Our family, across generations

The Salhany Family History

From Damascus to Rhode Island and beyond, discover the people, places, journeys, and stories that shaped our family.

The family archive

Every name has a story.

Trace the Salhany, Ganim, Nahas, Hallal, and Hamod families through the documents they left behind—and see how each discovery changes the family tree.

From the archive

Original pages are paired with a plain-language account of the people, places, and connections found inside them.

Family lines

Explore the branches.

Interactive family tree

Choose a relative. Follow the branches.

Search the complete family directory, then select anyone in the map to re-center the tree around them.

Living relative

William Joseph Salhany

Born Jul 11, 1956

Parents

Couple

Children

Siblings

BornJul 11, 1956 · RI

Recorded life events

  1. Birth

    RI

  2. OccupationRetired
  3. EducationUniversity of Rhode Island
  4. ReligionChristian

Records connected to William Joseph

Relationship finder

How are we related?

Choose any two people. The archive will trace the shortest documented path between them through parents, children, siblings, and spouses.

William Joseph Salhany and Barbara Ann Salhany are siblings.

1 link
sibling of

Family atlas

Follow the journeys.

Move through the places preserved in census pages, manifests, naturalization files, obituaries, and the family tree.

North AmericaSouth AmericaEuropeThe Levant

Branch timelines

Watch each family line unfold.

Choose a branch to arrange its connected records in chronological order.

The document room

See the evidence. Read what it means.

Open a record for its full-size image, the family story recovered from it, every documented finding, and the question that still needs answering.

62 stories found35 preserved images available
Primary image read

Four censuses restore Wadi & Esma Matook’s family

Damascus · Pawtucket, Rhode Island · Boston, Massachusetts

A naturalization petition, final citizenship order, four census households, and two family obituaries reconstruct Wadi and Esma Matook’s eight-child family and follow their daughter Rose into her marriage to Charles Affsa.

11 documented findings
Indexed record

Rose Ganim’s New Jersey family comes into focus

Weehawken Township, Hudson County, New Jersey

The 1950 census follows Damtry’s sister Rose under her married name, Rose Affsa, and restores a daughter missing from the earlier family record.

5 documented findings
Primary image read

Rose Ganim becomes Rose Affsa in Pawtucket

Pawtucket Ward 1, Providence County, Rhode Island

Rhode Island’s 1925 state census supplies the bridge between Rose Ganim in the 1920 Ganim household and the later Rose Affsa family in New Jersey.

4 documented findings
Indexed record

Mitchell & Nellie Hallal’s five-child household

Pawtucket, Providence County, Rhode Island

The 1950 census completes Mitchell and Nellie Hallal’s household and confirms that Leo—the son omitted from the earlier family record—remained at home with four siblings.

10 documented findings
Indexed record

Leo appears in Mitchell & Nellie Hallal’s household

Pawtucket Ward 2, Providence County, Rhode Island

The 1940 census is the decisive record that restores Leo Hallal: it explicitly records the eight-year-old as Mitchell and Nellie’s son and also places Nellie’s mother in the home.

6 documented findings
Indexed record

James & Mary Hallal’s four-son household

Pawtucket, Providence County, Rhode Island

By 1950, James and Mary’s household held all four sons named in the family tree. The census also captures James’s move from weaving to skilled loom repair inside the textile mills.

4 documented findings
Primary image read

James & Mary Hallal with their first three sons

Pawtucket, Providence County, Rhode Island

The original 1940 sheet catches the Hallal household between James’s first naturalization filing and his 1945 declaration, with sons Albert, Ronald, and John all at home.

4 documented findings
Primary image read

William & Ruth Salhany’s first household

90 Cowden Street, third floor · Central Falls, Rhode Island

William and Ruth were living on their own before their first child was born later that year. The census places them in Central Falls and records both of their jobs.

4 documented findings
Primary image read

Kamel & Ethel Salhany’s Fletcher Street household

38B Fletcher Street · Central Falls, Rhode Island

Kamel and Ethel shared their home with five adult or teenage children. The family grocery appears in two generations of work entries on the same sheet.

4 documented findings
Indexed record

Toofik & Nora Nahas in Pawtucket

Pawtucket, Providence County, Rhode Island

The indexed household connects Ethel’s brother Toofik to Nora and their first three sons, while adding an immigration year and census location.

4 documented findings
Indexed record

Reverend George H. Nahas’s household

Pawtucket, Providence County, Rhode Island

A large Nahas household places Ethel’s brother George with Elizabeth and eight children, preserving the sibling group in one federal record.

4 documented findings
Primary image read

Three Ganim generations under one roof

Rhode Island

The original federal census is now recovered. It confirms the family transcription, identifies the exact Pawtucket household, and directly connects Emily, Damtry, Victoria, George, Rose, Sophie, and Olga.

6 documented findings
Primary image read

Olga’s census card names Buenos Aires

Pawtucket Ward 2, Providence County, Rhode Island

Rhode Island’s 1925 census supplies the key fact needed to identify Olga with infant Maria on the 1912 manifest: Olga was born in Buenos Aires in 1911.

5 documented findings
Original image needed

The Abosamra and Ganim households at one address

Pawtucket, Providence County, Rhode Island

The heritage-book notes say Alexander and Mary Abosamra lived at the same address as their daughter Victoria and son-in-law Damtry Ganim in 1930. Alexander’s original death certificate now resolves the largest age conflict.

4 documented findings
Original record

Wadi and Esma Matook’s eight-child family is restored

Damascus · Pawtucket · Boston · Quincy

Wadi Matook’s photographed federal petition opens a complete documentary chain through four census households and the next generation. It restores the Matook family around Rose Affsa while keeping her separate from Rose Ganim Affsa.

14 documented findings
Original record

Rose Ganim’s Affsa branch is restored

Pawtucket · Union City · Weehawken

Five record groups now follow Damtry’s sister Rose from the Ganim household into her married life as Rose Affsa. The original death certificate of her infant son Joseph supplies the strongest direct parentage proof and records the exact day and address.

7 documented findings
Corroborated story

The records separate two different Rose Affsas

Pawtucket · Boston · Hudson County

A same-name collision had blended a Ganim daughter with a younger Matook daughter. Census, Social Security, and obituary evidence now keep the two women and their husbands in separate households.

6 documented findings
Original record

Zekieh Koury’s manifest restores her parents and two siblings

Damascus · Marseille · Providence · West Hoboken

Nellie Khouri Hallal’s federal certificate of arrival leads to the original January 18, 1914 Madonna manifest. The two-page entry identifies her as young Zekieh Koury traveling with her mother Neda and sister Mary, names her father Moussa in Damascus, and identifies her brother Amin in New Jersey.

16 documented findings

Research desk

Where the trail continues.

These are not generic tasks. Each question comes directly from a record already connected to the family.

How the archive works

Family memory and original records, side by side.

01

Start with the image

Read the names, dates, addresses, occupations, and relationships from the original page whenever it is available.

02

Explain the connection

Turn the artifact into a readable account of what it adds to the family story and which relatives it links together.

03

Keep questions visible

Conflicting dates and uncertain identities remain open until another record resolves them.

Add to the history

Know something we should preserve?

Send a correction, family memory, research question, or link to a historical record. Nothing appears publicly until it has been reviewed.

CorrectionsFamily storiesRecord linksResearch clues