In the Maronite church census of 1854 (Tripoli Diocese Archives in Karm Saddeh, file number 112), there were two "Hanna Dib" listed. I am not sure if this was a double counting, or there were two related people from the same family branch, or they were Hanna Dib Lattouf and Hanna Dib el-Helou (see below about Lattouf and Helou).

The Haret es-Saydeh church census of 5 September, 1909 shows that Hanna Dib was than 95 years old, which makes his birth year 1814. The Death Records of the church of Haret es-Saydeh Shows that he died on 9 September, 1910, at 96 years of age. in 1909, his wife Mariam Faddoul was 82 years old (born 1827), and died on 7 February, 1911 at 84 years of age. She was 13 years younger than Hanna.

I have been trying for too long, to establish a concrete link between our Tripoli branch of the Dib family, and our Dlebta branch. Unfortunately, to date, I have not been able to establish such a link.

Hanna Dib Lattouf was born in 1814 and died in Tripoli in 1910, at the age of 96. In 1854, he was one of two Hanna Dibs who were among the 518 Maronites males in Tripoli. My grandfather was Khoury Youhanna Dib, who was the priest of the Parish of Haret es-Saydeh , the oldest Maronite church in Tripoli, for 50 years (1909 to 1959). Khoury Youhanna used to tell us that we had over 40 priests, monks, and nuns in our family.

I have counted three priests and two nuns among the immediate descendents of Hanna Dib, so I am assuming the remaining 35+ my grandfather referred to were from the Dlebta branch.

I have used Father Hattouni's book on the History of Deir Saydet el-Hakleh to detail the family tree of the Dlebta branch. Father Hattouni mentions that there were a Dib branch that moved to Tripoli, but did not mention the name of the grandfather of that branch.

This is my missing link. I am trying to find out who, in the Dlebta Dib went to Tripoli. Was it my great grandfather father Hanna (who was he the son of ?) or was it a father of his ?

Hanna Dib did not have any relatives in Tripoli, and some say he came from Istanbul. This has not been verified, it was just a word-of-mouth.

So was he the one to move from Dlebta straight to Tripoli, or did he go to Istanbul (for work, military, political, or whatever reason) and then moved to Tripoli ?

The only thing for sure, as per the 1854 census of the Maronite families in Tripoli, is that Hanna Dib lived and stayed in Tripoli, since 1854. He was then 40 years old. So I doubt he had a long travel history to Istanbul, and then to Tripoli ?

The Dib name and its variations

The name Dib is an Aramaic or Phoenician dialect word for the Arabic word WOLF . The Wolf in Lebanese folklore stands for courage and strength, so this name was given to people of courage. It was given also by superstition, where it was believed that by naming your son after a ferocious animal, it would keep evil spirits away from him, and he would live to an old age and not die young.

Lebanon was under the French Mandate (Colonialism) between World War I and World War II, the vital records of Lebanon used the French phonetic rendering of Dib. The name can also be written as Deeb which is the more correct English phonetic rendering of the Lebanese name. Of the many Dibs who obtained passports or other documents for foreign use, some of them chose the Dib spelling, others the Deeb spelling. The Dip spelling also was used by our cousins who emigrated to Mexico around 1897. This was the spelling used in the Turkish empire which encompassed Lebanon before World War I. Other Dibs in places like Brazil and Guadalajara, Mexico, used the spelling Dipp.

During my trips to Istanbul, I observed that many Arabic names such as Ayoub, and Ghaleb, where written and pronounced Eyup, and Galip. When I investigated that, I was told that these were the same Ayoub, and Ghaleb Arabic names, but that in Turkish, being a very soft spoken language, it was common to replace the B at the end of the name , with a P. Therefore Dib in Arabic became Dip in Turkish.

The Lattouf name

Hanna Dib was known as Hanna Dib Lattouf on records. It is still unknown why the 'Lattouf' was part of his name, but it does appear on his vital records in Tripoli in the first and only census taken in Lebanon in 1932, as well as in the baptismal / marriage records of the church of Saint Michael in Koubbeh, Tripoli. The "Lattouf" name was dropped from the family name after around 1920, but this may just had to do with how a certain priest recorded names in baptismal / marriage records.

