Monday, February 17, 2014

Traveling By Land





Before we set off on our big sea adventure I wanted to take some time to spend with family and friends. We set off on Friday for Ozark, Alabama to meet second cousins on my father' mother side, Saliba family. This side of the family makes up for and lacking family I have. I am my father' only child and my grandparents only grandchild. My grandmother Nell was the baby of five children of an imigrant merchant from Lebenon in the early 1900s. My oldest cousin Fred resighted some great stories of how my grandmother' father got here to American and returned to his homeland to retrieve his sibilings from German invasion and returned by way of the famaous sister ship of the Titantic.

 

He became a very successful merchant but met an early death when murdered by a cousin in a mysterious way. Stories still roam the lands of my great-grandfather death and his mysterious younger brother possible revenge 
  
He was killed the same night the local opera house burned down and was a few months prior to the birth of my grandmother. 

My grandmother' oldest brother, Fred, took over the business with help from his uncles and the buisness grew over the years and the Saliba name became very well known all over Alabama 

Fred died at a young age as well from a heart attack and once again the the oldesr son took the lead when of age to continue the growth of the stores. 

My grandmother married a nice looking Welch English man and moved to Texas to raise her sons and eventually the Barkett Saliba family lost contact with each other. Hopefully this wont happen again and the new generations will keep in touch and keep the old stories alive. 
 


The next leg of our road trip is to take my son and his wife down to Key West enjoying the trip along the way. 

I want to thank my cousin Mary Sue Barkett-Switzer and her witty husband Don for taking such great care of us and having us in their beautiful home. What a treat it was to stay in such a lovely historic home. 

Thanks to the others, Jan and Fred for telling the entertaining Stories. They were great. 

Oh and Sue, it was lovely to look into your eyes and be taken back to when i last saw my grandmother when I was nine years old. It just warmed my heart to see her again through you. 



1 comment:

  1. Thanks for the kind words about your visit to Ozark Tracie. We certainly enjoyed learning about you and then of course, meeting you. You and your family are always welcome back home. BE CAREFUL on the high seas!

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