Chapter 7 The Jerwan Family History

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES Via email from Raja Shehadi - 11-10-03      The name of Shakir Jerwan's mother is "Farida Salibi". She married "Reverend Saliba Jerwan" and had four boys: Amin, Samuel, Shakir and Fuad. They had three daughters: Sarah, Alice and Edna. Alice is my grandmother. All these brothers have their father's name as their middle name, as is the custom in the Middle East. Shakir and Fuad were involved in Aviation, I am not aware if any of the other brothers were also involved with aviation. Samuel was a pharmacist and a chiropractor. Do you know whether Amin ever worked in Aviation? Please let me Know.      Saliba Jerwan was the first native-born evangelical protestant pastor to be ordained in the Middle East by the American Presbyterian Mission. He is credited with starting several evangelical churches in Lebanon and Syria. Farida, his wife, was a well-known Ophthalmologist at that time and worked mainly in the mountains of Lebanon. Most of their lives, and during the upbringing of their children, they lived in the village of "Btalloun" that lies in the Shouf mountains east of Beirut. This is currently about forty minutes by car east of Beirut.      When the Jerwan brothers are mentioned it should always be remembered that these pioneers were hard working, motivated, and well focused on their objectives owing to their faith that they had learned from their father. Rev. Jerwan continued to teach them through letters during their early years in the USA. Those early days in the US were hard and they had little money. Notes from my great grandfather's library indicate that he sent money to them and letters encouraging them to remain in the faith and to cast their entire burden on Jesus. There is an unfinished letter, (or possibly a scratch copy), of a letter to Fuad written in 1910 expressing the above-mentioned. My great grandfather died shortly after that letter was written in 1910. I know that in 1895 Amin was in the USA, and that in 1897 Fuad and Amin were both in the USA with according to available addresses. I am still not sure when they had arrived in this country. Please see if you can help out in this area. I may contact INS and see if they can help.

 

MARIE SURVIVES THE TITANIC DISASTER      Shakir's brother Amin, married Swiss-born Marie Thuillard in July, 1910. Marie was returning from a visit to her family in Switzerland on the ill-fated Titanic when disaster struck. Her story is told in fascinating detail on this website, Encyclopedia Titanica. Happily, she was among those who survived and was able to tell her story. This unique resource, while not dealing directly with Shakir, is well worth visiting for its own intrinsic interest. You can access it by clicking on the title above.      If time permits, and if you are interested in the other features which are offered on this website, you can access it by clicking on the name of the site above. Its coverage of the subject is encyclopedic for sure.

 

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