The following table is a list of Farhi families given in alphabetical order following the official (administrative) name. According to the "Etat civil des indigenes musulmans: Matrice-Register", a document established in 1891 by the French colonial administration, there are 245 family names originating from Beni Farah. Presently (2006) there are 58 documented cases of names that are no longer in use as the families bearing them are extinct. Gachem and Kechkache family names are borne by a single female for each. Many families, like Afsil, have no members living in Beni Farah for ages; few people know of their existence all together. And some are scattered as far as Germany, France and UK.
In terms of demographic importance, it is likely that Ben Hamza is the largest family in the nowadays village. They, in fact, occupy a large area called Ikhef na Hamza (Hamza's Mount) as their exclusive settlement. Other large families are Lebaal, Ben Chaira, Chettouh, Aouragh, Chicha, Ben Brahim and Hatna. The smallest families are probably Ben Salem and Chellout with (as of 2004) a unique household for each family.
This table is based on my personnel knowledge of families and their circumstances (hence some cells in the table are empty). I tried to make the list as comprehensive as possible although I am certain that whereabouts of many families are in need of some updates. Any suggestions for missing or misspelled names or updated whereabouts of families are very welcome. Please click here to contact me.
List of extinct families
The initial and incomplete list that first appeared here has been compiled by my uncle Abdelhamid Hatna. The present one is courtesy of Mr Mohamed Benhabrou from the Service d'Etat Civil de Ain Zaatout (the Registrar Office). It's the official and complete list as of November 2005.
Abbouche, Adouan, Akhchime, Akherag, Amziane, Arab, Aroug, Atout, Bala, Baoual, Batache, Belhaif, Bennoui, Bensidek, Bensidou, Bettrou, Boudchana, Boudjenah, Bouhennache, Bouikaren, Bourebaba, Boumezrag, Boureddada, Chaouche, Charef, Chentout, Chibane, Fiali, Gachem, Gheboudj, Guemra, Guichaoui, Hachichi, Hafiane, Haioun, Hamma, Kabba, Kaboub, Kaichou, Kechkache, Kezzoul, Khedri, Khanfer, Lakehal, Lazoueche, Lebaouche, Mana, Medjoudj, Meddour, Mergoul, Merkhi, Nounai, Saifi, Seflani, Seghiri, Sekkout, Slita, Zentout, Zouagh.
The aim of this section is to give an overview of the past and present of Farhi families especially those who have left the village for a while (That's actually not the case with my family but someone has to start the section anyway!). Your contributions are welcome. Please email me them as plain text; I'll take care of the formatting.
The name is actually H'tanna but somehow every clerk in the Etat Civil writes it differently, i.e., Hetna, Hatenna or as above!
The Hatnas are part of the clan of Ahmed Oubker of Ah Wammass and are two branches: Ah Makhlouf Ouli and Ah Almassoud Ouli.
1. Ah Almassoud Ouli are the descendents of Ahmed (Hbada) and Mokhtar the sons of Mohamed.
1-1. Ahmed, who died recently, has lived in Beni Farah and left 3 sons (Ammar, Mohamed, and Kaddour) and 3 daughters. They are now all bringing their own families.
1-2. Mokhtar lives in Batna and rarely comes to the village.
2. Ah Makhlouf Ouli are the descendents of Mohamed IV (Mohamed ben Mohamed ben Mohamed ben Mohamed!) and Makhlouf.
2-1. Mohamed IV (!) has left 4 sons (Salah, Mohamed V, Cherif and Said) and 4 daughters (Mina, Fayala, Khedidja and Dherifa).
2-1-1. Salah died in 1965 and left 3 sons (Bachir, Abdelhamid and Hocine) and 2 daughters (Khira and Zoulikha). His elder son Ismail was killed by the French Army in 1959 at the age of 21. Hocine also died at the end of the 1960s.
2-1-1-1. Bachir is living in Beni Farah and has 6 sons and 3 daughters.
2-1-1-2. Abdelhamid, an ex- immigrant in France, is now living in Beni Farah and has 7 sons and 3 daughters.
2-1-1-3. Khira is married to Azzedine Semmam (Bouha Oulouyoucef) and lives in Blida.
2-1-1-4. Zoulikha is married to late Bachir Mansour and lives in Batna.
2-1-2 Mohamed V died in 1999 and left 4 sons (Brahim, Mohamed VI, Tahar and Ali) and one daughter (Fatima).
2-1-2-1. Brahim lives now in Biskra and has 7 sons and 3 daughters.
2-1-2-2. Mohamed VI lives in Biskra and has 1 son and 2 daughters.
2-1-2-3. Tahar lives in Beni Farah and has 3 sons and 3 daughters.
2-1-2-4. Ali (Allawa) lives in Beni Farah and has 7 sons and 3 daughters.
2-1-3. Cherif died childless in the battlefield in 1959 under the banner of the ALN.
2-1-4. Said left Algeria around 1952 to France and then to Hamburg in Germany where he settled for good. He has a daughter from an Algerian wife and 2 sons from a German wife.
2-1-5. Mina, died long time ago, had been married into the Mokaddam family.
2-1-6. Fayala, died at the beginning of the 1980s, had been the wife of her cousin Ali (ben Mokhtar) (see 2-2-1).
2-1-7. Khadidja, died in the 1990s, had been the wife of late Salah Latrache of Biskra.
2-1-8. Dherifa is the wife of late Ammar Djafer; she now lives in Beni Farah.
2-2. Makhlouf had 2 sons (Ali and Ammar) and 2 daughters (Massaad and Hamama).
2-2-1. Ali, died at the beginning of the 1990s, had left one son (Mohamed) and 4 daughters (Bakka, Mhani, Cherifa and Khoukha).
2-2-1-1. Mohamed lives in Sariana (Batna) and has 5 sons and 2 daughters.
2-2-1-2. Mhani is married to a late Mekaddam and lives in Beni Farah.
2-2-1-3. Bakka is married to a native of El Kantara and lives there.
2-2-1-4. Khoukha is married to Abdelhamid Ben Hamza and lives in El Kantara.
2-2-1-5. Cherifa is married to Tahar Ben Hamza and lives in Biskra.
2-2-2. Ammar lives in Batna and has 2 sons (Ayache and Abdelhafid) and 3 daughters.
2-2-2-1. Ayache lives in Batna and has 3 sons and 5 daughters.
2-2-2-2. Abdelhafid lives in Batna too and has one son and 3 daughters.
2-2-3. Massaad is married to Mohammed Benchaira and currently lives in Biskra.
2-2-4. Hemama lives usually in Beni Farah.