Posted By:RK Markus
Subject:Re: Trying To Locate My Lahoud Ancestors From Hatchit Lebanon
Post Date:August 07, 2012 at 23:32:08
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Forum:Lebanon Genealogy Forum
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You will find few, if any, Lebanese records/resources online. And even if they did exist, few people would be able to read and translate them. The reason why this is so is because, depending upon the era and religious affiliation (I assume at least some of your ancestors were Maronite Christians coming from Hadchit?), a researcher would have to be at least semi-literate in Arabic AND Syriac AND Ottoman Turkish. Despite these limitations, research in Lebanon is possible if you follow a series of steps- the first two outlined below:

When conducting Lebanese research, the first thing you should do is to determine the EXACT location. "Hadchit, Lebanon" is an incomplete description for the location. It would be similar to someone saying that they were going to do research in Maryville, United States. Finding the exact location is critical when conducting Lebanese research, because oftentimes records in Lebanon will be housed at the municipality, district, governorate, or federal level (to make it less confusing, you could compare it to city, county, state, and federal government in the United States). The exact location for Hadchit is:

Hadchit, Bsharri District, North Governorate, Lebanon.

The next step is to determine which era to pursue first. You need to decide if you will begin your research by conducting post-1924 research OR research prior to 1924, because the records you'll need for both eras are housed in different countries (Lebanon and Turkey); those records are then spread throughout those countries in a number of different repositories. For example, if you conduct post-1924 research, you will find those sources directly in Lebanon- such as ecclesiastical records and civil registration. However, if you pursue research prior to 1924, the vast majority of your research will be in Ottoman Turkish records in Turkey with additional ecclesiastical records in Lebanon.

So...what era will you begin searching in?