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Post by wongroots on Aug 10, 2010 1:38:33 GMT -5
Hello and thank you for this site. I just found this site yesterday as I have been gathering facts and data in the last month. I'm becoming obsessive with tracing my family roots.
I'm a 3rd generation Chinese Canadian who is fortunate enough to know the chinese name of my great grandfather and his village. My chinese is limited speaking and non existant reading.
His chinese name is Wong Gar Won or Huang Jia Won. I have the writing of his chinese name but don't know how to copy and paste it here.
He was born in 1852 in China (Nam Lung Village), went to Nevada in 1962 with 2 brothers. Then he moved north to Canada seeking gold in 1880's.
Ultimately, I will visit the village(if it still exists) and will likely use Henry's nephew in some capacity. I'm lucky to have found this site to know I have this option.
In the meantime, does anyone know anything about my great grandfather or his village? Since he came to the states first , I'm assuming he arrived in San Fran then onwards to Nevada.
I don't know any particular details of his time in the states from 1862 to 1880 (age 10 - 28). I would like to know if there are any immigration records of his arrival and where I could look up this information.
Anyhow, I have endless questions, but I'd be happy for any information about him or his village.
Thanks Dave
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Post by tyuti1668 on Aug 10, 2010 3:06:06 GMT -5
His chinese name is Wong Gar Won or Huang Jia Won. I have the writing of his chinese name but don't know how to copy and paste it here. He was born in 1852 in China (Nam Lung Village)... "Draw" the chinese name in nciku.com OR "Photo it" & upload to "here" as attchement 3 "Nam Lung" w/ Wong clan in c-c-c db !!! Pls give more info
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Post by Doug 周 on Aug 10, 2010 10:14:29 GMT -5
wongroots Another possibility is to copy and paste your Chinese characters into the computer by using this program: COCR2 : A Small Experimental Chinese OCR<=click here. You will need to convert the image into a .bmp bitmap file. It is very accurate and reads traditional and simplified. Manipulating the characters in a digital format opens many more research possibilities than analog. I have never tested it on Windows 7 however. Anyone else with experience of using this program on Windows 7? Look at this thread: Topic: NARA (San Bruno) search for merchant. They are very responsive, though with the centennial of Angel Island, they are busy with requests for Chinese immigration records. The more information you give them, like name used on arrival, some date of arrival, the ship from which they disembarked, etc, the better they can help you narrow down your search. The National Archives (NARA) at San BrunoDoug
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Post by wongroots on Aug 10, 2010 19:00:53 GMT -5
Village diaoliu Attachments:
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Post by Henry on Aug 10, 2010 19:01:42 GMT -5
Hi Dave, Welcome to the Forum, Please post the Chinese characters for your great grandfather's Chinese name on the Forum by attaching a digital photo (JPG image) - when you click on the reply button - under "Subject" will be "Attachment" or you can post the image via these directions: siyigenealogy.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=comment&action=display&thread=421The Wong clan is so large and the your ancestral village name is a very common one - hence, there are three such villages. Generally, the Chinese name of the nearest larger market town to the village, would help to distinguish between the villages, however, you probably would not have this information. But, my Taishan nephew with the Chinese name of your great grandfather could visit all three villages and determine the correct village. Then he could learn form the village chief who of your blood relatives are still living in the village and whether a copy of the village genealogy book was available for sale or to copy. Beyond documenting your family lineage, this book is very useful for verifying any claims by villagers that they are closely related to you. Once you have this village genealogy, my nephew can probably get a copy of a Wong genealogy book that traces the Wong lineage from HuangDi, the Yellow Emperor ( 2697 BC - 2597 BC ) down to Taishan and he could possibly link it to your village genealogy book - which would provide you and your family with a family lineage that spans 4,700 years and 150 plus generations. If you are interested in having his Chinese genealogy research performed by my nephew, for a fee, please contact me directly at: "Tomclan@Gmail.com". Also, there is an online database that you can search for your great grandfather's name: casefiles.berkeley.edu/Henry
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Post by wongroots on Aug 10, 2010 19:05:08 GMT -5
House grandfather started in Sep 1936 and finished early 1937. It would be cool to see this still standing when i go back. I pray that this village is still around. Attachments:
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Post by tyuti1668 on Aug 10, 2010 19:51:27 GMT -5
...I did not realize there were 3 Nam Lungs. ... So my Uncle Ray's recollection of "Nam Lung" is this........about a mile from the city where road #49 and #50 branch out". Hope this means something to someone. the "49" "50" -Is it "四九"圩 / "五十"圩 (near Taishan city proper) ? That will ruled out <area 4>'s Nam Lung . the "Lung" is written as "龍" or "隆"? the old "50" today: 75one.taishan.com/bbsxp/ShowPost.asp?PageIndex=1&ThreadID=27337&ViewMode=0
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Post by wongroots on Aug 10, 2010 22:35:14 GMT -5
~{;F<RMz~} »Æ¼ÒÍú Wong Gar Won Huang Jia Wang My great grandfather is in the middle with my great grandmother to his left. Not sure where or when this was taken. I do not know anyone else in the picture. Attachments:
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Post by wongroots on Aug 10, 2010 22:49:38 GMT -5
This will probably confirm the correct Nam Lung. ÄÏ¡ This is the grave marker of my step great grandmother. Attachments:
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Post by wongroots on Aug 10, 2010 23:46:54 GMT -5
thanks to all who have made comments and suggestions.
