsghab.
The Shamshoum family, a branch
of Beit Khouri Youssef, left Kfarsghab and settled in Ras
Baalbeck in the Bikaa district. They adopted the name
of Bshirrawee, a name which the local people respected, and
which derives from the town of Sharri. Also Youssef
Baleece from Beit Khouri Youssef, married Mahroussi, the
sister of Khouri Ibrahim and Khouri Boutros Lahood.
The couple had three boys and two girls. One of the
boys, Boulos, went to Argentina where he had a large family
and owned a textile factory. The second son became a
monk at St Anthony’s Monastery and took the name of Br
Andraos Baleece. The third son, Youssef, and the two
daughters settled in the township of Kaah near the town of
Hermel in the Bikaa District. Also, a member of the
Lishaa family went to Baalbeck.
Boutros Boulos Nehmeh Hanna,
from the Ibrahim family, left Kfarsghab with his wife and
three children, (Michael, George and Boulos) and settled in
the township of Kfradlaous, near Zxgharta. They became
known as Beit El-Bayeh or the Sghabi family. A
relative of the family, a monk by the name of Father Maroun
Sam, who was the Superior of St Anthony’s Monastery, gave
them some land to culture as shire croppers.
Subsequently, the family migrated to Brazil, the United
States and Australia.
Migration to Palestine, Cyprus
and Egypt
Some Kfarsghabi men and women
used to travel to Palestine, Cyprus and Egypt to work in the
winter months and return with their earnings in spring to
work their land. One of these men, Younis Karam, met
his wife, Malkie El Haj (originally from the town Kaytouli
in the Jazzine district of South Lebanon) in Alexandria,
Egypt. This temporary migration ceased when migration
to Australia and the United States of America started.
Migration Groups |
