A bit of history: Who was Peter Saab and the Saab family?

Courtesy of the Canton-Madison County Historical Society

Keep Canton Beautiful recently hosted a community clean-up at the eponymous Saab Park.

The Saab family’s roots extended back nearly a century and a half through the record books of Canton, with the family immigrating in the late 1800s to Mississippi by way of New Orleans.

Pictured were family patriarch Anton Saab and his wife, Lizzie Messihi Saab.

The following history of the Saab family was transcribed from the archives of the Madison County Library System:
Anton Saab was born around 1865 in Jounieh, Lebanon. Lizzie Meeshil was born in Sahel Alma, Lebanon, in 1870. The two met and married in Lebanon around 1888.

They moved to New Orleans in 1895 with their first child, Freida, who was three years old at the time. Saab purchased small quantities of household goods, such as lace, doilies and tablecloths, and sold them door to door.

Additional children born in New Orleans included Amelia (1896–1914), Louis (1897–1918), George (1902–1936), Marie (1904–?), Roselie (1909–1975) and Alice (1911–1962).

The family later moved to Canton, where the rest of their children were born beginning in 1912: Peter (1912–1953), Albert (1914–1959), Lucille (1916–1964) and Martha Louise (1918–1918).

In Canton, Anton and Lizzie Saab started a small family dry goods store on the north corner of the square at North Liberty and Center Street around 1910. All of the children contributed, either working in the store or helping at home.

In 1930, Peter Saab and his wife, Genevieve, opened a grocery store next door to the dry goods store. In 1933, both stores were sold, and the family relocated to a new site on the east side of the square.

There, they established a family-owned and operated department store. The business was led by Alice, Peter and Albert Saab, as other family members had moved away to establish businesses of their own.

Freida Saab married David Butross and had six sons and two daughters. George Saab married Pamela Dunn and had no children. Marie Saab married William Kelley and had no children. Roselie Saab married Sam Mohr and had three sons and one daughter. Alice Saab married Michael Tupe and had no children. Peter Saab married Genevieve John and had three sons and two daughters. Albert Saab married Emily Moses and had two sons. Lucille Saab married Fred Maroon and had one son and two daughters. Martha Louise died as an infant.

Anton Saab died of heart failure in Canton in 1929. Lizzie Saab died at Madison General Hospital in Canton on July 19, 1956, also of heart failure.

A. Saab’s Department Store operated as a family-owned ladies shop, managed by Mrs. Albert Saab and her sons, Albert and Joseph Girard.

Saab family history was courtesy of the Madison County Library System.