Lattouf could have been the name of Hanna's grandfather, with Dib being the name of Hanna's father, as was the naming tradition in Lebanon in the old days. This is a weak assumption since common naming conventions, at the time, would have "Lattouf" as the family name instead of "Dib", and "Dib" only the father of Hanna. Among all of our relatives, the family name is consistently "Dib" or "Hanna Dib", and not Lattouf.

A better explanation is that 'Lattouf', meaning a 'nice man', could have been a nick name for a trait of Hanna's personality. A similar situation may have occurred with the name of Hanna Dib el-Helou of Koubbeh.

The Elias Youssef Lattouf Family

On 5 September 1909, a census was taken of the Maronite families of Haret es-Saydeh, and it features, in addition to the Hanna Dib Lattouf, another Lattouf family, but I think it was not related to the Hanna Dib Lattouf family.

Elias Youssef Lattouf - Born in 1849 - in 1909 he was 60 years old, and resided in Haret es-Saydeh and was 60 years old - His wife was Mariam Ibrahim Boustani (50 yr. old). Note that at that time (1909) Khalil Hanna Dib Lattouf was 67 years old, but his was referred to as Khalil Hanna Dib Lattouf, and not just Lattouf, therefore, I am assuming this Elias Youssef Lattouf may not be related to our family.

His son was named Youssef Elias Youssef Lattouf, 27 year old (in 1909) - married to Katherine Metri Oukani ( 21 years old), and had two children : Hanna Youssef Elias Youssef Lattouf - 8 years old, and Jamileh Youssef Elias Youssef Lattouf - 6 years old. I have found no other mentions of these Lattouf's.

The Helou name

There is a Helou family in Tripoli, Koubbe. The Patriarch of this family is Ibrahim Dib el-Helou meaning "Abraham Dib the sweet". My grandmother told my mother that Ibrahim el-Helou was from the Dib family, but since he had a very sweet tongue (never spoke bad about anyone or anything), they gave him the nickname "Helou", and that eventually became his family name.

By the same token, Hanna Dib could have been a very "nice" person, so they nicknamed him Hanna Dib Lattouf, or Hanna Dib the nice man. The Lattouf name, thank God, was never carried as our family name, like the Helou's. This way, family roots research becomes a little easier.

Our great-grandfather was known as Hanna Dib Lattouf, and Ibrahim el-Helou as Ibrahim Dib el-Helou, but later, Ibrahim was referred to only as Ibrahim el-Helou (Ibrahim the sweet). He was a great man, from a line of people who were part of the government, so they named one of the streets in Koubbe after him. That was the only street in Koubbe named after a person.

Ibrahim el-Helou, lived near my grandfather in Koubbeh . He was also married to Rogina Barquet (Baraket) from Koubbe. Salim (Salomon Dip), the son of Hanna Dib, also married from the same Barquet family in Koubbe (Catalina 'Ruda' Barquet). Ruda's name is Arabic is "Reda", but in the Lebanese dialect she was called Ruda. But, in Spanish it sounded like "roueta", or wheel, so she adopted the Spanish name Catalina. I Was told that her mother was also from the Dib family (Helou or Lattouf ? unsure).

Ibrahim Helou's grandfather was Hanna Dib el-Helou. From the baptismal records in St. Michael's church of Koubbe (Tripoli), I discovered that Hanna Dib el-Helou had many children. Five were named: Khalil, Fares, Youssef, Salim, and Asaad. This is a striking exact resemblance of the names of the children of Hanna Dib Lattouf's children. This may further support that Hanna Dib el-Helou was from the same Dib family, since family members tended to marry from same families, and use similar names for their children.

