Your Family Tree by Kevin Donley
“… the Kfeirian Reunion was founded for the purpose of getting acquainted and meeting old friends, and that our children who were born under the skies of Liberty will know each other, particularly their genealogy and where they came from.” ~ Sol Steffan - Kfeirian Reunion 1965
For those who attended recent Kfeirian Reunions we always have a great time with family and friends, we dance, eat Lebanese food, enjoy each others company, wave the Lebanese flag and meet new cousins. We also climb a tree, the Kfeirian family tree. Here are some of the details we shared:
Our family has spread from Lebanon to countries all over the world, with the largest populations in the U.S., Canada and Brazil.
How You Can See The Tree
Thanks to technology today, the Kfeirian tree can be shared easily with you and cousins all over the world. Just send an email to me (kdonley17@gmail.com) and I’ll give you access. Then send me corrections, new additions and any other updates. I receive emails from Kfeirians around the world every month. It’s also a big help if you post your news (births, marriages, obituaries and pictures) on the Kfeirian Reunion Facebook page or in future newsletters.
Quick Tips For Tracing Your Own Tree
“… the Kfeirian Reunion was founded for the purpose of getting acquainted and meeting old friends, and that our children who were born under the skies of Liberty will know each other, particularly their genealogy and where they came from.” ~ Sol Steffan - Kfeirian Reunion 1965
For those who attended recent Kfeirian Reunions we always have a great time with family and friends, we dance, eat Lebanese food, enjoy each others company, wave the Lebanese flag and meet new cousins. We also climb a tree, the Kfeirian family tree. Here are some of the details we shared:
- Marriages: 1,385
- Generations: 12
- Surnames: 917
- Earliest known ancestor: Serkes Sarkous – 1,650 A.D.
Our family has spread from Lebanon to countries all over the world, with the largest populations in the U.S., Canada and Brazil.
How You Can See The Tree
Thanks to technology today, the Kfeirian tree can be shared easily with you and cousins all over the world. Just send an email to me (kdonley17@gmail.com) and I’ll give you access. Then send me corrections, new additions and any other updates. I receive emails from Kfeirians around the world every month. It’s also a big help if you post your news (births, marriages, obituaries and pictures) on the Kfeirian Reunion Facebook page or in future newsletters.
Quick Tips For Tracing Your Own Tree
- Talk with the elders in your family. Ask them to tell their stories.
- Study old family photos or the front of the family bible
- Go to the Kfeirian Reunion and meet your cousins!
- Visit the Kfeirian Reunion Facebook page often
- Spend time on Familysearch.org or Ancestry.com
- Visit family cemeteries
- Check out the free 1950 Census on Ancestry.com
- Get your kids involved - show them where they come from using Google Earth
- Have your DNA tested
- Watch family tree TV shows when they air such as Finding Your Roots, Who Do You Think You Are? and Genealogy Roadshow.
The DNA Breakthrough
Nothing has been more exciting for genealogy than recent discoveries in DNA testing. Now you can easily order a kit online, return it and several weeks later you’ll learn where in the world your ancestors roamed. You also immediately start connecting with other people that match your DNA. You can contact these cousins online and swap family tree info. Several members of the Kfeirian family have done this and we’re already meeting new cousins.
Nothing has been more exciting for genealogy than recent discoveries in DNA testing. Now you can easily order a kit online, return it and several weeks later you’ll learn where in the world your ancestors roamed. You also immediately start connecting with other people that match your DNA. You can contact these cousins online and swap family tree info. Several members of the Kfeirian family have done this and we’re already meeting new cousins.
Consider taking a DNA test. The exciting results will tell you where your ancestors lived and link you to hundreds of cousins. Many Kfeirians have already taken a DNA test and it is helping us build the Kfeirian tree. Go to: https://www.ancestry.com/dna/ to order your DNA test and get started. The regular price for an Ancestry DNA kit is $99 and during holidays the price drops as low as $49.
