The Abou Rjeily reference book edited at the beginning of the 20th century split
the family into five lines.
Actually, the lines differentiation became irrelevant because the community has
spread all over the world and the individuals are not aware anymore of the lines
they belong to.
First line: The Harmouch
Their ancestor is Salloum, son of Nicolas, son of Jabbour, son of Saad, son of
Yazbeck, son of Nemr, son of Farès, son of Atallah. Salloum came from Ktéléh to
Beirut at the end of the eighteenth century, where he resided in Mazraat el-Arab
and got married to Elizabeth, daughter of Harmouch. Then he went back to Ktéléh
where he got three sons: Nicolas, Bechara, and Mitri. When his sons grew up,
their mother took them back to Beirut to teach them reading and industry while
their father stayed in Ktéléh. The three children stayed for a period of time at
the house of their uncles: the Harmouch. People called them Harmouch and they
were known with this name, as well as their father.
Nicolas, the oldest son, was clever and brave. He volunteered in the attack
launched by prince Bashir el-Chéhabi the Great, on the Sanour fortress, to help
Abdallah Bacha, the governor of Akka. He showed great courage in the conquest of
the fortress. The prince made him Sheikh of Mazraat el-Arab, where he received
the seal of the Sheikhdom from Sheikh Younés Badran who married him to his
daughter Hawen. Nicolas gave birth to two sons: Asaad and Lutfallah. Once,
Prince Bashir asked him to send builders to help his men in a construction site.
Instead he sent young boys who were rejected by the prince because of their
youth. Some of his enemies denounced him to the prince who sent for him but he
did not comply and ran away.
The prince’s men followed him but he killed two of them. As he was walking in a
quarry located in the South of Beirut, he passed by some of his acquaintances
while they were cutting rocks. They asked him to help them to lift the rock. As
they were lifting, they let the rock fall and kill him. After his burial, the
man who came up with this idea went to prince Bashir to tell him the story. The
prince turned sad and ordered the man to be hanged.
Assaad and Lutfallah, Nicolas’ sons, grew up. Assaad went into politics. The
people and the government who appointed him Sheikh of Msaytbé and Mazraat
al-Arab for a long period of time loved him. Lutfallah set up in business, made
a fortune and had many sons, among them the well-known Halim Abou Rjeily
(Harmouch)..as if Heaven wanted to keep a memory of the Harmouch family through
these descendants after the first line of Harmouch disappeared.
Second line: Naoum descendants
Their ancestor is Naoum, son of Nemr, son of Farès, son of Atallah. Those who
came to Serjbal and its surroundings are from different lines. Those of the
Naoum line took the nickname of their grandfather in order to be differentiated
from their cousins. Agapios, archbishop of Tyre and its See, in the Roman
Catholic church and his brother, Father Boutros, belong to the Nahoum line.
Third line: The Slaibi
They lived in Chiyah. Their ancestor is Slaibi, son of Saber, son of Atallah,
son of Elias, son of Atallah. Many persons were known with the same name, that
is why they had to be differentiated. Their names were written with the father’s
name, the grandfather’s name and the family name. Throughout the years, the name
Slaibi became a nickname.
Fourth line: The Hajjar from Kab Elias
Their ancestor is Youssef, son of Chédid, son of Daher, son of Michael, son of
Yaghi, son of Atallah. He came first to the Bekaa, settled down in Maksi (near
Kab Elias) where he married a woman called Hajariya, who was the widow of a man
from Furzul. They had four children: Murad, Saad, Makhoul and Abdallah. Youssef
died when they were young. Their mother took them to Kab Elias. As their father
was unknown there, people called them with their mother’s name: Hajjaria. Then
the name Hajjaria became Hajjar. They were known as Hajjar, as well as their
brothers from their mother’s side.
Fifth line: Abou Rjeily in Kfarzabad
Their ancestor is Elias, son of Yaghi, son of Michael, son of Farès. He was one
of the men of prince Farès el-Lamaï in Ras el-Metn. One day, while he was taking
care of the prince’s mule, it kicked him. He hit it with a piece of iron. He
feared the prince’s anger, so he ran away to Zahlé where he resided in the
Musallem’s house. After some time, he got married to the daughter of Hatem
Musallem and became a trustee on their properties in Douris (near Baalbeck).
Meanwhile, the famous battle between prince Bashir el-Shahabi and Sheikh Bashir
el-Junblati took place in 1824. Mount Lebanon was split in two factions and the
consequences of this war were not to be foreseen. The two brothers Mitri Nabhan
and Merhi Nabhan agreed to join the two factions: the first one joined prince
Bashir el-Chéhabi’s faction and the second one joined Sheikh Bashir
el-Junblati’s faction. Prince Bashir el-Chéhabi won the war and the Lamaï prince
who controls Ras el-Metn, ordered to seize the properties of the Junblati
faction. The village of Kfarzabad in the Bekaa belonged to some supporters of
the Junblati party. When the Lamaï prince seized their properties, they asked
Mitri Nabhan to intervene for them with the prince in order to cool his anger.
They promised to give him half of the Kfarzabad crop in compensation and the
prince relented.
When the harvest was completed, Mitri Nabhan went to Kfrazabad to take his part
of the crop and resided in the house of one of the Abou Rjeilys, called Jabbour,
son of Saad, son of Jabbour, son of Saad, son of Yazbek, son of Nemr, son of
Farès, son of Atallah. Jabbour had four children: Saad, Daher, Saab and Michael.
They helped Mitri Nabhan to put up the crops. There were few Christians in
Kfarzabad. The Druze peasants threatened Jabbour’s sons and Mitri Nabhan
understood that he would not obtain the crop after all. So he wrote a letter to
prince el-Lamaï in Ras el-Metn asking for help. The prince provided him with a
group of his men and another group that came from Zahlé. The two forces met in
Tal Arjamouch, near Maalaka (in Zahléh), went into Kfarzabad where they were met
by the Druze. A battle took place, in which Jabbour showed great courage when he
attacked the Druze with swords. A man from Zahlé, called Makhoul Tabbah,
supported him. The Druze were defeated. Since that time, the number of the
Christians increased in Kfarzabad. Elias, who lived in Douris, heard about the
battle and was looking forward to meet his cousin. So he came to Kfarzabad.
After spending many days with his relatives, they refused that he goes back to
Douris, so they accompanied him and brought his family back. He settled down in
Kfarzabad with his three children: Youssef, Ibrahim and Farès. One of his
descendants is Salim Nassif who lived in Zahlé. Elias’s coming to Kfarzabad was
the reason for which this line of the Abou Rjeily family settled down there
because the line of Jabbour Saad disappeared.
Many members of this family became prominent. Among them, Theodosios, Greek
Orthodox patriarch (58-70) and Agabios, archbishop of Tyre in the Roman Catholic
church (60s and 70s)