On my trip to Tripoli, Lebanon in August 1999, I contacted Ibrahim's son named Helou Helou (double sweet) who is a bank branch manager in Tripoli. I contacted him to see if I could expand my family tree to beyond Hanna Dib Lattouf, or at least to a brother or a cousin of Hanna Dib Lattouf who could have been a grandfather of Ibrahim Dib el-Helou.

To my disappointment, I was told that the Dib el-Helou family was from the famous Helou family, and not from the Dib's family. Ibrahim's great grandfather had a problem that every time he had a son, the son would die as an infant. He was told, according to an old Lebanese superstition, that if he called his son after a wild animal, that he would survive. So he called his next son "Dib", after the wolf, and because Dib was not a Christian name, he instead added the name of St. John to his name, and the son became known as "Hanna Dib el-Helou". This Hanna Dib el-Helou survived and had 24 children (I was able to see in the church records information on only five sons, see the history of the Hanna Dib el-Helou family).

Although the Hanna Dib el-Helou / Hanna Dib Lattouf relation did not materialize, it may explain that my great grandfather was called Hanna Dib Lattouf, to distinguish him from Hanna Dib el-Helou family, both of which resided in the same "Koubbeh" and "Haret es-Saydeh" quarters of Tripoli. It is worth noting that the church baptismal/marriage records sometime referred to a "plain" Dib, without identifying him as a Helou or Lattouf, but upon deeper investigation, I discovered that these "plain" Dibs were Dib el-Helous. Our Dibs in the church records, at least to the level of Hanna Dib Lattouf's children, were all identified with the Lattouf name.

I am still not convinced that the Helous and the Dibs are not related, but it will take more research to either prove or disprove such relation

Turkish Family Origin

It was told that Hanna, and his children, came from or were born in Istanbul, Turkey. In fact, my grandfather Khoury Hanna Dib , used to say to my newly-wed mother, in Turkish, " Turksheh Beleyrum, Arabshe Beleyrum ". During my trips to Istanbul in 1994, I learned that this translated to " I speak Turkish, and I speak Arabic ". This may not mean that he was born in Turkey, rather he just spoke Turkish, but so did people who lived in his times under Turkish dominion in Tripoli, Lebanon.

My cousin Angele Youssef Elias Hanna Dib told me that she heard from her father Youssef that the Dibs came from an area in Turkey called "Asia Sophia". I have inquired about this Asia Sophia area without success. Most likely, it is the historic area of the "Aya Sophia Church" which was converted to a mosque by the Turks.

Information about the Ottoman Empire, can be obtained from the archives in Turkey by writing to:
General Directorate of Population and Citizenship Affairs, Ministry of Internal Affairs, TC Icisleri Bakanligi, Nufas ve Vatandaslik, Icisleri Gn. Md., Bakanlikar, Turkey.

Family Names Customs

It was not until circa 1920, that the Turkish President Ataturk ordered Turkish citizens to assume family names. This did not effect the Dip's who left Turkey before that time.

Lebanese Family Origin

The family originated in Aakoura / Keserwan, Lebanon and later, in the year 1610, settled in Dlebta / Keserwan. This family, according to Father Hattouni, has a branch that settled in Tripoli, Lebanon, which is Hanna Dib Lattouf's family branch hometown, in spite of the Istanbul residency.

From the marriage records of St Michael church in Koubbeh, It seems there was in Koubbeh some Abdallah son of Ibrahim Mhanna, whose daughter Susan married in 1912, to a Michael son of Youssef Ibrahim from Memneh, Akkar. This is the only reference I found about a Mhanna in Koubbeh, could it be that this was a Dib Mhanna from Dlebta ?

From this great Dib Mhanna family descend many priests, monks, and nuns, and most recently Boutros Dib , the late Maronite Bishop of Cairo, Egypt (1881-1965).

I have not yet been able to connect Hanna Dib Lattouf, with his ancestors in the Dib Mhanna family, I am just assuming that Hanna is from that Tripoli branch of the Dib Family for many reasons:

First, is that he was Maronite (There are some other Dibs who are Greek Orthodox, and others even Moslem). Maronite is the religious sect of the ancient Dib family mentioned in Father Hattouni's book.

