A Tribute to Hala

HALA nee Fakhri - Gabriel - Jabour

This information about Hala and Tobia was collated by Glennys Espie (nee Isaac) Hala's granddaughter and daughter of Kelly. Completed in November 2021.

It would be wonderful to know more about Hala but sadly she passed away in 1943 at the age of 65, long before many of her grandchildren were born. She died from cancer and was bed ridden for a long time before her death.  

Tobia died in 1925 at the age of 49. He was at Slope Point, near Invercargill, while on his travels as a Hawker. 

Hala's married name Khouri - Coory - Isaac

Hala's parents were Jabour Fakhri and Rosa Gabriel Fakhri. 

Tobia's parents were Isaac Khouri and Cannoock Gabriel Khouri

Hala and Tobia's mothers were sisters.  (Cannoock & Rosa) 

Kelly, the 13th child of Hala & Tobia explains family surnames like this and wrote:

 “In Lebanon, because there were so many with the clan name, they were named after their fathers name for easy identification and Khouri (FAHKRI) was the clan name but Isaac was the name of our paternal grandfather”.   

Kelly would sometimes refer to himself as Callie Gabriel Coory, it is documented on his marriage certificate as Callie Gabriel Coory commonly known as Kelly Tobia Isaac.

Further explanation of this naming can be found later in this document from Fr.Charbel Habchi 

Hala was Born in 1878 in Becharri Lebanon. Hala married her first cousin Tobia Khouri - Coory commonly known as Isaac which is the surname used by them when they came to New Zealand in 1894/95.

Hala would be 16 or 17 years old when they arrived in New Zealand, 14 when she married Tobia in Becharre in 1893 in the Church of Our Lady of Bscharre.  (Evidence of this marriage date was given to Donna Peterson from the church records in Becharre when she visited). By all accounts they were a very devoted and deeply in love couple 

Various references can be seen below of how Hala used her lineage when formal documents required her full name.    

Hannah Coory nee Jabour is the maiden name given on most of the copies of Birth Certificates of Hala's children nee Gabriel is the name most often used on the Church Marriage Registry records of those of her children who married.

On her second eldest son, Neave’s Marriage Registry in 1919, she was named as Hannah nee Jabour.  On Elizabeth (Lizzie) Johnson, nee Isaac, Hala’s daughters Marriage Registry in 1939, Hala is named as Hala Gabriel, nee Fakhri. 

Hala and Tobia had 14 children, Richard (Joe) was born in Melbourne in 1894, 13 children were born to them in New Zealand.  Joseph (Neavie), Milham (Hallam), Rose (Salma), Paul, (Peter), Mary, Jeannie (Annie), Elizabeth (Lizzie). Mansoor (Frank), Abraham (Abe) Anthony (Tony), Dalalil (Dolly), Kelly and Isaac (Scotty). These names are shown on their Birth Certificates, names in brackets are as they were commonly known.   Each child had Tobia for their middle name, except for Tony, whose middle name was Aziz. 

Kelly wrote in an interview with his granddaughter Donna: “My Mother's father (Jabour) was killed by Turkish soldiers in front of her while they were travelling on the road. To the Turkish soldiers it was fun and amusing”. 

Hala loved to sew and made a beautiful Christening gown for Kelly’s children, all beautifully stitched by hand. This gown went on to be used at the Christening of some of Hala’s grandchildren and great grandchildren. It is nearly 80 years old now and very treasured.

We don't know if Hala managed to speak much English, however there are some beautiful letters written to her son, Kelly, when he was in the army based at Burnham. They were written by some of her children on her behalf. Glennys has Christmas greeting cards to sons Frank and Kelly written in Hala’s own hand in both Arabic and English.

Hala هالة in Arabic Means "halo around the moon".  This was the name of a sister-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad.

This was a very musical family with many of the children having beautiful singing voices, Kelly taught himself to play the piano accordion, harmonica and piano. His sister Mary played the violin. 

They were a very devout and religious family.  Being Maronite Catholic, they were able to practise their faith as Roman Catholic in N Z.  Prayer was uppermost in the daily lives of all the children. Glennys’ memory, when visiting her Auntie Lizzie, was of her praying many Novenas to Our Lady.  When a little girl, she asked her father, Kelly, why he was whispering every morning while he was shaving.  He was saying his prayers. The Rosary was said every night after tea and when visiting family. Mary Leenhouwer’s (nee Farry) memory of her mother Mary, was of her praying for hours at a time. 

Margaret Joseph (nee Isaac) wrote these memories of her Grandmother Hala.  Margaret is the eldest daughter of Abraham (Abe), who is the 10th child of Hala & Tobia.

"My earliest memories of my Grandmother Hala was at 38 Hope Street in Dunedin, my Dad used to take we three older children to visit her most Sunday mornings after Mass.

I can remember her being quite sick, she seemed always to be lying on a couch in her lounge.  She was a very beautiful lady and always very kind to me.  I remember her giving me a little pink purse (I think it was probably an evening bag), it had lovely silver scrolls on the front of it. I loved that little bag, and used to play with it and take it with me whenever I went out.  I am not sure what happened to it.  She also gave me a cross on a chain which had (I presume) “look alike” diamonds in it.  From memory it had one or two stones missing.  I had always kept that little cross, and I gave it to Alison, my sister Val’s daughter, when she was making her video before her trip to Lebanon in 2012.  I would have only been 4 in the December of 1943, and I see by the records that Hala died in September 1943, but I do just remember her, and my younger sister Maria always reminds me of our Grandmother Hala." 

