A FAMILY HOME: 413 W. ADRIAN STREET, BLISSFIELD, MICHIGAN
By Ellen Jamra Linkey (ejamra@hotmail.com) with contributions from her brothers, Jim and Mark Jamra
In the southeast corner of Michigan is the small town of Blissfield. Over 100 years ago the Kerbawy brothers came, settled, and raised families. Many of us Kerbawy descendants can trace our families back to Blissfield. My great grandparents, George (b. 1873) and Maggie (Saad) Kerbawy (b. 1880), both from Kfeir, were introduced on their boat journey to America in 1895 and married a year later in Toledo. In the early 1900’s they settled in Blissfield at 413 W. Adrian Street and remained there throughout their lives.
The house was built in 1865 and was the first brick house in the town. It was built on the main road which had been an Indian trail. A two-story structure, it was reported to have been a little ahead of its time with interesting brick arches and wooden molding over the windows, and fancy wooden brackets along the roofline under the eaves. George and Maggie raised 6 children in this home. In 1897 they had their first child, Elizabeth, my grandmother. George and Maggie’s second girl was born in 1899; she died young. Maggie always said that a neighbor gave the baby the evil eye and caused her death. The following children were Minnie, Alexander, Nellie, Grayce and Haford.
By Ellen Jamra Linkey (ejamra@hotmail.com) with contributions from her brothers, Jim and Mark Jamra
In the southeast corner of Michigan is the small town of Blissfield. Over 100 years ago the Kerbawy brothers came, settled, and raised families. Many of us Kerbawy descendants can trace our families back to Blissfield. My great grandparents, George (b. 1873) and Maggie (Saad) Kerbawy (b. 1880), both from Kfeir, were introduced on their boat journey to America in 1895 and married a year later in Toledo. In the early 1900’s they settled in Blissfield at 413 W. Adrian Street and remained there throughout their lives.
The house was built in 1865 and was the first brick house in the town. It was built on the main road which had been an Indian trail. A two-story structure, it was reported to have been a little ahead of its time with interesting brick arches and wooden molding over the windows, and fancy wooden brackets along the roofline under the eaves. George and Maggie raised 6 children in this home. In 1897 they had their first child, Elizabeth, my grandmother. George and Maggie’s second girl was born in 1899; she died young. Maggie always said that a neighbor gave the baby the evil eye and caused her death. The following children were Minnie, Alexander, Nellie, Grayce and Haford.
In 1914 Elizabeth, just after her 17th birthday, married Albert Jamra (Abdallah Habeeb Abu Jamra), also from Kfeir. They settled in Toledo and had 3 children, Jeanette (1914-2020), Jamille (my father) (1917-2013) and Albert (1922 and still living). Now you know where I fit in.
George walked every day to his dry goods store downtown, which he ran until he retired, and then turned it over to his daughter Minnie. After George’s and Maggie’s deaths, Minnie remained in the house. When Minnie died in 1998, the house was sold. Thus, it was in the family for over 90 years.
As is true for many Kfeirians, my great grandparents lived a long time, so I (b. 1949) knew them, and as a family we would visit them in Blissfield, about 20 miles from my hometown of Toledo. Often there were large numbers of relatives, and we cousins would have a lot of fun at that house. We would always enter at the side entrance by the driveway. When you entered, you were in the large dining room. The front of the house had a living room and a parlor. There was an old doorbell on the front door that when you turned its key, it connected to a ringer on the inside. The only ground floor bedroom, which was the “master,” was very small. There were more bedrooms upstairs. As I understand it, the early kitchen was a separate building out back and there was no indoor plumbing. The large eat-in kitchen and bath/laundry were added to the back of the house later. There was an old well and pump out back. It was a novelty to city-raised kids, so it was fun to pump and get water to flow…..only to spit it out because it was sulphur water!
Upon first arriving for a visit, and after greeting the elders, we kids would race for the swing on the big screened-in front porch, a coveted spot. We could spend hours in that swing while the older generations visited inside. The lot was large, contained a large garden, and there was room for outdoor games and chasing lightning bugs at night. My grandmother taught her grandchildren how to pick the young grape leaves for cooking and leave the others on the huge grapevines that grew on trellises on the west side of the house. Those grapevines provided much needed shade in the summer as the kitchen had almost floor to ceiling windows on that side.