Second, as per my aunt Margo, the wife of Youssef Khoury Hanna Dib, Khoury Hanna used to tell her that we had over 40 nuns and priests in our family. Well, the known priests in our branch were , besides Khoury Hanna himself: Emilio Julian Dip, and Guillermo Salomon Dip. Whereas the nuns were Eva Saad daughter of Amira Khoury Hanna Dib, and Antoinette Nasser, daughter of Emilie Elias Dib. The remaining 35 priests and nuns must be from the Dib Mhanna family of Dlebta.

Third, my father Dr. Maurice Khoury Hanna Dib, in his vast travels, met Bishop Boutros Dib in Cairo, who told him that our two families were related. Maurice also was taken by a friend who lived in Jounieh, to Dlebta, where he was introduced to some Dibs there, who told him that we were related to them.

Fourth, as per my cousin Angele Youssef Elias Hanna Dib, her father Youssef told her that the family went from Turkey to Aakoura, Lebanon, then had a fight with someone there, and then moved to Tripoli where they were the first Maronite family in Tripoli. If this is true, then the Turkish origin may be so far in time because Maronites had been in Tripoli for a long time.

In fact the church of Saydeh (The church of the Virgin Mary) in the area where Hanna Dib Lattouf lived, is over 700 years old. It has two alters, as it was used, separately, by both Maronites and Catholic Syriacs. Syriac is the old language of the Maronites, but the Syriacs are a different sect, although they are Catholic like the Maronites.

I read, in the History of Helou family book, about some Syriacs being in charge of that church and having had a disagreement with some Maronites who took over that church properties after them, at the days of Emir Bachir Chehab.

As we will see below, the Aakoura origin dates back to earlier than 1610. Therefore, there is some time inconsistency here. The important thing here is that our Dib family branch has a connection with Aakoura,regardless of it happening before the Turkey migration or after.

Fifth, that the Dib Mhanna family used "very few" common first names, such as Elias, Youssef, and Hanna. These first names were given extensively in our family branch.

Family Religious Sect

The religious sect linkage is not very reliable, since in the past, and under the Moslem Turkish rule, many Dibs could have changed their sect to Moslem for fear of oppression. In fact I met some Moslem Dip's in Istanbul, who had a grandfather by the name of 'Moussa', another common name in the Dib family of Aakoura/Dlebta. These Moslem Turkish Dip's have no relatives in Turkey today, only two brothers and their few children. They remember that their father's relatives had to flee Turkey in the old days for some reason, but that the grandfather was very industrious, and had a large manufacturing business.

Lord Kinross, in his book titled "The Ottoman Centuries" ( Morrow Quill Paperbacks, New York, 1977 ), describes the Turkish- born cavalrymen called the Sipahis ( or Sipahioglu in Turkish ). These Sipahis were authorized to collect taxes from the peasants in return for the Sipahis military service and those of their own horsemen. These Sipahis were allotted lands and fiefs, and formed the bulk of the Turkish army, at the times of Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror in the mid 1400's. But the army's main strength laid with the Janissaries, the infantry Christian-born slave force. As per this Turkish Moussa Dip I met in Istanbul, the Sipahis revolted in the mid 1800's against the Sultan, and were dispersed and sent to exile. His grandfather was one of those Sipahioglu's who were exiled to the coastal area of the Black Sea. This may shed some lights on the Christian Dip family prosperity in Turkey, and their subsequent retreat from Turkey, but further research is needed in this area.

On my trip to Mexico City in October 1997, I met some other Moslem Dip's, who say their fathers came from near Ramallah in Palestine, and spoke Turkish. They also exhibit some familiar Dib names in family, such as Soraya, Amira, etc.

Just like there may have been some Maronite Dib's who converted to Islam for fear of persecution, there may have been other Dib's who converted to Greek Orthodox or other Christian sects, for various reasons. One reason could be that they settled in a town where the only church there was, was an Orthodox church, so they had to make do with that, and their lineage became baptized as Orthodox.