My grandfather wrote a book about his time in northern British Columbia. The book is mainly about his recollections in and around Barkerville from 1900-1975.
After 1862, Barkerville was the largest town north of San Fran and west of Chicago. Many chinese left California to find gold in this area or to work on the railroad.
Barkerville has been preserved as a historical site. It is a very interesting place to visit especially for the chinese who can experience what it was like to live there over 100 years ago. Interestingly, when Barkerville burned down in the late 1800's the chinatown was left relatively untouched as it was seperated from the non chinese miners.
Unfortunately very little in the book was about the family and I wish i had been interested in this subject 30 years ago when my grandfather was still around. I'm 42.
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Post by tyuti1668 on Aug 11, 2010 3:03:24 GMT -5
Fortunely, there's only 1 "ÄÏ¡" in Taishan ( China Post db) ¹ã¶«Ê¡½ÃÅÊÐ̨ɽÊР̨³ÇÕòÏãÑãºþ´åί»áÄÏ¡´å 529211 the MAP
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Post by douglaslam on Aug 11, 2010 5:02:36 GMT -5
Hello Dave, I have nothing more to add to what our resident expert Henry has put forward. But this I have to say: though I have never met Henry, not yet, I have met his nephew Shi Cheng in June during my most recent trip to China. I can vouch that Shi Cheng is a very sincere and honest individual, a capable searcher and has thorough knowledge of Siyi or Sze Yup to most of us. No, I didn't engage Shi Cheng's help because I am not from Sze Yup. It was a social call. He told me there are villages virtually disappearing before his eyes. There is a sense of urgency in his tone. This sense of urgency is re-enforced by my visit to Zhangjiabian, or Cheung Gar Bin in Chungshan. This well known village and home to thousands of Chinese abroad is almost completely razed and paved over by high rise buildings, highways and factories. Get on to Shi Cheng, your ancestral village may be earmarked for a Wal-Mart, an expressway or something. It is worth the small fee involved to find out how and where your family's Canadian journey started. Douglas
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Post by Henry on Aug 11, 2010 11:54:45 GMT -5
tyuti1668, I have the greatest respect for your geographic expertise, however, I would like to offer what I believe is the location of this "Nam Lung" 南隆 village and because I cannot read or write Chinese - please correct my errors. The "Nam Lung" village that you identified is primarily a "Hom" and not a "Wong" village: This particular "Hom" village is located about a 1 li from my own "Hom / Tom" ancestral village of "Che Qian cun": Looking at the Roots DB information regarding Nam Lung village - it is located in the "Kam Bin" sub-heung which also includes the "Nam Lung " and "Kam Bin" village: I was unable to locate the Nam Lung 南隆 village, however, very close to the "Kam Bin" village is a "Nanlong" village in simplified Chinese characters - I believe this is the Wong ancestral village: Even though the Chinese character 龙 for "Lung/Long" is the simplified character for "dragon" - in Taishanese, this is exactly the same sound as 隆 (prosperity). I believe the person making this map made this mistake or possibly the village changed its name to this Chinese character. But, in the end, it will probably be somebody like my Taishan nephew who will go to this village to confirm that it is the correct ancestral village. The following is a regional map to show its general location: Henry
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Post by wongroots on Aug 11, 2010 12:26:36 GMT -5
Hello Henry and Tyuti1668,
Thanks for spending the time on this. My uncle was there in 1936 and told me that "it was a mile from Toisan City" and "where the roads #49 and #50 branch."
Given that the map from Tyuti shows Nam Lung being close to Toisan City i'm confused now if this really is a "Hom" village.
Henry please see reply #7 for the name of my ggf.
Thank you.....
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Post by Henry on Aug 11, 2010 12:38:44 GMT -5
Hi Dave,
Please read through my detailed explanation why I do not feel that the village identified by tyuti1668 is your ancestral village - it is a "Hom/Tom " village.
In the end, my nephew can confirm the correct ancestral village.
Please post the name of your great grandfather as a JPG image - as the encoding you are using is not resulting in Chinese characters on the screen. Or, go to your browser, click "View", then click "Character Encoding" and then select "Unicode (UTF-8)" - then type or paste in the Chinese name for your great grandfather.
Henry
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