Robin Isaac, Kelly’s youngest son, did an amazing amount of research into the family from 1994 - 2007. He discovered that Hala was the eldest and had three siblings, Assad Saadie and Elias. They all immigrated to South Africa, while Hala and Tobia came to New Zealand. Robin was in contact with Hala's sibling’s family, mainly by letter, during this period. 

Using the information gleaned by my brother Robin, I searched the name Essey on Facebook, which resulted finding a photo of Sr Jeanette Essey. The photo had a strong resemblance to my Uncle Abe.  Keen to discover if this was a relative, contact was made via Facebook with Sr Jeanette with a positive result and subsequently learning much more of the history of Hala’s siblings and their families. Sr Jeanette has told us that Saadie was very sad to have lost contact with Hala, unsure of whether she was in Australia or New Zealand and that Saadie pined for her sister.  

The following information was forwarded to us by our South African family members.

The stories below are taken from the book: Lebanese Family Club, ‘From Our Origin To Our Offspring’ Becharre Day Family Reunion 6^th February 2006. Published by Apostles Publications, South Africa 

Assad (Joseph) was born January 1st 1880 and died on July 23rd 1968.  He married 'Imsehiji' (Christine)) Fahry in Lebanon in 1904, arriving later that year in South Africa, and settled in Boksburg. They had 8 children, Assad and Imsehiji were devoted Christians and raised their family religiously. Imsehiji devoted her life to helping the Catholic Missions in South Africa by collecting old clothing and distributing it to the various stations. In recognition for her hard work, she was awarded a gold medal by the Pope in1982. She lived to 104 years of age.  Initially Assad became a Hawker in South Africa and sold clothing to the gold mines and miners however he eventually owned three plots of land and grew vegetables and fruit and raised different kinds of poultry. Their home was a central meeting place for many Becharre families, who would arrive with Kibbeh, Pies etc. Imsehiji would prepare the snacks while the youngsters would clear the furniture, records were lined up, and a great party then followed.

Saadie was born in 1885, she married her first cousin Sharbel Fahry. Saadie was 15 when she married Sharbel who was 33.  They immigrated to South Africa and Sharbel joined with Saadie's brother, Assad, in Boksburg as a Hawker to the mines and miners. They had 6 children.  Later they relocated to Krugersdorp. Sharbel opened a butcher shop with his son-in-law, Joe Essey, but his passion for buying and selling soon got the better of him and he returned to auctions and trading. He lived to 103 years of age.  His wife Saadie complimented him by investing in properties. Saadie's grandchildren remember her with such love and emphasise how cute she was, and often tell of her naughty sense of humour. Saadie passed away in 1977. 

Elias Fagri: In South Africa Fakhri is spelt Fagri because the Afrikaans alphabet was used to spell it when he first immigrated there. Elias learned to speak Afrikaans and English. Elias married Mariana Jabour on March 27th 1916, he died on June 19th 1940 at the age of 54.  Mariana had been left in Lebanon at the age of 6 months, with her grandparents. Eventually, when she was 12 years old, she was sent for by her parents. Her family lived in Robinson’s cottages and the celebrations lasted for a week. At the age of 16 she met and married Elias. They had 9 children.  Elais (Alec) joined his sister Saadie in Krugersdorp, he opened a General Dealer Store.   

Donna Peterson, the fifth child of Abraham (Abe) also having recently done a DNA test discovered a 3rd cousin, Fr Charbel Habchi who has a keen interest in helping us discover our family history. Unsure as to our connection, he has done much research and discovered our Great Grandmother’s married brothers, Jacob and Gabriel.  Charbel also gives further explanation of how surnames are arrived at.

“I managed to get hold of the family trees of Hala's siblings; Sadia, Elias & Assad. 

The branch of my mother in the Fakhri family is called Jacob's branch, and the branch of Rosa, Hala's mother, is called Gabriel's. For Rosa's maiden name was Fakhri from the branch of Gabriel. 

That's why she was called Rosa Gabriel from the Fakhri family in Becharre, but her surname wasn't Gabriel. It was her branch's name. And Jacob and Gabriel were brothers, therefore the two branches are coming from the two brothers. And this is how we are related and connected.

Just for clarifying this info: The big families in Lebanon are composed of many branches. Certain people write or use their branch's name as their surname or as a middle name. The same as the case of Rosa Gabriel, Hala's mother, where she used Gabriel as her surname while she was from the Fakhri family. Or you can say Rosa Gabriel Fakhri”.

Together with the help of Donna Peterson, I have continued on from the research begun by my brother Robin Isaac (referred to earlier in this document). Records researched include: Death Notices from Papers Past, NZ Births Deaths and Marriage records, The Tablet (a NZ Catholic publication), Christening and Marriage Registry records from St Joseph’s Cathedral Dunedin and Headstones where possible. This has been done in an attempt to ensure that to the best of our knowledge, any information recorded here is correct.

With permission from the extended family, we would like to add this document to the Scattered Seeds Digital Archive at the Dunedin Public Library to enable future generations to learn more about their ancestors and heritage.  As the Dunedin Public Library has worldwide access via their website, it is hoped that through Scattered Seeds we may also find more family connections.

 Donna and I met via Zoom with Sr Jeannette Essey, her brother’s Mickey and his wife Nazha and David, our second cousins last year, sadly Mickey passed away on January 10^th this year (2022).  To make this connection with our cousins in South Africa was indeed very special, something that we couldn’t have imagined only a few years ago.                                                                           

                                                                                                          Sr Jeannette Essey,