Group One:  1880 – 1890 

Michael Khoury Youssef and his brother Gerges; Maroon Betros Suleiman; Ibrahim Saad Dawood and his wife; Mrs Sada Youssef Essey; Youssef Lahood Boutros and his brother, Jabour; Hanna Rizk Rahi; Youssef Hanna Nehme; Youssef Rizk Rahi and his wife, Katherine; Merhi Ambor; Zekhia Isaac Abraham and his brother, Tannous; Mrs Foutina Youssef Al Hawr; Youssef Abou Abood; Ehalil Estephan Abood and his brother, Tannous; Simaan Karam; Elias Daniel and Hanna Youssef Haddad.

Group Two:  1890 – 1891

Lahood Tannous Ibrahim Nina (known also as Kahi) and his wife, Clara, settled in Bundaberg, North Queensland; Tannous Khoury Francis; Mrs Kattour Khoury Elias; Miss Hesseny Youssef Moussa; Francis Samia; Estephan Abdulla Simon; Boutros Abdulla Simon; Youssef Budwee Jobier; Tannous Coorey Ibrahim; Isaac Moussa Ahbour and his daughter Shalbeih; Assad Ibrahim Tannous Nina and his wife, Hannie.

Group Three:  1891 – 1900

Youssef Basha (also known as Hallak); Simon Coorey Francis; Massoud Merhi; Nicholas Lahood and his wife, Susan; Mrs Zena Nehma Saliba; Mrs Zahra Youssef Michael Rizk; Mrs Barbara Salim Kanaan; the children of Nakhoul Bahri; Tannous Nicholas; Jabour Nicholas; Hanna Youssef Abood; Mrs Martha Tannous Saad; Mrs Hawa Malkoun; Youssef Saliba; Michael Karam; Elias Moussa; Michael Estephan Khawaja and his sister, Hanna Lahood Hawr; Kheiralla Youssef Saad Dawood; Boutros Sakr; Boulos Haddad; Youssef and Hanna Moussa Ibrahim; Youssef Zeiker; Mrs Essey Abood; Youssef Roukoz; Mrs Hawa Tannous Abood; Khalil Kanaan and his wife; Youssef Jabour Estephan; Moussa Hanna Lahood Samia and Alex Solomon.

Group Four:  To Broken Hill, New South Wales

Youssef Boulos Sassine and his brother, Lahood; Hannie, the widow of Roumanos Barakat and her son, George Barakat; Semaan Farhat and Mrs Martha Ibrahim Rouda.

Emigration to New Zealand:  1893

Emigration to New Zealand began in 1893, with Hanna Youssef Karam, after a trip he had made to the United States of America.  He was followed by Hanna Youssef Maroon Loucia and his wife; Nemir Merhi and his youngest brother, Maroon; Youssef Bou Habib and his brothers, Tannous Samia and Hunna Tannous Leesha.

On their way to New Zealand, the ship’s engine stopped and the passengers became naturally worried, especially Tannous Samia.  After the engine was fixed he was asked by the Captain how old he was.  Tannous replied that he was only three hours – the time since the engine had been fixed.

After that group, emigration to New Zealand discontinued.  The Kfarsghabis who settled in New Zealand were the children of Nemir Merhi and Maroon Bou Habib and his brothers.  The rest of the group eventually returned to Kfarsghab.

Emigration to Brazil

Few Kfarsghabis immigrated to Brazil.  Those who did before the First World War were Michael Abdul Ahad and his wife, Yasmine; Youssef Hanna Frome who was followed by his nephew, Maroon; Antonios Coorey; Youssef Nehme and his wife; Mrs Raji Saliba and her two sons, Boutros and Karim.  After this group there was no emigration to Brazil.

Emigration to Australia:  1900 – 1914

The number of people who immigrated to Australia from 1900 to 1914 consisted of 62 persons.  Some of them returned to the village for a short visit and some returned, got married and brought their brides with them to Australia.

The majority of the Kfarsghab immigrants settled in Sydney, Adelaide, Broken Hill, Toowoomba, Murwillumbah, Lithgow, Glen Innes, Lismore and other places.

