Syrian-Lebanese History In Williams County, North Dakota -- May 29, 2016

From page 160 and following, from chapter thirteen, "Syrian Enclaves," from The Syrian-Lebanese in North Dakota:

The Williams County Syrian community was not the first of its kind in North Dakota, nor was it the largest in total numbers, but it can be classed as the most enduring and self-conscious of all such groups. To this day, an ethnic celebration rarely takes place without Lebanese representation in Williston, the area's major city.

Wonder of Williston, the remarkably complete history of Williams County, tells the story of some, but not all, of the area's first Syrian settlers. According to their family accounts, in 1903 David Kalil, Alex Aboud, Joe Albert, and Abraham Abdo arrived to take up free land. One long-time Williston resident says that David Kalil was working out of Duluth as a peddler. Traveling through, he looked over the Williston area in the later part of the 1890s and subsequently returned to take up a homestead. 

The date, 1903, coincides very well with naturalization records ... the list of citizenship applicants reveals a number of things that make the Williams County Syrians unique:

• the rapidity with which such a great number of newcomers sought the status of full-fledged Americans. They filed first papers almost immediately as soon as they reached the Williams County region. This hardly fits the "get rich and return home" generalization found in publications concerning other parts of the nation;
• the presence of such a sizeable number of women, eight out of the total twenty-one. Indeed, several of the women appear to be wives who applied at the same time as their husbands. Again, this does not fit the standard first arrival expectations;
• without exception, the 1903 applicants in Williams County were Christian; and,
• the most famous of all Lebanese North Dakota religious leaders, the pastor of St George's Church near Rubgy, Fr. Seraphim Roumie is on the list of applicants.

The list also included "William Eattol," a surname that would be changed slightly later on and would be a very, very familiar name in Williams County when I was growing up.