A favorite pastime was to walk into town to the ice cream shop by the River Raisin (not the Raisin River). It is still there!! The older kids, who easily could go by themselves, had to take the younger kids, so the ice cream employees would have quite a few orders to fill.
A favorite memory of my brother Mark is when he and our dad (Jamille Jamra) were on their way to Hudson, Michigan to research a Civil War uniform that had been purchased earlier and had a Hudson history to it. (Both of my brothers were/are avid collectors of Civil War memorabilia). On the way they stopped at the Blissfield house. This is when Aunt Minnie was living there by herself; she must have been in her late 70’s or early 80’s. There she was mowing the large lawn by herself. Mark said to our dad, “Should she be doing that?” What was comical was that Minnie, being under 5 feet tall as were many of the women in that family, had to reach up to grab the lawn mower handle!
In later years, many family dinners were held across the street at the Hathaway House. We would reminisce about the days at the Kerbawy house. In 2013, the day before our dad’s funeral, my brothers and I made a nostalgic trip to Blissfield. We ate lunch at the pub behind the Hathaway House, called The Stables. We strolled through the downtown, shopped the antique stores, went to the park and, of course, had ice cream at the ice cream parlor!
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George walked every day to his dry goods store downtown, which he ran until he retired, and then turned it over to his daughter Minnie. After George’s and Maggie’s deaths, Minnie remained in the house. When Minnie died in 1998, the house was sold. Thus, it was in the family for over 90 years.
As is true for many Kfeirians, my great grandparents lived a long time, so I (b. 1949) knew them, and as a family we would visit them in Blissfield, about 20 miles from my hometown of Toledo. Often there were large numbers of relatives, and we cousins would have a lot of fun at that house. We would always enter at the side entrance by the driveway. When you entered, you were in the large dining room. The front of the house had a living room and a parlor. There was an old doorbell on the front door that when you turned its key, it connected to a ringer on the inside. The only ground floor bedroom, which was the “master,” was very small. There were more bedrooms upstairs. As I understand it, the early kitchen was a separate building out back and there was no indoor plumbing. The large eat-in kitchen and bath/laundry were added to the back of the house later. There was an old well and pump out back. It was a novelty to city-raised kids, so it was fun to pump and get water to flow…..only to spit it out because it was sulphur water!
Upon first arriving for a visit, and after greeting the elders, we kids would race for the swing on the big screened-in front porch, a coveted spot. We could spend hours in that swing while the older generations visited inside. The lot was large, contained a large garden, and there was room for outdoor games and chasing lightning bugs at night. My grandmother taught her grandchildren how to pick the young grape leaves for cooking and leave the others on the huge grapevines that grew on trellises on the west side of the house. Those grapevines provided much needed shade in the summer as the kitchen had almost floor to ceiling windows on that side.
A favorite pastime was to walk into town to the ice cream shop by the River Raisin (not the Raisin River). It is still there!! The older kids, who easily could go by themselves, had to take the younger kids, so the ice cream employees would have quite a few orders to fill.
A favorite memory of my brother Mark is when he and our dad (Jamille Jamra) were on their way to Hudson, Michigan to research a Civil War uniform that had been purchased earlier and had a Hudson history to it. (Both of my brothers were/are avid collectors of Civil War memorabilia). On the way they stopped at the Blissfield house. This is when Aunt Minnie was living there by herself; she must have been in her late 70’s or early 80’s. There she was mowing the large lawn by herself. Mark said to our dad, “Should she be doing that?” What was comical was that Minnie, being under 5 feet tall as were many of the women in that family, had to reach up to grab the lawn mower handle!
In later years, many family dinners were held across the street at the Hathaway House. We would reminisce about the days at the Kerbawy house. In 2013, the day before our dad’s funeral, my brothers and I made a nostalgic trip to Blissfield. We ate lunch at the pub behind the Hathaway House, called The Stables. We strolled through the downtown, shopped the antique stores, went to the park and, of course, had ice cream at the ice cream parlor!
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