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Welcome! This website was created on 07 Apr 2009 and last updated on 30 Dec 2023. The family trees on this site contain 814 relatives and 164 photos. If you have any questions or comments you may send a message to the Administrator of this site.
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Come visit the `updated` Thomas Family History website !!!! Several Major Research Discoveries! See New Updates for Tannous, Abouzeid and Zawaideh families.....
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About The Thomas Family History
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George B. Thomas was born Gerios Abousader Tannous April 16, 1886 in Jezzine, Lebanon, the son of Tones Abousader Tannous and Nijme Moussa Abouzeid.  His father, grandfather, great grandfather,  great great grandfather and great great great grandfather were bakers of the ancient art of baking Syrian  bread. His father Tones Tannous taught him at the age of six.  During the late nineteenth century times were hard in Lebanon.  Religious conflicts, natural disasters, epidemics, and political and economic development of Beirut influenced natives to leave Lebanon.  George emigrated from Jezzine, on the ship "La  Bretagneā€¯ from the port of Havre to Ellis Island with his younger brother Said.  George was 21 years old,  and Said was 18 years old.  George came with $50 in his pocket, two wooden hand-carved stamps and a rolling pin to  America, "the road that's paved with gold!"

In 1911 George made two desperate attempts to find work.  First, he worked as a chipper at Bethlehem Steel Shipyard in Quincy, and left after a week because "it was too hokey". His second job, he worked for Asnoon Joseph (the grandfather of my great aunt Helen Joseph's husband Joseph T.  Joseph) at his bakery on Hudson St. in Boston.  Asnoon did not know how to bake bread himself.  He  was looking for someone who was married to fill the position of baker, so George applied for the  job.  In March of 1911 George Tannous married Noora Abdullah Al Asmar, the little girl who had always come to visit his father's bakery in his hometown back in Lebanon.  Noora came to America with her older brother Youssef in 1910 to find work.

George and Nora Tannous occupied a room over the bakery.  While he worked, she was locked in the room.  He always had the key with him.  Nora was so very beautiful, and with long hair down to her ankles.  She would spend hours cleaning the room, the floor, and the windows, and would also look out the window to await his return. George thought of her as someone truly special and did not want to have anyone scoop her up for himself as his wife.  Nora is his only love.

He worked at this location for about a year and a half.  Later that year they relocated to 15 Cyril  Street in Quincy.  He started his own bakery in the small barn behind his house. He borrowed $50  from his Jewish neighbor David Silverman to rent the barn (owned by Shya Goldberg, a rag and junk  dealer) and a three-room apartment, a push cart, a rolling pin, equipment to build an open hearth oven and bench, and also, ingredients.  From the profits, each week he would send $5 or $10 to support his parents back in Lebanon. They were poor and did not have much.  George and his wife worked 14 to 22 hours a day producing 20 dozen loaves of Syrian bread which sold for a penny a  loaf.  Together they peddled their bread by wooden pushcart throughout the streets of Quincy Center  and Quincy Point to the ethnic clientele.

All of his 13 children were born in the bakery, played in the bakery, and worked in the bakery.  One right after the other, just like a production line, each of them had duties which contributed to the work flow.  Eight children survived.  Within six years the rate of producing Syrian bread soared.  Not until 1925 the family's decision to live right next to the bakery proved to be an asset.  They did not have to travel that far to go to work.  By 1952, at the height of his career as founder and President of The Quincy Syrian Baking Company, the introduction of automated machinery increased the production of  bread steadily.  In 1963, 240 loaves of bread were produced per hour.  After several relocations, in 1969, the Quincy Syrian Bakery became a semi-operated bakery--one of 13 professional bakeries--in  the country.  George never lived long enough to see his bread being produced at an unrealistic rate,  automatically.

George died on December 16, 1963 after a short illness.

The fourth oldest of his eight children and his oldest daughter, Georgette, was the moving force in the continuation of the Bakery well into the late twentieth century after her father's death in 1963.  Since she was three and a half years old Georgette has worked all her life in the bakery.  When she was six years old did she  travel with her father on his bread routes to Boston to make deliveries to his Syrian customers. She would tell her father stories.  But one day, Georgette told her father that she had a dream, ".... that everyone in the world would eat Syrian bread."

As general manager and treasurer, Georgette produced, packaged, and marketed Syrian  bread to major supermarket chains for purchase by the ethnic masse.  When this bread was introduced to the American people sales increased.  In 1955 Georgette traveled on a survey trip of bakeries in Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Turkey, Iran, and Jordan.  There were rumors circulating in Lebanon and Egypt that "there was a woman from America or a family from America who has the most modern, up-to-date bakery in the world to produce this bread."  The most modern bakery in the Middle East was that in Lebanon owned by Antoinne Kassan, Professor of Engineering at the American University of Beirut.  His bakery was so primitive by our standards but he was producing by hand.  There were many obstacles in introducing automation in the Middle East.  There was the need for not just seven bakeries but for many more in that part of the world.  In 1960, the Quincy Syrian Bakery became the leading bakery among six in the country.  It was the only semi-operated bakery whereas the other bakeries were hand-operated.