Lebanese Families from Turkey

It is a known fact that, because of Moslem persecution of Christians in Turkey, many famous families in Lebanon came from Turkey, these include : Gemayel, Pharaon, Dib, Kassargi, and Da'ouk. In the "Hakleh History" book, it is also said that the Sabanji family is a branch of the Maronite Dib Mhanna family. It may be worth noting that the Sabanji family in Turkey today, is one of the richest families in the entire state of Turkey, owning many large banks, home appliance manufacturing, and car dealerships.

Dip Migration to Mexico

Ten to twelve years later, Khalil, and Youssef , emigrated to Mexico, to join their brother Salim.

They all used Turkish passports on which the family name was spelled Dip. Therefore they became known as Salomon, Jose, and Julian Dip.

The trials and tribulations of the emigrants are countless. When the Salomon emigrated to Mexico in 1897, he was already married to Ruda Barquet from Koubbeh, and had three young children : Mariana (born 1892), Amelia (born 1896), and the infant Jamileh (born that year, 1897).

Note: All Three Mexican Dip brothers had daughters named "Amelia", and a fourth brother (Elias) who stayed in Tripoli, had a daughter named "Emelie", the french pronounciation of Amelia. As per the Lebanese naming tradition, "Amelia" must have been the name of Hanna Dib Lattouf's mother (to be verified).

Ruda Barquet, Salomon's wife, stayed in Tripoli with her three daughters. They stayed, as was customary, in the house of her parent-in-law. Salomon was a very handsome 25 years young man, and as such, beautiful Mexican women started hovering around him. When his brothers Julian and Jose joined him in Mexdico, they saw that as a scandal. Julian was a very religious man, so he wrote to Ruda that she must come to Mexico and join her husband before she loses him. Ruda's father-in-law advised her against travelling since she had an infant (Jamileh) who could not withstand the sea voyage. When Julian's letter arrived to Ruda, she told her father-in-law Hanna, that if he would not let her travel and join her husband, she would throw herself in the sea to die.

Hanna capitulated, and Ruda, Marianna, and Amelia, joined Salomon in 1899. The infant daughter Jamileh stayed in Tripoli, in the custody of her grandparents Hanna Dib and Mariam Faddoul. In 1910, Hanna Dib (and his wife) passed away. Salomon's infant daughter was taken by to be cared for by a woman who was in the service of Hanna Dib and his wife. When Salomon and Ruda subsequently went to Lebanon to get their daughter from that woman, the woman claimed that the girl died sometime ago. Salomon and Ruda could not do anything about it, but believed that the girl was still alive and that the woman did not want to give her back. This Dib cousin / aunt of ours, we will never know. She could have led a whole different life as part of another family in Tripoli.

By the time Khalil (Julian) and Youssef (Jose) joined Salim (Salomon), Salomon, after less than one year in Mexico, was already a rich man. He had an established store. His brothers had to start from scratch and became traveling salesman, as was the norm for most Lebanese and Syrian emigrants at the time.

Jose was a very strong man. Our Mexico cousins tell tales about his strength. One such tale was that while in his store, a thief walked in and was stealing mechandize, and threatening to make trouble. Jose approached him, grabbed him, and threw him in the air. He landed outside on the street outside the store. I guess afterward no other bandito tried to steal from or threaten the Dip's of Zacatecas.

Another tale about Jose Dip, was that one day, a Polish person passed by zacatecas as a road show. This Pollack was so strong, he would pull a car through a chain, with his teeth. This Pollack entered the store and challenged Jose to an arms wrestle. Jose beat him se fast that the Pollack could not beleive it. He accused Jose of using some trick because no-one could ever beat him. I guess, after that, no other Pollack (or bandito) ever challenged Jose Dip the almighty.

Khalil (or Julian) emigrated with his wife, and his two year old son Salomon (named after his uncle Salomon) who was born in Lebanon. Little Salomon went to school in Zacatecas, where at age of eight, he was a classmate of Celia, daughter of his uncle Salomon Dip. Little Celia refused to admit that little Salomon was her cousin because she was rich, and he was poor. She used to say that little Salomon was from another Dip family, which was poor. Hers was a rich Dip family. In due time, little Salomon became best friends with little Celia, and best friend, later, with Wasfi Muhech, Celia's husband.

