Gary Gustin (USA), leb.org

Gary Gustin - I was born and raised in the USA, but I love Lebanon and its people and culture. I am exactly 25% Lebanese, so I don't know if I qualify to call myself "Lebanese" but I am definitely interested in my ancestry. My father's side of the family is from Zgharta. Our family name has been variously spelled as Kasteen, Ghostine, Ghesteen, Ghostin, Ghastine, etc. but was Americanized to Gustin. My great-grandfather came to the US from Zgharta, Lebanon around 1909 or so. His name was Kasteen Suseen Kasteen (could be spelled differently). His brother was Salim S. Kasteen, who had a wife named Jameyla M. Abdullah. Salim and Jameyla had a son named Joseph, but we don't know much about them. My great-grandmother was Selma Boudrah (in the US it was sometimes spelled Boudry or Bouderah). She came to America around the same time as my great-grandfather. Her parents were Simon and Miriam Boudrah. Great-grandmother Selma had 5 siblings named Zabed, Garrow/Margrett, Saed, Farid and Tannouss. We found Tannouss' descendants in Sydney, Australia recently and are so happy to have found them! My great-grandmother died here in America in 1953 and my great-grandfather also died here in 1971. They had 3 kids including my grandfather, named Suseen Gustin. He had 2 kids, one of whom is my father. I wonder if my great-grandfather, Kasteen, might have had anything to do with the whole Yousef Bey Karam thing in the 1800's. I thought I heard somewhere that he might have. Any info would be appreciated.
Student
New York, USA
Zgharta - 1987
Record Last Updated on February 10th, 2008
Record Created on January 10th, 2008