World War I

Following the outbreak of World War I, emigration to, and contact with, the West ceased.  Lebanon was then ruled by Turkey which was at war against the Western allies.  Life in Lebanon during the war was extremely hard, especially for the Maronites who were accused of being loyal to the Western allies and in particular, to France.  Many Maronite leaders were executed and the Patriarch himself was forced to live in hiding.  Food, clothes and medicine were denied to the Maronites, and what was worse, a plague of locusts invaded the country and destroyed all the crops in the fields.  Numerous people died of starvation, cold and various diseases.

It is important to note, however, that fewer people died in Kfarsghab, and those that did were the result of illness, rather than of starvation.  There was enough food in the village, which the people shared among themselves.  The Kfarsghabis in the United States and Australia were naturally worried about the plight of their relatives in Lebanon, but there was little they could do.

Towards the end of the war, when it became apparent that the Western allies were winning, they began to draft post-war plans and conclude agreements on the spoils of the war.  Lebanon and Syria were taken from Turkey and given to France as “Mandates”, because the allies decided that the people were not ready for independence.  At any rate, after the war there was peace and security in Lebanon and the country progressed economically and politically.  A Lebanese government was formed with had autonomy in domestic affairs.

Meanwhile, remittances from Kfarsghabi immigrants began to reach the village and Kfarsghab began to prosper and grow.  The village leaders recorded in detail the horrible events of the war years and listed all the people that died and sent the list to Kfarsghabi communities in America and Australia.  On arrival, the list was read in public gatherings and was followed by sorrowful scenes, as each household had lost someone.

Resumption of Emigration

After World War I emigration to America and Australia resumed, especially after the return of some emigrants in the early 1920s.  The first emigrant from Kfarsghab to the United States after the war was Elias Tannous Sama.  He arrived in the United States in 1922 via Mexico.  After that, immigration into the United States was prohibited except for those who were born in the United States or married to US citizens, or those who were lucky enough to get on the quota list.

Australia

The first Kfarsghabi emigrants to Australia after World War I were Merchid Simon Hanna and his wife Salha.  They arrived in 1921 and were followed in subsequent years by many groups.  Because of restrictions on immigration to the United States, many Kfarsghabis chose to immigrate to Australia, despite the fact that work was harder and the pay less in Australia than in the United States.  The majority of the Kfarsghab people worked as hawkers, the trade chosen by the seven pioneers who arrived in Adelaide in 1887.

In the early stage the Kfarsghab immigrants were poor; they had no businesses, farms or even homes to live in.  They had no cars to travel and sell their goods.  The majority used to travel on foot for many miles carrying their heavy bags on their backs.  They used to go inland to small country towns, often for several months and even years.  They sold things that were light in weight and needed by country people.  In this way, they survived the Great Depression.

Things began to improve for them after the mid-thirties until the outbreak of World War II in 1939 when again emigration from Lebanon ceased.  But this time, contact between Lebanon and the Western allies was maintained and Lebanon became independent in 1943.

In 1941 the allied army, including an Australian battalion, entered Lebanon where they remained for a period of two years.  The Australian Army was stationed in the areas of Jediadeh and Eaal and near our winter village of Morh.  They were very co-operative and helpful towards the Lebanese people who had lived in Australia for some time before the wars.

It is worthwhile to mention that some members of the Australian Army, upon their return to Australia, formed an organisation under the name of “Friends of Lebanon”.  Its members included both Australian and Lebanese people who had served in the armed forces and, in particular, it included some from the Kfarsghab community.

It is also important to mention that during the last two World Wars many members of the Kfarsghab community served in the armed forces while some gave their lives in action fighting for their new homeland.

In 1946 migration to Australia re-commenced.  The first migrant was George Betros.  Large numbers of the Kfarsghab community began to arrive in Australia by air.  At times the planes were so full that war planes, like the DC3’s which took from four to six days, were used.  Entire families migrated not only from Kfarsghab but also from North Lebanon.  At this point we would like to make mention of the help and assistance the Kfarsghab people gave to each other and to other Lebanese migrants on their arrival in Australia.

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.