Julian and Jose slowly made their fortunes, although never became as rich as their brother Salomon was. But little Salomon had a penchant for nusiness. At age 15, he already had a shoe store in Zacatecas. When the civil war erupted in Mexico, his peasant customers all left their fields, and went to war. They needed shoes in order to fight, but had no money to pay for them. Little Salomon sold them shoes on credit, and his financial situation deteriorated, but the peasants were able to fight for their country with shoes on their feet.

When the civil war ended, these honest peasants all returned home and started paying little Salomon for the credits he extended them. He became rich overnight, sitting on a large fortune. He even purchased 15,000 acres of farm land in Zacatecas. The Mexican governement, however, in its effort to repatriate feudal lands back to peasants, took away all of Salomon's hard earned farm land.

The elder Salomon died young, at age 37. Little salomon was by now married to Esperanza Bustani, a Lebanese emigre from Puebla, Mexico (niece of Ibrahim Boustani of Tripoli). Little Salomon had at this time three children, Guillermo and two sisters, and he was poor again and very upset about it. Esperanza worried what would become of the family should her husband Salomon die young like his uncle Salomon. So Salomon decided to move from Zacatecas to San Luis Potosi which better schooling for his children. The descendents of his uncle Jose also moved to San Luis Potosi.

Little Salomon started to make money again, and after his death in San Luis Potosi, his (now rich) family bequested his home, which was on Abosolo street, in the historic district of downtown San Luis, to the Archdiosis of SLP. He also left his children a huge farm Ranch, where, until this day, all his descendents continue to meet and eat together every Sunday after mass.

Little Salomon's children were very smart and industrious, like their father. They went into business together and made a very comfortable living for themselves. The smartest business person of them, I am told, is my cousin Marta. Although Khalil and Elias did not do bad themselves. Marta, Khalil, and Elias had a company that manufactured auto buses in San Luis. Elias continued in this line of business, and became the head of the truckers union in Mexico (Union de camionistas, or as I jokingly called it, with my bad Spanish, union de communista). Elias later was elected as a federal deputy in Mexico. His eldest son took over the Shipphing and courrier business they have (Paceteria Mexicana).

Jose Dip's children in San Jose never made it to riches. I met one of his descendents, Antonio Abraham Jose Dip in San Luis Potosi in 1997. Antonio was a retired Physical Education teacher in San Luis Potosi. The two sides of the family in SLP (Jose's side, and Julian's side) were not in close contact in 1997. I am proud to have made them get closer during my trip to San Luis Potosi in 1997.

The Dips of Mexico, like many other Lebanese immigrants, had to endure many civil wars in Mexico. They were mostly merchants and store keepers. While the Mexicans were fighting or hiding, the Lebanese storekeepers made sure their stores stayed open for business. They amassed great fortunes, as they were among the few people who did business during the war. A few Mexicans hate the Lebanese and call them opportunist, but the vast majority of the people of Mexico have a lot of admiration to and are thankful for the Lebanese who kept supplying the population with basic foodstuff during the many civil wars in Mexico.

The Mexican Dips, also like most Lebanese immigrants to Mexico, married with Lebanese immigrants. Some married with Syrian immigrants as Lebanon and Syria were considered one country then. As a matter of fact, Tripoli used to be called Trablous el-Sham (Tripoli of Damascus). My grandparents use to call the Lebanese currency "Lira Souri".

When the supply of Lebanese / Syrian spouses was not available, it was OK to marry a Spanish Mexican. However, the ones who married Indian Mexicans, or as they are called Indigent Mexicans, were shunned and considered not to be part of the family any longer.

For my research about the Mexican, and other Spanish, Dip families, I had to learn some Spanish, and compiled a short Spanish Genealogy vocabulary.

