Saqr al-Musrib, breeder of the Hamidie import *Mannaky
The new Annotated Quest features a re-edition of Charles Craver’s article “Horses of the White City”, the most comprehensive article to date on the history of the Hamidie importation of Arabian horses to the Chicago World Fair of 1893.
The history of the Hamidie horses themselves and that of the people around them is still shrouded with mystery. One of those people is J.R. Dolbony, who was associated with the importation in some way or other (he hailed from the Dalbani Shi’a Muslim family of Baalbeck in Lebanon today). I have found his testimonies about the Hamidie horses very intriguing, and I believe they should be taken seriously.
In a letter to Homer Davenport from 1909 now at the US National Archives, Dolbony made several claims: 1) that he raised the Hamidie import *Mannaky; 2) that both *Mannaky’s sire and dam were of the Ma’naqi strain (hence his name); 3) that both were owned by “Sage el Misrub”, and 4) that *Mannaky was bred by this same “Sage el Misrub”.
I have just identified this “Sage el Misrub”. He was none other than Sagr al-Misrub (that ‘r’ at the end of his first name must have been mistaken for an ‘e’ in the handwritten letter), the paternal nephew of Mijuel al-Misrub of Jane Digby fame (Mijuel painting below by Carl Haag in 1859), and a famous Bedouin shaykh in his own right. He was from the Saba’ah tribe (Masaribah section, named after their Misrub/Musrib leader), and he lived around the time of the Hamidie importation. Those of you who read Arabic can read a story about him here.
The story of *Mannaky takes on a new meaning with this identification, because it ties him directly to one the Arabian desert’s big names.
This is a wonderful connection, Edouard! The one photo we have of him is so flawed by his starved condition, but he must have been a beautiful animal indeed. The description of him in the newspaper indicates he made quite the impression on the reporter.
Thank you, Edouard, for another well researched, informative post.
It’s just struck me, but this finding would support Joe Achkar’s account of the Hamidie horses as carefully chosen and authenticated: if this one was it increases the likelihood that the others were. Their descendants have always spoken well for them, of course, but here’s a little more.
Dolbony’s information about Galfia is also verifiable. He says *Galfia’s sire and dam were of the Hamdani strains, and were owned by Galfia’s breeder Rashid al-Sulayman of the Bani Sakhr Bedouin tribe.
A quick search of the various tribal sections of the Bani Sakhr shows a Sulayman clan within the Fraij section of the tribe. Not a senior clan by any means, which further gives credence to the veracity of Dolbony’s testimony (a more facile attribution would have had the mare bred the leaders of the tribe for example, the al-Fayez sheykhs). I have not yet found that Rashid al-Sulayman.
The Bani Sakhr did have a marbat of Hamdani Simri.
Does anyone of you have the 1989 Dirks and Dirks publication that references these Dolbony letters?
This has probably been asked before but are there any other lines of the Hamdani Simri marbat of the Bani Sakhr that Galfia came from that still exist today? Through another source? If there was, and the whole loop mtDNA matched with the Schilla horses, it would put to bed the whole Schilla issue pretty decisively.
Yes, I have all that, Edouard. Let me get through this Khamsat, and then push me!
There might be. Lyman. Only if we made a concerted effort with global tail female lines. The Royal Jordanian Stud was a Hamdani Simri line that area came from the Transjordan area (like Galfia’s). It could always be checked.
Oh, please Jeanne. Another look at these old documents can always add something new..
The Jordanian mtDNA connection on this might be worth digging into.
Lyman, it certainly would be interesting, but remember that not all lines tracing to the same strain of origin have the same mitochondrial type; likewise, families of different strain can have matching mtDNA.
Michael- Yes. You are right. But it would be interesting….
Thanks to Lyman for sharing the Dolbony letters with me. They indicate that *Nejdme came from the Farah family of Baalbeck; the Farah is a well-known Christian family that has maintained a small stud of Arabian horses for most of the twentieth century and probably earlier. The association of Nejdme with the Farah family is an indication of her authenticity.
Sixteen years ago, when I knew nothing about the Dolbony letters, I had mentioned the horses of the Farah family here: http://daughterofthewind.org/the-bedouin-notion-of-asil/racing-in-the-middle-east-part-1/
Back then I thought they were from the neighboring town of Zahle not Baalbeck. I am also no longer sure they bred Kuhaylan Musinn, who may have been the strain bred by the Musallam family of Zahle (I saw a representative of their horses in the 1990s), but I need to ask my father about all this, if he still remembers, or Sayyid Husayn Nasser.
The late Joe Achchar also wrote about them here many years: http://daughterofthewind.org/khalil-sarkis-and-the-hamidie-society/