Pass the gift onto future generations by helping us learn more about our ancestral story, review your matches and discover new cousins and how you are connected to them, explore your traits and research ThruLines to help you discover common ancestors that you can add to your family tree.
Pass the gift onto future generations by helping us learn more about our ancestral story, review your matches and discover new cousins and how you are connected to them, explore your traits and research ThruLines to help you discover common ancestors that you can add to your family tree.
The Bassett Genealogy File
Abe Bassett's genealogy file is available to anyone. To request access, write to Abe at abebassett@gmail.com. Your additions and corrections to the file are very welcomed.
My primary genealogy software is Family Tree Maker, an intricately constructed software program. I regularly synchronize my files at Ancestry.com where it is a public file. I would be pleased to converse with any one regarding genealogy or genealogy programs.
The basis of the Bassett Family genealogy collection was the work done by my first cousin Victor Bassett in the 1950s. He researched the Bassett family based entirely on interviews with his father and relatives. He stopped gathering information because, he said, too many said they couldn’t remember and others said they had no interest in remembering. My first computer genealogy program was “Clear.org” dating from the 1990s when printers of the day were dot matrix.
I have two drawers in my file cabinets devoted to genealogy material that I collected through interviews over the years. In 2019, I began seriously going through this treasure to add names to my collection, increasing the size of the files from about 1,500 names to the present 7,900 and 2,600 marriages. I have many stories to add.
In 1991, I returned from Kfeir, Lebanon with the genealogy of four Bassett clans. These were the recordings and remembrances of village elders, and I think they are quite good, but they come without dates and lacking the first or maiden names of most females.
I have made contacts in Lebanon, Syria, Israel and Canada. All of it is interesting but not all results in additions to my file. There are the Bassetts of northwestern Israel (The Galilee area), and Malah, (Jebal Druze area of Syria), and the El-Khoury family in Lebanon. These surely make researching fun. My Facebook contacts in Syria are extensive, especially with Bassetts and Abou Jamras. I have located several people that I can claim as cousins.
Of course, my files contain non-Lebanese names created when I and my sisters married into non-Lebanese families. There are English, Scotch and Irish names such as Rutherdale, Morton, Scott, Parlette, and Smith. I use the Ancestry “green leaf” to add names and dates and to correct errors. Some of my early data came from Kevin Donley’s distribution of information at the Kfeirian Reunion. So, there is an inevitable repetition of some families in our collections. However, our files have not been coordinated.
I have a number of duplicate names, but paring them is very difficult without solid identification. And to complicate the drive for accuracy, there are many people with the same name who are not duplicate people. For example, there are eight Bassetts whose first name is "Michael,” and four “Mariams”. Too often, older files lacked the woman’s maiden name or the names of her parents.
A commonly held but false belief is that immigrant names were changed at Ellis Island. An officer on each passenger ship was tasked with completing the ship’s passenger manifest. It was here that names were rendered into English and the accuracy depended on the skill, seriousness and handwriting of the transcribing officer. Very few Middle Eastern immigrants of the first wave of 1890-1915 were fluent in English and their accents could impede understanding. My mother Rahija Saad, for example, had her first name rendered as Bahijo.
Arreph El-Khoury’s history of the village, El-Kfeir, Cradle of Genius, documents how family names can change over a period of time. He also shows how difficult it is to convert names from Arabic to English, and even how names in Lebanon are inconsistent.
Here are some examples of how common Kfeirian names came to have different Americanized versions:
Bassett / Bassit / Bassiet / Al Bassiet, Albassit, Albasseet
McCarus / McCarius / Markaros / Markarios
The wildest variation of all is El-Khoury which became Corey, Courey, Coury, Kirey, Koury, Fakoury and, would you believe, Kelly?
While Ellis Island was perhaps the dominate port of entry for immigrants, it was only one of many. Besides the major ports such as Philadelphia, Baltimore, Boston on the Atlantic seaboard, there was Galveston, Texas, and Halifax, Canada. At one time there were 70 federal immigrant stations along the shores of the United States. My Uncle Moses Bassett arrived in Halifax where he boarded a Grand Trunk Train to Detroit, which was also a significant “port of entry.”
