| Author |
Message |
    
Christa Erin Pereira
Member
Username: christa
Post Number: 64
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Saturday, November 15, 2003 - 2:46 am: | 
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Hello,
I'm a bit confused. Is this kid's name Seman Betros or Betros Seman? I'm guessing Seman Betros because of the man named Tannous Betros who is said to be his father. But Tannous was 20 and Seman said to be 10. My maths is not that bad - that's too close to be father and son. However, he could still be a relation. But they were also going to different places (and lived in different places in Lebanon).
Does anyone know anything about this kid? Why did he travel on a separate ticket?
Also, were kids allowed to travel on their own? I know that there were two in 3rd class who did (Jamilla and Elias Nicola-Yarred) but I think they were classified as adults. They were aged 14 and 11 respectively.
Christa |
Bob Godfrey
Member
Username: bobgod1
Post Number: 1037
Registered: 11-2002
| | Posted on Saturday, November 15, 2003 - 6:23 pm: |
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Tannous Betros had no connection with the boy, whose name was probably spelled Betros Samaan. He was travelling with a group of 'Syrians' from Hardin in what is now the Lebanon, and was in the immediate care of his uncle Hanna Samaan and two teenaged cousins who were Hanna's sons. Other members of the Samaan family (who anglicized their name to 'Simon') were already living in the mining town of Wilkes Barre in Pennsylvania, where there was a small community of Lebanese immigrants.
Hanna's wife was established in Wilkes Barre, as was Betros' widowed mother, who had travelled there to find the means to support her children after leaving them in the care of her own parents back in the Lebanon. In 1912, though only 10, Bettros had reached an age where he could do paid work and help towards the cost of bringing the rest of the family to America. Bettros, his uncle and two cousins were all among the victims of the Titanic.
The Yarreds travelled in another group of three Lebanese families and had started their journey in the company of their father Nicolas, but he failed to pass the medical inspection at Cherbourg when he was found to be suffering from trachoma. The children boarded Titanic in the care of other families in the group, but Nicolas had to stay behind - a delay which probably saved his life. Eventually the whole family were reunited in Florida.
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Christa Erin Pereira
Member
Username: christa
Post Number: 69
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Saturday, November 15, 2003 - 11:48 pm: |
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Thanks Bob,
Have you considered telling the boss of this site what you know as Betros Samaan's biography on this site has very little on it and there is a suggested connection between him and Tannous Betros?
Would the Samaan family have been able to speak English or would they have learnt it when they arrived (when they were supposed to have arrived)?
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Hildur Panula-Heinonen
Member
Username: titanic_relatives
Post Number: 90
Registered: 11-2005
| | Posted on Sunday, September 24, 2006 - 9:48 pm: |
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Jamila Nicola-Yarred was considered a women, and she was in charge of her brother who was classified as a child. |