Dibs who remained in Tripoli, Lebanon

One brother "Ibrahim" died young, unmarried.

My grandfather, who was probably the youngest, was born circa 1874. The Mexican brothers emigrated in 1897. My grandfather was 23 years old at the time. My grandfather's name was "Fares" which meant "Cavalry man" (notice that his brother Salomon was known to have good equestrian skills). Fares married a beautiful and rich young woman named Julia el-Andary (or Tannouri, from Tannourine). It was told that he was a shoemaker.

A shoemaker (Kendarji, in Turkish) is someone who made shoes, as opposed to Atakji (someone who repaired old shoes). Most Maronite residents of Koubbeh were shoemakers, and had their places of business in a special market of Tripoli called "Souk el-Kendarjieh".

Fares Hanna Dib, after marrying his rich wife, amassed vast parcels of land which was probably another reason he never thought of emigrating later.

Julia was the daughter of a Lebanese immigrant who went back to Lebanon. She was born in Buenos Aeries, Argentina. When she was very young, she told us, she sang the Argentinean National Anthem in the presence of the President of Argentina.

My grandfather became a priest after marriage, in 1905. As customary, he changed his name to Saint John's name (Mar Youhanna), Hanna. It may have been also in honor of his father's name. He became known as Khoury Youhanna Dib (or just Khoury Hanna). During World War I, there was a famine in Lebanon, and in order to feed his family, Khoury Hanna had to sell most of his properties except for a nice house and a garden in Koubbeh, Tripoli.

When the Khoury Went Inside the Mosque

My grandfather, Khoury Hanna, had a cordial relation with his Moslem neighbors, not sure if it was by choice or out of fear. Anyhow, there's a well know story about him going inside the Moslem Mosque one day. You might say what's the big deal about going inside a Mosque? Well, it was a big deal for a Christian. Since everybody knew everybody in that small town, if a Christian went inside a Mosque that was cause for curiosity (although it was not specifically prohibited for a Christian). But to see a Maronite Priest, in his priestly clothes, enter a Mosque, that was a sight for sore eyes, not to say, a lesson in religious tolerance.

Khoury Hanna, as the earliest inhabitant of Koubbeh, had very close relations with the Moslems who subsequently moved to Koubbeh, along with other Christian. One special close friend was his neighbor "Abou Said Tanbouzi". Tanbouzi was a very rich Moslem and had a large house and garden (larger than Khoury Hanna's) right across the street from Khoury Hanna. Both shared a passion for gardening, my grandfather on his own, and Tanbouzi using a Moslem Laborer called "Abou Nouri".

Tanbouzi was very rich, but also very careful with his money, a typical Tripoli Sunni Moslem. He used to go to the store holding a small dish and ask the store owner to fill it up with "two Francs" worth of Yogurt for himself. I guess Christians and other Moslems bought yogurt by the kilogram / liter and not by the dish-full. Anyhow Tanbouzi managed to get his children to the best universities, but never escaped my grandfather's criticism about the dish-full of yogurt.

One winter day, Tanbouzi had gone to the nearby Mosque to pray (Moslems pray 5 times a day). His wife who stayed home with her infant, needed to go to the yard to get some wood or charcoal for heating. As she stepped outside of her house, the wind slammed the door shut, with the infant alone inside, near the fireplace. The mother panicked for the safety of her infant, and started screaming for help from Khoury Hanna.

Khoury Hanna ran to the Mosque, dressed as a priest, went inside near Tanbouzi, who was kneeling in prayer. Khoury Hanna whispered what happened in his ears, and asked him for his house keys to take to his wife. Tanbouzi gave Khoury the keys and went on praying (Moslem do not like to interrupt their praying no matter what). Khoury Hanna ran home and gave the keys to the Hajjeh wife of Tanbouzi, and she was able to go inside and tend to her infant's safety.

The entire population of Koubbeh was astonished twice that day, once at the sight of a daring Christian Priest, dashing into their Mosque fully dressed as a priest. Second, they were astonished at the boundless friendship and trust of this Moslem and this Christian.