-Abe J. Bassett
My primary genealogy software is Family Tree Maker, an intricately constructed software program. I regularly synchronize my files at Ancestry.com where it is a public file. I would be pleased to converse with any one regarding genealogy or genealogy programs.
The basis of the Bassett Family genealogy collection was the work done by my first cousin Victor Bassett in the 1950s. He researched the Bassett family based entirely on interviews with his father and relatives. He stopped gathering information because, he said, too many said they couldn’t remember and others said they had no interest in remembering. My first computer genealogy program was “Clear.org” dating from the 1990s when printers of the day were dot matrix.
I have two drawers in my file cabinets devoted to genealogy material that I collected through interviews over the years. In 2019, I began seriously going through this treasure to add names to my collection, increasing the size of the files from about 1,500 names to the present 7,900 and 2,600 marriages. I have many stories to add.
In 1991, I returned from Kfeir, Lebanon with the genealogy of four Bassett clans. These were the recordings and remembrances of village elders, and I think they are quite good, but they come without dates and lacking the first or maiden names of most females.
I have made contacts in Lebanon, Syria, Israel and Canada. All of it is interesting but not all results in additions to my file. There are the Bassetts of northwestern Israel (The Galilee area), and Malah, (Jebal Druze area of Syria), and the El-Khoury family in Lebanon. These surely make researching fun. My Facebook contacts in Syria are extensive, especially with Bassetts and Abou Jamras. I have located several people that I can claim as cousins.
Of course, my files contain non-Lebanese names created when I and my sisters married into non-Lebanese families. There are English, Scotch and Irish names such as Rutherdale, Morton, Scott, Parlette, and Smith. I use the Ancestry “green leaf” to add names and dates and to correct errors. Some of my early data came from Kevin Donley’s distribution of information at the Kfeirian Reunion. So, there is an inevitable repetition of some families in our collections. However, our files have not been coordinated.
I have a number of duplicate names, but paring them is very difficult without solid identification. And to complicate the drive for accuracy, there are many people with the same name who are not duplicate people. For example, there are eight Bassetts whose first name is "Michael,” and four “Mariams”. Too often, older files lacked the woman’s maiden name or the names of her parents.
A commonly held but false belief is that immigrant names were changed at Ellis Island. An officer on each passenger ship was tasked with completing the ship’s passenger manifest. It was here that names were rendered into English and the accuracy depended on the skill, seriousness and handwriting of the transcribing officer. Very few Middle Eastern immigrants of the first wave of 1890-1915 were fluent in English and their accents could impede understanding. My mother Rahija Saad, for example, had her first name rendered as Bahijo.
Arreph El-Khoury’s history of the village, El-Kfeir, Cradle of Genius, documents how family names can change over a period of time. He also shows how difficult it is to convert names from Arabic to English, and even how names in Lebanon are inconsistent.
Here are some examples of how common Kfeirian names came to have different Americanized versions:
Bassett / Bassit / Bassiet / Al Bassiet, Albassit, Albasseet
McCarus / McCarius / Markaros / Markarios
The wildest variation of all is El-Khoury which became Corey, Courey, Coury, Kirey, Koury, Fakoury and, would you believe, Kelly?
While Ellis Island was perhaps the dominate port of entry for immigrants, it was only one of many. Besides the major ports such as Philadelphia, Baltimore, Boston on the Atlantic seaboard, there was Galveston, Texas, and Halifax, Canada. At one time there were 70 federal immigrant stations along the shores of the United States. My Uncle Moses Bassett arrived in Halifax where he boarded a Grand Trunk Train to Detroit, which was also a significant “port of entry.”