In 1964 Georgette left the family bakery to start her own bakery -- to pursue her dream.  In 1967 The Old World Baking Company changed its name to Sahara Bakery.  Automation of the bakery's operations increased the rate of production steadily.  This is turn affected the need to expand their current facilities.  Soon enough it relocated to the Weymouth Industrial Park where it is still in operation today.  The rate of production is unsurpassed by any other bakery of its kind.  The Quincy Syrian Bakery did not have to compete with Sahara Bakery.  The Quincy Syrian Bakery catered to the ethnic clientele  whereas Sahara Bakery marketed its bread to the American population.  It is through the "versality" of this bread which Georgette has emphasized that sales have soared and will continue to increase.  Today, Syrian bread is marketed daily all over the world to ethnic groups but also to the American people.  In remembrance of my great grandfather George Abousader Tannous, through the creation of Sahara Bakery in 1964, the Thomas name lives on.  It is quite an accomplishment to build a little hand-operated bakery, which contributed to the construction of a multi-million dollar enterprise -- Sahara Bakery -- based upon a dream.

The Thomas Family played an influential role in the economic growth of Quincy's  community during the twentieth century.  My personal efforts in preserving archival documents, photographs, oral histories, and genealogy for the Thomas Family became "history in the making".  The reputation of the Quincy Syrian Bakery encouraged profound  multi-faceted ramifications upon society, including mores and values, women's role in business, production sales and marketing, employment opportunities, value of close-knit family, religion, community cohesiveness, and financial and economic growth in Quincy.

My great aunt, Georgette Thomas Nickerson, made numerous contributions to the Quincy community including   St. Joseph's Church.  She was a born leader to excel at anything she pursued in life.  Georgette's parents taught  her the importance of strong work ethics:  integrity, sense of responsibility, emphasis on quality, discipline, and sense of teamwork, for the company to be functioning at its peak.  These principles fostered the success of the Quincy Syrian Bakery throughout local ethnic communities as well as the lucrative enterprise Sahara Bakery accommodating for the American people.  The history and important role of the Thomas Family in the development of Quincy produced a perpetual impact throughout our national heritage as well as within the international scene.

These strong work ethics have passed down to future generations of the Thomas Family.  I possess these identical work ethics in the library and archival profession.  Georgette always told me:  "Be creative and enthusiastic in your future endeavors, and you will go far, in anything you pursue in life!"  My parents, grandparents, great grandparents, great great grandparents and great great great grandparents before them, have instilled in me the  importance of these work ethics -- to obtain, to persevere, and to strive for personal, professional and financial success.

This website was constructed as a tribute to my Lebanese heritage and in memory of my great grandfather George Abousader Tannous and my great grandmother Nora Abdullah Asmar, and their parents (my great great grandparents, respectively, Tones Abousader Tannous and Nijme "Stella" Moussa Abouzeid, and Asmar Abdullah Hanna Asmar and Howaw "Eva" Nassif Zawaideh), (and including all of my relatives in Egypt, Lebanon, and Syria) who were the first to create Syrian bread in this country. Through genealogical research in conjunction with extensive oral interviews with my great aunts and great uncles and many cousins, the preservation of The Thomas Family History will last forever!  Without my diligent work as the Archivist/Family historian and genealogist for the past  35+ years, progress would not have been made possible.

Getting Around
There are several ways to browse the family tree. The Tree View graphically shows the relationship of selected person to their kin. The Family View shows the person you have selected in the center, with his/her photo on the left and notes on the right. Above are the father and mother and below are the children. The Ancestor Chart shows the person you have selected in the left, with the photograph above and children below. On the right are the parents, grandparents and great-grandparents. The Descendant Chart shows the person you have selected in the left, with the photograph and parents below. On the right are the children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Do you know who your second cousins are? Try the Kinship Relationships Tool. Your site can generate various Reports for each name in your family tree. You can select a name from the list on the top-right menu bar.

In addition to the charts and reports you have Photo Albums, the Events list and the Relationships tool. Family photographs are organized in the Photo Index. Each Album's photographs are accompanied by a caption. To enlarge a photograph just click on it. Keep up with the family birthdays and anniversaries in the Events list. Birthdays and Anniversaries of living persons are listed by month. Want to know how you are related to anybody ? Check out the Relationships tool.

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