(2) JOSEPHALBERT (YOUSIF HABIB) ZAKEM (1865-1947)

I was with my grandfather the evening he died in 1947. He was 82 years old. He had been visiting my parents on the comer of Grafton and Weymouth Street where we operated a small grocery store. He lived on the corner of Hensley and Grafton Street, only two blocks from our store but Dad insisted that I walk him home. When we got half way up the block, he stopped, put his hand up to his chest and said, “This is the last time I will go out at night.” He wanted to sit on the doorstep of a neighbour who later took him into the house. I felt there was something seriously wrong. Iran back to tell my father, called the doctor and the priest and by the time they came he was on the floor and had died of heart failure.

He was born in1865 in Kfeir. He was the son of Habib Zakem and Hillanie Tanous (1835—1917). In some of Dad’s notes, he mentions aunts and uncles on his mother’s side but there is no mention of any on his father’s side. My hunch is that my grandfather Joseph was the only child of Habib. This is in contrast to Habib’s brother Shaheen Zakem who had three boys and three girls. Most of the Zakems in Montreal and United States are descendants of Shaheen Zakem.

Grandfather Joseph was married to Zaryfie Ramieh (1873—1950). Her parents were Michael Ramieh and Catherine Kays. Most of her family went to Brazil in 1924.

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My grandfather came to Canada alone in 1902. He left behind his wife Zaryfie and four children, Said, Saidah, Albert and Sam. He returned to Lebanon in 1907. They had three more children, Toufic, Mary and Nahil. He returned to Canada in 1911 with my Uncle

Said.