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I have been thinking of a contribution to this site for some time, until our cousin Isam Isaac suggested that I might share some important family documents I already shared on Facebook last year. But for the sake of documenting our oral history in detail, I will share some of them with some description. These documents were preserved by my grandmother Suad Khalil Isaac (Maiden name: Abuaita) the wife of my late grandfather Nimer Nicola Issa Salameh Isaac.
The attached image (https://www.dropbox.com/s/o44ay2xsx16yzf8/IMG-001.jpg) is a scan of the oldest family photo my family still preserves. It dates back to around year 1939. It shows from left to right: Nimer Nicola Issa Isaac, Miriam Yousef Romman, Ghareba Abdelnoor Isaac, Issa Nicola Issa Isaac, Nicola Issa Salameh Isaac, Sofia Nicola Issa Isaac.
Miriam Romman, Nicola’s wife, gave birth to Issa, Sofia and Nimer shown in the photo. Ghareba was at that time married to Issa. Missing the family photo is Wadia Nicola Isaac, who was mostly married at that time and living with her new family. According to Nicola’s passport, he was born in 1890 (but the exact date is not written) in Beit Sahour, while his wife Miriam born on 28th August 1895 in Beit Jala. He died (according to my grandmother) on 28th October 1959 (about 70 years), and Miriam on 26th March 1971 (about 76 years).
You can appreciate from the photo the apparent age difference between the offspring of Nicola and Miriam. Interestingly, the four siblings mentioned above were the only siblings who survived to adulthood among their brothers and sisters who naturally died during infancy or early childhood. Apart from their brother, called Wade’, who died at the age of 1 year and a half of a snake bite, there were four other sons and four other daughters of Miriam who might have died of measles. From a medical perspective, one could imagine how bigger my family branch would have been, if those children were reared after the mass availability of vaccination and modern health care in the region.
Next time, I will continue talking about my great-grandfather’s family and his passport, issued in 1939, one of very few surviving passports issued during the British mandate of Palestine.