The origins of the HOBEIKA family

آدميون نحن ولنفس الأصل ننتمي فكيف نهنأ بالعيش والغير يألم

The name hobeika comes from the village of Beit Habbak in the region of Byblos. This Habbaki family is originally from the prestigious “Chemor” family of Kfarhata-Zgharta. The Chemors of Kfarhata have the title of Sheiks. They were the governors of Akoura in the mountains of Byblos between 1211 and 1633 and the rulers of Zgharta-Zawiya between 1641 and 1747. Their ancestors were the Ghassanids, a Christian tribe that dwelled in the Arabian Peninsula. After being displaced from Yemen because of a natural disaster, they settled in the Houran region of Syria. They have allied themselves to the Byzantines as protectors of the South. Past the Islamic conquest of the region, they sought refuge in Lebanon. Their first stay was in Akoura (Byblos district) then they moved to Kfarhata in 1641. At the beginning of the eighteenth century, some troubles occurred between the Sheiks Chemor and the Daher family. As a result a member of the Chemors was compelled to flee the village and take refuge in a small over sighted village in the uphill of Byblos, Beit Habbak. He went there with his four sons and his unique daughter. The latter got married with the son of a commoner although her family did not accept it. Her brothers had killed her husband and were once again obliged to run away from the village. The first one went to the mountainous village of Baskinta and because he was coming from Beit Habbak, he was called “Habbaki” which with time became “Hobeika”. The second one, Ferjane Chemor, had the courage to stay in Beit Habbak. Today, his offspring is known as the family “Ferjane”. The last two brothers, Farhat and Gharios went to the suburbs of Beirut where water is available and citrus trees are abundant. Farhat Chemor is today survived by a large family in Hadath today known as the family “Farhat”. Gharios Chemor went to Chiyah in 1757. His son Antoun took the name of his father as his family name like his uncles. We don’t know if Antoun had brothers or sisters but we are sure that he had two sons: Fares (confirmed on the 19 April 1849) and Youssef (confirmed in 1852).


There is a book in Arabic on the origin and genealogy of the HOBEIKA family, written by Monseigneur Boutros Hobeika in Baskinta. It's in Arabic and very few copies remain in circulation today....( I have one ) Monseigneur Boutros Hobeika lived in Baskinta between the late 1880s and the 1950s....[ Avec l’école fondée par sa grâce monseigneur Boutros hobeika en
1906 et devenue en 1947 le Collège Saint Pierre des Frères des ecoles Chrétiennes a Baskinta . ]


Interesting link to KSA...where our "Tribe" might have come from.... prior to landing in North Lebanon, Jbeil, Mount Lebanon, the South and the Beqaa....



Abar al Hubaykah, Saudi Arabia......



http://www.traveljournals.net/explore/saudi_arabia/map/p233009/abar_al_hubay
kah.html