-Abe J. Bassett
The Michael Family Tree
The Michael Family Kfeirian Home Page - Created by Dr. Diann D. Michael who passed away on March 2, 2011. Diann's family tree was last updated on September 5, 2000. Once you enter the Michael Family Tree, scroll to the bottom to the sections titled "User Home Page Genealogy Reports" to see the actual tree. When you are in the tree, click "Next Page" to see additional branches of the tree.
The Michaels (Mickel, Mickael, Miguel), Radwans, and Cantees of North and South America, Europe and the Middle East
Descendants of the Kfeir, Lebanon, and our common ancestor, Serkes. Kfeir, Lebanon, is a tiny village nestled in the hills north of Mount Hermon, close to the Litani River in southern Lebanon. The approximate current population is around 1,200 (from 2000), as it has been since my father's time (circa 1900), but the proportion of Christian to Druze has changed since the early 1900s with a large diaspora of the Christian population, which was primarily Eastern Orthodox.
The history of this tiny village is obscure, but its descendants are numerous and well-travelled. In the United States alone we have a mailing list of 1,200 households (in 2000) which, averaging 3.5 per household, would indicate over 4,000 descendants in the United States.
We welcome any information regarding the history of the Kfeir or the region and any of the families that resided in the area.
Many of these descendants are related. The story goes that the Michaels (often spelled Mickel, and sometimes Mickael or Mickail) the Cantees, and the Radwan families all descended from a common ancestor, Serkes (or Sarkous) who emigrated from Greece, probably one of the Greek Islands, around 250 years ago. We have definitely accounted for over 900 descendants that can be identified and corroborated and are on the current tree associated with this page.
Other family names that are associated are: Abou-rezk (Abourezk, Aborizk, Abourisk), Hajj (El-Hage, Hage), Thabet (Thabit), Deeb, Kawaja, Debakey, Corey (Courey, Khourie, Khourey),and probably others I have yet to identify. The Michaels (Mickels) and Radwans are one family, but the ones descended from a male named Radwan sometimes use Radwan as a last name, and sometimes Michael (Mickel).
Many people are working on the family tree of the Kfeirian Community in North America, Kevin Donley has posted a Kfeirian Genealogy page which will be linked to this page. Lila Mickel Fischer (passed away on January 18, 2017) has researched relatives from North and South America and Lebanon to update the current tree and she and I are working together to get the most accurate information possible.
This current research enlarges upon that of my father, Esber John Michael, and my late cousin, Yvonne Radwan Kawaja, who had both worked on the tree in the 1970s. All of my work is dedicated to their memory and that of our other admirable and beloved ancestors. May they be honored and remembered through our lives, love, and work.
-Dr. Diann D. Michael
The Michaels (Mickel, Mickael, Miguel), Radwans, and Cantees of North and South America, Europe and the Middle East
Descendants of the Kfeir, Lebanon, and our common ancestor, Serkes. Kfeir, Lebanon, is a tiny village nestled in the hills north of Mount Hermon, close to the Litani River in southern Lebanon. The approximate current population is around 1,200 (from 2000), as it has been since my father's time (circa 1900), but the proportion of Christian to Druze has changed since the early 1900s with a large diaspora of the Christian population, which was primarily Eastern Orthodox.
The history of this tiny village is obscure, but its descendants are numerous and well-travelled. In the United States alone we have a mailing list of 1,200 households (in 2000) which, averaging 3.5 per household, would indicate over 4,000 descendants in the United States.
We welcome any information regarding the history of the Kfeir or the region and any of the families that resided in the area.
Many of these descendants are related. The story goes that the Michaels (often spelled Mickel, and sometimes Mickael or Mickail) the Cantees, and the Radwan families all descended from a common ancestor, Serkes (or Sarkous) who emigrated from Greece, probably one of the Greek Islands, around 250 years ago. We have definitely accounted for over 900 descendants that can be identified and corroborated and are on the current tree associated with this page.
