Family Tree 2025

The patriarchs of San Antonio’s “Mery-Karam” family originate from a small mountain village in the Aley district of Lebanon, known as Kfar Omay.   This village is located approximately 15 miles east of Beirut high in the Shouf Mountains. Jadune El-Fahil was born in Aley in approximately 1792; he sired a son whom he named “Merhe” from whence the family name “Mery” is derived. “Merhe” is also sometimes spelled as “Mehre.” 

Merhe had three sons, Yousef (Joseph), Emjayel (Michael), and Hanna (John), all born and raised in Kfar Omay, in the 1840’s or 1850’s, approximately 150 years ago.  These three sons of Merhe never left Lebanon, but their descendants planted the seeds of the Mery family in San Antonio, Texas.  It was the descendants of these three brothers who left Lebanon for America in the early 1900’s, to settle first in Mexico and then later in the state of Texas.  

Upon their entry into Mexico, the family name was changed from “Merhe” to Mery.  Several Karam families were also from Kfar Omay, and the intermarriage of the Merys with the Karams was more than coincidental, since at least three of the Merhe brothers married Karam girls.  In speaking of the Mery dynasty of San Antonio, Texas, one must also include the hyphen to say the Mery-Karam dynasty.

The San Antonio Mery-Karam families are descendants of Michael and Joseph Merhe.  Hanna’s descendants also migrated to Mexico but either stayed in Mexico to raise their families, or moved to Mexican-American border towns, especially McAllen, Texas.

Looking for a more detailed story of the journey of the Merhe Family from Lebanon to Texas? Click Here