In 1880 Kfarsghab witnessed the beginning of emigration to the New World.  Karam Abi Arab, the pioneer of Kfarsghab emigration, left his village for the United States of America.  His emigration had far reaching effected on his fellow Kfarsghabis who followed his footsteps and, in subsequent generations, immigrated to other parts of the world.  Today, there are some 11,000 Kfarsghabis living in Australia, the United States of America, New Zealand, Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela, United Kingdom, France and Canada.

Emigration to the new world was relatively simple at that time.  The emigrant did not have to go through bureaucratic procedures of obtaining passports, visas or health certificates.  The only requirement was the payment of the fare (which was about three hundred gold guineas) to an authorised person on one of the ships anchored in the ports of Jounieh, Tripoli, Beirut and Tabarja.  However, because there was a ban on emigrated imposed by the Ottoman government which ruled Lebanon at that time, the emigrants had to offer bribes to officials and politicians for arranging their exit.

Emigration to the United States of America:  1880 - 1898

As mentioned above, Karam Abi Arab and his wife Hala left Kfarsghab in 1880 and settled in Philadelphia in the State of Pennsylvania, USA.  Three months after their arrival, Karam’s brothers, Beshara and Younis (with his wife) left Alexandria, Egypt to join them.

Karam and his wife earned their living as hawkers, and after four years of hard work they returned to their village and related their experience and success.  Their story aroused much interest among their fellow Kfarsghabis in emigration to the United States of America.

In 1884, Elias Abood (nick-named Shetiah) left Kfarsghab for New Orleans in the State of Louisiana.  His brother Hanna followed him and there he married a lady of Lebanese extraction.  Hanna and his wife had five sons, one of whom was killed in France during World War II and another who left New Orleans to settle in Providence, in the State of Rhode Island.

One of the three brothers who stayed in New Orleans, Mr Albert Abood, became a brilliant lawyer and close friend of the late President, Lyndon B Johnson.  In 1965, Mr Abood visited Kfarsghab when he was representing the lawyers of his State at an international conference in Beirut. 

In 1885, Hanna Boulous Moussa and his twelve year-old brother, Youssef, left Kfarsghab for America.  A wealthy woman (who arranged for the education of Youssef) wanted to adopt him, but Hanna refused and the two brothers returned to Kfarsghab.  Youssef became the first person in the district to write and speak English fluently.  Subsequently, Youssef married in the village where today his descendants exceed over 100 persons.

On 13 May 1887, Antonios Assad Saker left Kfarsghab for Mexico after an unsuccessful attempt to enter the United States of America.  However, the Jesuit priests (who looked after him for two years and taught him the Spanish language) helped him to enter the United States in 1889, where he settled in St Louis, Missouri.  He married a lady of Lebanese origin and in 1912 moved to Easton, Pennsylvania, where he settled permanently.

In 1887, Elias Gazi arrived in Peoria, Illinois, and his brother Simon followed him in 1894.  Six years afterwards both brothers returned to Lebanon and subsequently they immigrated to Australia.

In 1989 Mehsen Ibrahim Wehbe and his wife Nazira, the daughter of Karam Abi Arab, left Kfarsghab for Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  After eight years of hard work, they returned to the Village.

 After 1898 emigration to the United States of America ceased temporarily.

Emigration to the United States of America:  1900 – 1914

Emigration to the United States of America started in large groups in 1901 as there were then no restrictions on immigration into that country.  In the autumn of 1901 there was a group from Kfarsghab on their way to Australia via Marseille, France, where they had difficulties in finding a ship to take them to Australia. 

It so happened that a member of the group, Dawood Saba, met some people from Blawza (a village near Kfarsghab) who informed him that they were on their way to the United States of America and that this was their third trip to America in five years.  They also informed him that there were many people from North Lebanon in America and that they were all doing well.

Because of the delay in Marseille, the group wanted to return to the village but Dawood Saba convinced them instead to go to the United States of America.  However, two people, Boutros Karam and Tannous Hanna Simaan returned to Kfarsghab, leaving the 23 persons in the group who finally went to the United States.

Group Two left in Autumn 1905 and consisted of nine persons; Group Three left on 31 October, 1906 and consisted of 34 persons; Group Four left in Summer 1907 and consisted of 23 persons; Group Five left on 16 August, 1908 and consisted of 30 persons; Group Six left in 1909 and consisted of 14 persons; Group Seven left on 4 May, 1910 and consisted of 23 persons; and Group Eight left in 1912 and consisted of 33 persons.

To this last group, there is an interesting story which should be recorded.  The group was in Marseilles on their way to the United States and were about to embark on the ill-fated ship “The Titanic” when Mr Boutros Ibrahim Kassis, one of the group become ill and was until to continue the journey.  Rather than leave him behind by himself, the rest of the group decided to stay with him until he was fit to travel.  The ship sailed without the Kfarsghab group and subsequently crashed into an ice-berg.  The illness of Ibrahim Kassis and the brotherly feelings shown to him by the rest of the group saved the lives of 33 Kfarsghabi persons.  There are still five people alive from that group – Elias Boutros Shumar, in Easton Pennsylvania; Mansour Youssef Badway; Mary Mansour Badway; George Ghaleb Norman, in Providence, Rhode Island; and Nahmtalla Tannous Coorey in Kfarsghab, Lebanon.

Group Nine left on 13 August, 1913 and consisted of 65 persons.  One person was added to the group on the way, Margaret Youssef Moussa was born on the trip in the Atlantic Ocean, and Mr Bishara Bou Houssein returned to Lebanon because of ill health.  The group travelled on two ships.

Group Ten left on 13 April, 1914 and consisted of 16 persons.  Mrs Sahda Antonios Zaneer, a member of the group, remained in Marseille to give birth to her baby.  Soon after the birth, the mother resumed her voyage to the United States of America.

The last person to leave the village for the United States was the late Habib Essey, who later became the editor of a large Arabic newspaper in New York.  After him, emigration to the United States ceased because of the outbreak of World War I.

The majority of the Kfarsghab community in the United States settled in Easton, Pennsylvania.  Before the war there was more emigration to the United States than to Australia, both because of the shorter distance between Lebanon and the United States and the greater financial success of the Kfarsghab community in the United States.