Other family names that are associated are: Abou-rezk (Abourezk, Aborizk, Abourisk), Hajj (El-Hage, Hage), Thabet (Thabit), Deeb, Kawaja, Debakey, Corey (Courey, Khourie, Khourey),and probably others I have yet to identify. The Michaels (Mickels) and Radwans are one family, but the ones descended from a male named Radwan sometimes use Radwan as a last name, and sometimes Michael (Mickel).
Many people are working on the family tree of the Kfeirian Community in North America, Kevin Donley has posted a Kfeirian Genealogy page which will be linked to this page. Lila Mickel Fischer (passed away on January 18, 2017) has researched relatives from North and South America and Lebanon to update the current tree and she and I are working together to get the most accurate information possible.
This current research enlarges upon that of my father, Esber John Michael, and my late cousin, Yvonne Radwan Kawaja, who had both worked on the tree in the 1970s. All of my work is dedicated to their memory and that of our other admirable and beloved ancestors. May they be honored and remembered through our lives, love, and work.
-Dr. Diann D. Michael
Additional Websites
If you are interested in expanding your genealogy knowledge, we have listed below additional websites that you can check out to help you with this research.
If you are interested in expanding your genealogy knowledge, we have listed below additional websites that you can check out to help you with this research.
Ancestry.com - Explore the world's largest online family history resource. Our preferred DNA software for discovering your family story and tracing your family generations.
23andMe - DNA software that connects individuals to their unique, paired set of 23 chromosomes.
Arab American National Museum - Located in Dearborn, Michigan, the museum documents, preserves and presents the history, culture and contributions of Arab Americans since its opening in 2005.
BillionGraves - The world's largest resource for searchable GPS cemetery data.
Census.gov - The United States Census Bureau
The 1940 Census - The Official National Archives for the 1940 Census Website.
The 1950 Census - The Official National Archives for the 1950 Census Website.
Cyndi's List - A comprehensive, categorized and cross-reference list of links that point you to genealogical research sites online.
FamilySearch - Bring to life your family's history by exploring the lives of those that came before you.
Find a Grave - The world's largest gravesite collection.
Genealogy.com - A source for family history buffs to find genealogical research originally posted in GenForum and our most popular genealogy articles.
Marshall University - Located in Huntington, WV, Marshall University is the home of the Kfeirian Reunion Foundation, Inc. records storage.
North Carolina State University - The Moise A. Khayrallah Center located at NC State University collects, preserves, and makes accessible the newspapers, personal papers, photographs, oral histories, audio and visual recordings, artifacts, and documents that belonged to, were made by, or reflect the unique experience of first and second generation Lebanese and Syrian immigrants.
Smithsonian - The home page of the Faris and Yamna Naff Arab American Collection at the Smithsonian.
Lebanese Clubs:
23andMe - DNA software that connects individuals to their unique, paired set of 23 chromosomes.
Arab American National Museum - Located in Dearborn, Michigan, the museum documents, preserves and presents the history, culture and contributions of Arab Americans since its opening in 2005.
BillionGraves - The world's largest resource for searchable GPS cemetery data.
Census.gov - The United States Census Bureau
The 1940 Census - The Official National Archives for the 1940 Census Website.
The 1950 Census - The Official National Archives for the 1950 Census Website.
Cyndi's List - A comprehensive, categorized and cross-reference list of links that point you to genealogical research sites online.
FamilySearch - Bring to life your family's history by exploring the lives of those that came before you.
Find a Grave - The world's largest gravesite collection.
Genealogy.com - A source for family history buffs to find genealogical research originally posted in GenForum and our most popular genealogy articles.
Marshall University - Located in Huntington, WV, Marshall University is the home of the Kfeirian Reunion Foundation, Inc. records storage.
North Carolina State University - The Moise A. Khayrallah Center located at NC State University collects, preserves, and makes accessible the newspapers, personal papers, photographs, oral histories, audio and visual recordings, artifacts, and documents that belonged to, were made by, or reflect the unique experience of first and second generation Lebanese and Syrian immigrants.
Smithsonian - The home page of the Faris and Yamna Naff Arab American Collection at the Smithsonian.
Lebanese Clubs: