8/6/2019 2010 07 July - The First

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/2010-07-july-the-first 1/2

The FirstRandy Couri

Who was the first person to emigrate from the village of Aytou, Lebanon? That is a tough question

to answer and one which is bound to cause some controversy. We in Peoria have always been toldthat there were three men, Anthony LaHood, Risthum Slyman, and Faddoul Kouri, who left Aytouat about the same time and that they settled in Peoria. There has always been some confusion as to

which one of them came first. I always wondered if anyone left before them.

After much contemplation and quite a bit of research on the subject, I am ready to put my neck in anoose and commit myself to my own theories. An article was written in 1939 in which Anthony

LaHood told the reporter that he arrived in America in 1886; this is also supported by his citizenship

documents. Risthum Slyman, according to the 1910 US Census, entered the United States in 1890,

but the 1930 US Census shows that he came in 1888. My great-grandfather Faddoul Kouri,according to our family history left Lebanon a few days after his youngest daughter Thiorah was

born in March of 1889; this is also supported by the 1900 US Census. I believe Anthony LaHoodwas the first man from Aytou, Lebanon, to settle in Peoria, the home of the Itoo Society. Althoughif you remember, the question was not who was the first to come to Peoria; it was who left Aytou

first.

I found that there were a number of our ancestors who came earlier or at the same time as the

previously mentioned men. They include Yousef (Joseph) Williams –  1883 (Carl and Tom’s great-

uncle); Boutros (Peter) Maroon  –   1886 (Ray and Mike’s father); Hanna (John) Joseph –  1888

(Edmund’s grandfather); and Hanna (John) LaHood –  1889 (Lou LaHood and Katie Unes’ father).In 1886, the same year that Anthony LaHood left Aytou, two men, Tannous Yacob Elhessen (Tom

Jacob) and his brother Yousef, went to Australia. The earliest men I know of who emigrated from

Aytou, Lebanon, were Khaliel Milheim Younes (Carl and Tom’s grandfather) and his cousin,Antoun Francis Younes. Khaliel later changed his name to Khaliel (Mike) Williams.

Khaliel and Antoun left Aytou in 1881 and arrived in New Orleans, Louisiana. For a time they

peddled goods to raise money. Khaliel, not knowing he was supposed to have a peddler’s license, had a run-in with the police, and was rescued the next day by a sympathetic judge. It was soon after

this incident that they decided to leave New Orleans and began walking north. They would stop for

periods of time and peddle goods or work at odd jobs to earn money. They spent the first winter in

Effingham, Illinois. Their journey took them eventually to Green Bay, Wisconsin, and then a shorttime later to St. Paul, Minnesota. This amazing trek, all on foot, took two years, and they walked a

distance of more than 1500 miles. Antoun went back to Lebanon from either Green Bay or St. Paul.

Khaliel worked as a peddler in the St. Paul area and then worked at his first love, farming andranching. A short time after his brother Yousef arrived in Minnesota, the brothers headed west to

the Dakota Territory. Khaliel became a United States Citizen in 1886 in the city of Aberdeen in

what was then the Dakota Territory; you see it was not until three years later that South Dakotabecame a state. Let me see if I can put the year 1886 into some perspective for you. 1886 was only

ten years after Custer’s Last Stand at the Little Bighorn. Some of you knew my grandparents, Mike

and Kemla Couri. When Khaliel received his citizenship, my Gidu was one year old and my Sithu

was not born until two years later.

8/6/2019 2010 07 July - The First

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/2010-07-july-the-first 2/2

Khaliel and Yousef went back to Lebanon in about 1894 to get married. Khaliel and his wife

Katour (Catherina); Yousef and his wife Asma (Mary) along with a newborn baby, Kaukab (Ann);and Khaliel’s and Yousef ’s thirteen year-old sister Kamla (Anna) returned to the United States the

following year. Khaliel and his wife Katour eventually had ten children. They lived in various

places in Minnesota, South Dakota, and back to Minnesota. In 1909, Khaliel moved the family toland just outside the small town of Dale, North Dakota, near Standing Rock Indian Reservation.

They became homesteaders and built a sod house with walls twenty inches thick. The family livedin that home until 1921 when their son Tom built a log cabin for them. For 26 years the familyfarmed in several locations in North and South Dakota. They harvested many different varieties of 

grains, and vegetables, and they also raised hogs, dairy cattle, sheep, and horses. In 1935 Khaliel

and Katour moved back to Minnesota and lived the rest of their lives near Hopkins. Khaliel passed

away in 1948 at the age of 87. Katour was 73 when she passed away in 1949. They were loved andrespected by all who knew them.

Khaliel and Katour’s daughter, Amelia (Williams) Unes wrote a wonderful book about Khaliel and

the history of the Milheim/Williams family. The next time you see any of the grandchildren of Khaliel and Katour, Doll, Honeybee, Pat, Carl, Tom, or any of their many siblings, children, or

cousins, ask them about their grandparents. Ask them about the fantastic lives they led, and whatamazing people they were!

You must agree that Khaliel and Katour Williams, Yousef and Asma Williams, George and Anna

Abraham were true American pioneers; they farmed virgin land and helped settle some of the lastopen areas of the northern plains. In the end, when you look at what they accomplished, it was no

different than what all of our immigrant ancestors achieved; they came to a new land, worked hard,

and planted successful roots for a life full of promise and hope for their descendants…all of us.

Khaliel Williams Yousef Williams Anthony LaHood Peter Maroon

immigrated in 1881 immigrated in 1883 immigrated in 1886 immigrated in 1886

picture taken 1895 picture taken 1917 picture taken 1903 picture taken 1921

Risthum Slyman Hanna Joseph Faddoul Kouri Hanna LaHood

immigrated in 1888 immigrated in 1888 immigrated in 1889 immigrated in 1889picture taken 1900 picture taken 1900 picture taken 1890 picture taken 1903