Khoury Hanna also had a very beautiful prayer voice. He used to hold praying contests in his house between himself and the Sheik ALi Moussa, the Moslem Sheik of the Mosque of Koubbeh, who had equally magnificent praying voice. People passing by my grandfather's house would be astonished to hear Maronite prayers and Moslem prayers coming out of the same house, and in very beautiful and harmonic voices.

Short Dip Migration to Mexico

Elias had amassed fortunes in America (Mexico ?), and had land properties in Tripoli, near the current "International Fair of Tripoli". This land, it was told, was so large, that "one knew where it started, but no one knew where it ended". After Elias's and Asaad death, their brother Fares (Khoury Hanna) was the legal guardian of their families and their properties. Then, there was some Moslem from Tripoli from the "Babba" family, who threatened and insisted to buy that huge property. Khoury Hanna advised Aniseh, the wife of Elias, to sell to this Babba out of the usual fear that Christians held from the Moslems in those days (even today, unfortunately). Aniseh accepted to sell it for the little money offered, but asked God to punish this Moslem for the injustice he did her family. Shortly afterward, this "Babba" fell into his toilet (a hole in the ground) and died.

As per Angele Youssef Elias Hanna Dib, her grandmother, Aniseh Samaan, used to say that Khoury Hanna sold that land, and , as he was in charge of her family property and finances, wasted that money for educating his son Youssef. This story was not corroborated by the children of Emelie, who said the land was sold for fear of threats of death. Anyway, how much did it cost Khoury Hanna to educate his son Youssef (who later became a famous lawyer in Tripoli), and did Khoury Hanna not have land properties of his own (or through his marriage to the rich emigrant from Argentina called Julia el-Andary)?

I personally remember my parents telling me that Khoury Hanna owned olive groves properties that extended from where there used to be a soccer (football) field at the edge of Koubbeh, and going all the way to the adjacent village of "Fouwar". That was a lot of land. I was told he had to sell it during World War I in order to provide for his family. His wife Khouriyeh Julia still had gold Turkish coins as late as the 1960's.

Dip Migration to Brazil

Another son of Elias, Gergi (Georges) was drafted to World War I and never came back. He was lost in the that war.

Another son of Elias, Youssef Elias Hanna Dib stayed in Tripoli, and administered the estates of the church of Haret es-Saydeh next to Koubbe. Haret es-Saydeh is where the Hanna Dib Lattouf family resided originally, before my grandfather moved to Koubbeh.

Elias had also two daughters Marie Elias Hanna Dib (emigrated to Canada) and Emelie Elias Hanna Dib who settled in Achrafieh, Beirut. Emelie was considered the "mayor" of the family as she was the oldest. I met Emelie in the mid 1980's and she was the one who pretty much gave me all the original information on our family tree. Emelie died circa 1993, I remain indebted to her for starting me out on my family tree.

Dip Migration to Colombia, South America

Tripoli, Hanna Dib's Hometown

The original house of Hanna Dib in Haret Saydeh. Picture taken in 1999

Time and war torn house - view of second floor	The streets in the area are all winding Turkish Steps

The house is in "Haret es-Saydeh" or the "quarter of the Madonna (the Virgin Mary)". The area was called after the church of the Virgin Mary which is on that street, almost adjacent to the Hanna Dib Lattouf house. The streets in that area, being on a hill, were made of "Turkish style" stone steps, endless winding steps, for the comfort of pedestrians. There was also a paved road for carts, and later for cars.

Church of Saydet el-Hara in Bab el-Tebbaneh, Tripoli, Lebanon before the civil war of 1975

The church's official name is 'Saydet el-Hara', or the 'Virgin of the Quarter'. In previous centuries, the area was called 'Haret en Nasara' or the 'quarter of the Christians', because the Christian minority lived in that area of the predominantly Moslem Tripoli. (Please note that Tripoli was mostly Christian up until the days the European Crusaders were defeated by the Moslem armies from Arabia, by the end of the 13th Century).