This border crossing document (right) from October 1931 reveals a lot of information about Amos Toney's wife Emma (our great situ or tita). Though this form lists the reason for her crossing into Canada as a "visit" it also shows that she was rejected at the border (and was carrying only $15). It may be that since she is listed as a citizen of Brazil, she was just at the border to renew her visa as is common in some countries today (more research needed). Some other interesting information on this form is that she lists Betropolie as her birth place. This is almost certainly the record keepers misunderstanding of her saying Petropolis which would sound like Betropolie with her Brazilian and Syrian accent. There is no Betropolie in Brazil but we know that all of the oldest Solomon children of Assif were born in the state of Rio de Janeiro. Petropolis is a small city in the mountains outside of the metropolitan area of Rio de Janeiro and in the state of Rio de Janeiro (it's like New York, NY). Petropolis was the original capital of Brazil in its earliest colonial days and known as The Imperial City. It was originally settled by Germans (see the cathedral below) but had a significant Lebanese population, as well as other immigrant communities, that contributed to its early development.
If I can ever make it back to Brazil maybe I will be able to visit Petropolis and try to find more information about the Solomon's and Emma Solomon. Since this was the first place they went from Mt. Lebanon maybe there is more information about their family back in Lebanon or family that are still in Brazil. Here are some quick facts about the Lebanese in Brazil from a Lebanese Diaspora site (www.linkinglebanon.com):
"There are a total of nine million Lebanese in Brazil, which represents 6% of the whole population. Many Brazilian-sounding surnames such as Ferreira, Salles, Souza, Lage or Pedreira are, in fact, of Lebanese origin. There were three waves of immigration to Brazil, in the mid-1800s, between the world wars, and again post-war. Of elected politicians, 10% are of Lebanese origin; Brian Peter Medawar won the Nobel Laureate in Medicine in 1960 for the discovery of acquired immunological tolerance and Ziad Fazah, reportedly the worlds greatest polyglot, speaks 55 languages."
