I knew there was a statue that of him in his hometown in Lebanon, and the story I was always told was that he defended his home from some kind of invasion and was successful, making him kind of a legend.

That’s just what I HEARD, of course. Actually seeing the facts laid out in a Wikipedia article is both very cool and EXTREMELY surreal!

In 1840, Youssef aged 17 years, fought alongside his father and elder brother against the Egyptian armies then occupying Lebanon in the battles of Houna and Bazoun.

i've heard that story before... it's all true... i am absolutely tripping rn

Several days later however, Christian villages were attacked by Druzes from Mount Lebanon and the Hawran. Karam and his men retaliated against Druze and Turkish forces, and succeeded in saving the majority of Christian towns and villages in the Keserwan area. Christian presence in the area was therefore established.

my grandparents actually founded a church here in the US, a branch of Orthodox Christianity. Certainly this is why, then...

wow. most of this adds up, but some of the details dad mentioned don't make sense. but, i ended up confusig the stories of my grandpa's gggrandfather and my grandma's gggrandfather, so that's probably why not all the dots are connecting.

I really have got to call Goompa and ask him about all of this. damn.

how incredibly surreal, to have a figure of such historical importance be a direct ancestor of mine!

i really want to try and confirm with Grandpa that this is indeed the same Youssef, just in case, but ... my dad said the main in the photo is a dead ringer for one of my grand uncles, Claude

and MOST of the stories i've been told match up perfectly to the information presented here...

AND, when my dad's side of the family immigrated to the US, they "americanized" our surname ......................... by changing it from Karam to Karram. why that was considered helpful i can't tell you.

MAN, i really want to visit there someday. not just lebanon in general (though that too) but my "ancestral home," laughs. it's astonishing the kinds of things you can find in your family tree that you'd never expect. but i'm still floored i'm a DIRECT descedant of this guy.

THATS RAD

DrFishbone: ISNT IT FUCKING COOL AS SHIT

thank you for reading all this I was just so excited about learning all of this so I am glad it was interesting to someone else as well

It’s totally interesting. Thank you for sharing!!